Tales of Mayaguana

     Arriving at the remote island of Mayaguana last Thursday was a relief. The passage was smooth, but four days and nights at sea with not much to do but sit and think random thoughts can be very tiresome. The water inside the reef was the clearest of blues, like the most perfect sandy pool imaginable. We tucked in behind the reef several miles from the small town and far from the beachy reef-strewn shoreline. While Dad made the trek to town to check into the Bahamas the rest of us set about tidying the boat. There's something about cleaning and eliminating all traces of a passage that is so necessary for us after arriving. Lee cloths go away (sling-like pieces of fabric that keep us from falling out of bed during a passage), life jackets and harnesses are stowed, smelly clothes are washed, and we start to feel like normal human beings again.

     Over the passage we celebrated our second birthday at sea when Jamie turned 20 on April 4th. We had a belated celebration with some of Sarah's perfect brownies instead of a cake. I don't think many people in the world can claim to have turned 20 while at sea…it certainly makes for an interesting story!

     We spent the next few days swimming in the perfect blue water and trying to ignore the messy swell that came over the outlying reef at high tide. While snorkeling around the boat one day Jamie spotted a nurse shark slowly circling towards us. The water was so clear that Mom and Sarah could see it perfectly from the boat deck. It swam closer and closer until it passed us by about 15 feet away! It was my first shark sighting and although I was calm at first, as it got closer I tried to scramble into the dinghy. Nurse sharks are basically just fish and not thought to be dangerous at all, but still, when a 5 foot-long sea creature starts swimming towards you it is pretty unsettling! Funnily, a huge barracuda kept following the shark around, hovering right behind it. I couldn't help but wonder if it was just hoping for handouts or trying to irritate the shark. Maybe they're buddies?

     On the second day, Sarah, Jamie and I were determined to go ashore, despite the reef that blocks the entire shoreline. I mean, what's the point in having an island that is basically just one huge white beach when you can't even get to it! So we ended up weaving through coral heads, past a nurse shark in the shallows and the fastest turtle that ever lived, and pulled the dinghy up onto some crunchy turtle grass a few feet from the beach. Along the shore rocky coral rose from sand composed of colourful corals broken down by the sea and beyond the beach was a forest of scrubby bushes and trees, empty of life except for the sound of distant birds.

     Savouring the sense of freedom at being on land after so many days we wandered along the beach and picked through all the debris that had washed ashore in storms. So many random objects were scattered everywhere: old sinks, fishing nets, colourful frayed rope, glass bottles, wooden bits, plastic bins and even old rotting shoes. I tried to imagine being shipwrecked here and thought about how useful all these objects could be for someone lost on an island. We kept an old piece of wood carved in the bowl-like shape and enjoyed lying in the sun for a while. While on the beach the tide went out so our dinghy was completely beached by the time we wanted to leave. Having grown up around lakes and rivers makes us so unconscious of tides sometimes.

     That night we were all compelled to go up on deck as the sun set to gaze at the golden glow of a full moon. On looking in the water we were shocked to see the dark and ominous shape of a nurse shark sleeping right below us! As the sun set the shark remained shockingly visible lurking below on the white bottom- a testament to just how clear the water is here. The shark was back again the next day and we couldn't help but wonder if it was the same one returning again and again. I guess they like hanging around boats and with so many shark sightings already I have a feeling we're going to encounter more interesting sea life in the Bahamas than anywhere else.

     While at Mayaguana only two other boats arrived to anchor beside us, so we were often the only people for miles around (any other boats there anchored over by the town where we were wary of going because of the depth). It was a strange place, being so empty of people and civilization, but a beautiful one for its untouched remoteness.

More to come soon on our time in George Town,
Nicole.
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