Hog Cay Bahamas

We made another relatively early start on Wednesday 27 March, departing Lobster Cay at 0750hrs with the aim of arriving at our destination, Hog Cay on the east side of Warderick Wells, in the early afternoon so that we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the anchorage and the islands.

Arriving at Hog Cay.  Hog Cay is to the left of the pictures, Warderick Wells to the right

We motored out from Lobster Cay, winding our way along a series of narrow, shallow channels until we reached the heady depths of 5m.  Here we raised the main and genoa and beat southwards, towards Warderick Wells, the cay where the Exuma Land and Sea Park has its headquarters.  There are a couple of very popular mooring fields and an anchorage on the west side of Warderick Wells but, with the wind from the southwest and forecast to go further west, Nicky’s plan was to take a mooring in the Hog Cay mooring field on the east side of the island [Ed: mooring field in the loosest possible sense of the word: there are only 2 moorings there now!]. At 0900 she joined in with the Exuma Land and Sea Park radio net to request the use of one of the Hog Cay moorings and, happily, both were available.  We were asked to take the small one (capable of taking yachts up to 65ft).

Our cruising guide says that there are 6 moorings here but there are now just 2, one for boats up to 65ft long (small black splot) and one for really large boats (large white mooring buoy with pick-up buoy)

We arrived off the entrance to the mooring field at about 1400hr and motored carefully in.  It’s a relatively deep entrance (5m) but narrow and the area outside is, yet again, strewn with coral heads.  Having moored up, Nicky, Nici and Strevs inflated the dinghy and headed ashore to find the honesty box on the beach where we had been asked to pay our dues.  From there they walked across the island to a beach on the west side and agreed that the east side of the island was most definitely the place to be.  On the west side a slight surf, driven by the 15kt wind, was breaking on the beach and everything was blustery, choppy and seemed a little grey.  But in the inlet on our side of the island, the sea was tranquil, the wind a little less and everything seemed just that bit bluer, brighter and more friendly.

We were joined later in the afternoon by this yacht, which we think is a live-aboard dive boat

Whilst they went ashore to pay and explore a little, I stayed aboard to fight with the generator again.  As we had sailed down the cays we had started up the generator to run the watermaker but after a while it had run down unexpectedly. This time I changed just the fine fuel filter in generator; having recently changed both filters the only one that could be a problem at this point was the fine filter. Then I tried again but, once more the generator ran for a short time before faltering and shutting down!  Clearly something else was wrong but I didn’t have time to find out what with our timetable for exploring of the Exumas.  It looked as if we might have to plan for the generator, and hence the watermaker, to be out of action for the duration of Nici and Strevs’ stay with us.  This would not be ideal.  Without the generator we would not be able to make water which would have something of an impact on life on board.  Whilst we have a reasonable amount of water in the tanks, we’d need to be careful about showers and any excessive use for the next 10 days, perhaps resorting to using the solar shower if we couldn’t find a source of potable water at marinas or small settlements in the cays.  More than a little frustrating when we had guests on board.

There’s a fair old tidal flow through the Hog Cay inlet as you can see from the ‘bow wave’ on the mooring buoy to which the other yacht is moored 

Over sundowners in the cockpit we discussed water but, far more importantly(!) we talked about the plan for the next day.  The theme, it seemed, was hogs:  we would leave Hog Cay and go to see the swimming pigs at Big Major’s Spot.

Hogs Cay, Bahamas