O’Brien Cay Bahamas

By Saturday 30 March, we needed to start moving north up the Exumas chain so that we could get back to Nassau in time for Nici and Strevs’ flight out on the following Thursday.  So, that morning we turned north out of Black Point at Great Guana Cay and headed up the Grand Bahamas Bank side of the Exumas towards O’Brien Cay.  We had a fast, fun sail north in a brisk easterly wind, enough wind that we needed to put a reef in the main.  In the flat water behind the cays BV made good speed and in under 3 hours we were 18miles north of Great Guana Cay and preparing to motor the final few miles in to our intended anchorage off O’Brien Cay.

Following the deep water channel past Bell Island

Bell Island has some fabulous looking beaches
but, unfortunately for us, it’s a private island

This is another place where, because of BV’s draught (2m, 6ft 6in) we took a somewhat convoluted route into our intended anchorage, in this instance running in close past Bell Island.  Bell Island is a very attractive looking island with some beautiful beaches.  Unfortunately for us, it’s a private island.  What a shame we don’t know the owner!

The final part of the channel past Bell Island ends in a tight, narrow turn past the rocky outcrop above

At the northern end of Bell Island, the deep water channel ends in a charted tight, narrow turn.  From the helm’s position on the approach to the turn Nicky said that it looked very narrow and very tight and hoped that the charted depths were good.

And that tight, narrow turn past the rocky outcrop looked VERY narrow from the helm’s position
but it was all a bit deeper than the charts suggested anyway!

As it turned out, it was all a lot better than it appeared on the chart (so often the way) and it was deeper than charted too.

Top: O’Brien Cay.  Bottom: There are large areas of sandbores near O’Brien Cay

Across the other side of Bell Cut we headed across an area of sandbores, waves of sand like underwater dunes. Some bits are deep, some bits are pretty shallow but all of it was deep enough for BV.  We found a suitable place to anchor close to O’Brien Cay (actually just north of Pastue Cay) and immediately prepared for the reason that we had come here, a swim at ‘The Aquarium’ in the lee of an islet just to the north of O’Brien Cay.

A shark’s eye view of happy snorkellers

We dinghied over to the islet where there are a couple of dinghy moorings.  The islet sits in the centre of a cut through which the tide was running swiftly but the islet itself is slightly crescent shaped and in the protection of the curve of the crescent there was no tidal flow at all.

What a fabulous little snorkelling site!!

After jumping into the water we were amazed at how clear it was and how many fish we could see swimming around and near the coral heads.  It was fabulous.

So many fish!

This is one of the smallest snorkelling sites that Nicky and I have visited but the number and variety of the fish in the area and the clarity of the water made it one of the best sites that we have been to.

We saw lots and lots of Sergeant majors but it seemed that most of the fish in our
fish identification guide were represented

After the disappointing snorkelling at the anchorages that we had visited so far with Nici and Strevs, it was a real pleasure that we were able to share this site with them.

Nicky and I braved the current and swam around to the outside (the east side) of the islet.  Here the water was quite a lot shallower and it didn’t have the coral heads or the profusion of fish.  Clearly, the protection of the islet’s curve provides just the right environment for the coral to grow and the fish-life to flourish.

Sergeant majors and French grunts

Nici spotted a Nurse shark having a quiet lie down on the sand.  They’re nocturnal fish and during the day more normally sleep under rocky ledges

After at least half an hour in the water enjoying the wonderful profusion of fish, we jumped into the dinghy and headed back towards BV.

But we had one more snorkelling spot to check out en route.  Here a light aircraft had crashed and then sunk in 7 or 8m of water.  Shallow enough to be seen clearly from the surface and also to dive down to for a closer look.

We saw few corals on the aircraft and very few fish but in the clear water the wreck stood out well on the sandy bottom, though we didn’t see the broken off tail plane anywhere close by.

We’ve got no idea how long the aircraft has been down there but it really added a fun element to the day and put O’Brien Cay ‘on the map’ as our favourite snorkelling place in the Bahamas as well as one of the best spots that we had been to.

O’Briens Cay, Bahamas