KAYAKING | ADVENTURE TRAVEL | BAHAMAS
An Epic Kayaking Adventure — Part Four
Crossing 23 nautical miles of ocean and finding a party.
This is part four of a kayaking adventure in the Florida Everglades and the Bahamas that I went on with an ex-boyfriend in 2001/2002 when I was 24 years old. To start at the beginning, click below.
We had done it!
We pushed off from the beach and we were on our way across the ocean headed to Ship Channel Cay. This is the most northern island of the Exuma chain and would be the start of our chance to paddle amongst over 365 islands. We had fresh water for a few days and enough food provisions to last us a couple of weeks, at least. Plus, of course, by then we were adept at spearfishing and collecting our own meals.
We had no idea what awaited us on those islands but we knew they would be beautiful.
The Bahamas consists of 700 islands and over 2400 cays. Don’t ask me what the difference is between an island or a cay, I don’t know. But let's just say there are lots of places to explore. Exploring by a big boat, however, can be problematic. The water in much of the Bahamas is very shallow, and many of the islands have sand banks and sand bars that stretch out quite far, making them difficult to approach with boats of any size. However, a kayak with a 12" draft, was sure to be able to go anywhere. We had heard that the Exumas are mostly one big sand bar and the water was turquoise (my favorite color!) in every direction.
Once we rounded the tip of Rose Island, we pointed ourselves in the southeast direction that we had calculated the compass heading to be, and made sure our GPS unit lined up.
Nothing but water, water, and more water lay out ahead of us, and after about an hour, we couldn’t see any land anywhere at all. We were truly at the mercy of our compass to guide us in the right direction.
Immediately we could feel the power of the wind pushing us from behind, and we were even riding the gentle waves a little bit. We were so thankful to have made the choice to go when we did, and we could already see how much easier this crossing would be because of it. Heading into that amount of wind and waves would have never worked. We realized quickly that we would have had no option but to turn back because it would have been too difficult. We talked and laughed, sang some songs, and entertained ourselves the best we could as we paddled our guts out.
We were certainly pumped on adrenaline, and nothing could break our stride at that point.
It took us around 6 hours to make the entire crossing. We took turns stopping for breaks, but at all times made sure that we were maintaining forward momentum. We knew that our wind window was limited, and the last thing we wanted was to be paddling into the wind at the end of it all. As it was, we really did limp into Ship Channel Cay on the last of our energy reserves.
After paddling in just the direction of our compass heading for multiple hours, and after scanning the horizon for about the thousandth time to try and see land, I noticed a black dot. It was DIRECTLY off the bow of our kayak.
“I see something!” I shouted back to my boyfriend. “I think it’s land!”
We hooted and hollered and celebrated. Of course, it also could have been a boat, but we trusted in our navigation skills and knew that it was likely exactly where we needed to be.
Of course, it did turn out to be Ship Channel Cay and to say that we were excited would be an understatement. However, once we saw it, the time really started to drag and we found ourselves really digging hard for those last reserves of energy to get us there.
We found the first beach that we could find at the northern tip of the island and pulled off for a rest and some snacks. I distinctly remember my body buzzing, it was both exhausted but immensely excited. Although both of us wanted nothing more than to rest our weary bones, we knew that this wasn’t a good spot to be with a storm approaching. We knew that it would be best to find a safe spot where we could hunker down for a few days.
We gauged the wind and how it was going to clock around and realized that we would be better off if we stayed at the south end of the island where it was more sheltered by other islands.
Since we had left so early in the day, we still had a few afternoon hours to find a better spot.
We ate our snacks, then packed back up and paddled down the eastern side of the island as it was more sheltered from the wind at that point. We analyzed the beaches as we passed them, trying to decide if they would work for us.
We decided to stick to our plan and kept on going, all the way to the southern point. As we rounded the corner at the bottom, much to our surprise, a structure appeared on the beach. We weren’t sure if it was a private home, but we paddled into the bay to check it out and to sus out the possibilities for camping.
We pulled our kayak ashore and immediately noticed large pigs on the beach. Apparently, a ship had crashed there at some point in history, and the pigs inhabited the island. Today they are wild and you may have seen many pictures of people with pigs swimming in the Bahamas on Instagram.
This is more than likely that beach!
They were really curious about the kayak and we noticed one even trying to get into our middle hatch with his snout. We assumed that they were after the food that we had in there. Because of this, for the duration of our stay, we had to anchor the kayak out in about 3 feet of water so that the pigs would leave it alone. Not something we ever could have anticipated!
We realized that the building looked to be a restaurant, so we made our way up and said hi to the staff. Of course, they were shocked to see us and wondered where we had come from. When we told them, they were even more shocked. The interesting thing, though, was that there were no customers there.
“Yeah, they canceled the boats because the storm is coming and they weren’t sure when it would arrive.” One of them told us.
Of course, we had no idea this place existed. We couldn’t just call up GoogleMaps back in those days. But here we were, day one in the Exumas, and we had already found a party place.
This is one of those spots where party-goers pay an exorbitant fee to have super fast cigar boats race them out there from Nassau, where they eat a buffet of delicious food, then drink all that they can, while swimming with the pigs, before they get whisked back to Nassau to be dropped off.
The staff was battening the hatches and tying things down for the storm that was set to arrive at any hour. We noticed that they had big huge tables in the covered dining area. After a while of getting to know them, my boyfriend finally popped the question.
“Do you mind if we set our tent up on one of those tables inside the restaurant?”
It seemed like a ludicrous ask, but the reality was that it was the best place for us to set up. It sounded like this storm was going to be a doozy and we needed a place that would be protected from the wind.
Now, first of all, they didn’t mind, second of all, I don’t think one of them was sober from both drugs or alcohol. They were a motley crew. Luke was just 18 years old and was from somewhere on the East Coast of the US, Di was likely somewhere in her 40s and was also American. She was very rough around the edges and had the mouth of a trucker. Another guy, who I can’t remember his name (I think he was European), was working there but sleeping on his sailboat that was anchored just offshore. He was likely also in his 40s and his favorite thing to do was to paddle into shore with his rowboat in the morning buck naked. The fourth member of the crew was the token Bahamian man, Yaffat. He was likely only about 20 years old or so, and had the craziest biggest afro you ever did see. He was certainly not sober and his bloodshot eyes confirmed it.
No, they didn’t mind one bit if we set our tent up on the dining table.
Of course, we had no idea when we arrived that we would be staying there for 5 days! The storm arrived later that evening and the winds howled incessantly for the duration. The rains would come and go, but the winds stayed the course. This meant that no boats were coming from Nassau, and the 6 of us had the run of the place.
The rules were that we had to pay for alcohol if we wanted any, but they would make enough food for us. I’m telling you, we ate like kings for those days as all the food had to be used up so it wouldn’t go bad anyways. Despite being rough around the edges, Di was an incredible cook!
During moments of no rain, we would often go out for a tour around the bay in the rowboat, all 6 of us inside of it. It was a beautiful shallow protected cove, and we would go and explore the other islands around us. We had such a blast with those guys and truly felt like we had won the lottery by finding that place. I’m sure we would have gotten blown right off the beach if we hadn’t had the shelter that we did.
It was truly incredible.
The day the winds finally died down, we stuck around long enough to witness the boats arrive from Nassau. We could see how this was all going to play out, and the partiers were already hooting and hollering. We knew this was not a scene that we wanted to partake in, so we said our sad goodbyes, thanked them profusely for their kind hospitality, then got in our kayak and paddled south.
We had had our Exuma arrival party, but it was now time to do some exploring.
To be continued……
To see all parts of this story:
Tagging some readers that have been reading about this journey so far: Anne Bonfert | Adrienne Beaumont 🇦🇺 | Gerald Sturgill | JoAnn Ryan | David Perlmutter | Allison Ditmer | Ryan Frawley | Sh*t Happens — Lost Girl Travel | Shawn Somerville | Katia | Reece Reid | Ronald Smit | Aura A. | Travis W. King | M T Sutphin | Scott Younkin | tzenlong goh Thanks for joining my journey!
Special thanks to Globetrotters for publishing this series!
Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We paint FREE murals in exchange for accommodation. Check us out on Ko-fi!
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