Shroud Cay is part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, part of the Bahamas National Trust. The Exumas Land and Sea Park extends from Little Wax Cay in the north to Cambridge Cay in the south. The park extends three miles on either side of the cays, and is all a “no-take” zone. Nothing alive or dead may be removed from the area within the park boundaries. There are a number of privately owned cays within the park, a few of celebrity renown- Little Halls Pond Cay owned by Johnny Depp and Bell Island owned by the Aga Khan.
Excavation of Bell Is.
Bell Island is a source of local controversy surrounding the extensive excavation and dredging completed in the process of developing a marina for the Aga Khan’s 150 ft. yacht and extensive building construction. These privately owned cays were grandfathered when the park was established around 1959, so there’s not much the government can do, or chooses to do in the way of limiting environmental impact. Money has a way of getting around the environmental issues that would complicate a billionaire’s plans for a modest getaway!
Shroud Cay is a beautiful spot, the anchorage offers good protection from easterly prevailing winds, we experienced a few days of 20 kt. winds here, fortunately easterlies, so aside from a bit of surge, we had a comfortable stay, with no small thanks to our “flopper stopper” system that got a good workout! The cay offers a number of great areas for dinghy exploration, with one tidal creek on the north end of the cay that’s navigable at high tide all the way to the ocean side of the cay where Camp Driftwood is located on a beautiful curving beach. The creeks are home to juvenile turtles that can be seen moving Dogs are not allowed on trails or areas other than the beach, so Molly got to visit her first ocean beach of this trip via the dinghy ride up the tidal creek!
Our second day at Shroud began with a bit of a panic as we discovered our deep freeze temps had climbed overnight from the normal 8°F to above 20°F. Further checking revealed a blown fuse. Replacing the fuse started the system back up, but temps continued to climb. Further diagnosis determined that repair probably wouldn’t be possible or practical in the Bahamas, so we consolidated as much as we could into the freezer above the fridge, and wrote off the deep freeze for the duration of our time in the Bahamas. Disappointing that a great deal of effort was expended on refitting the freezer, primarily to make use of it during our Bahamas cruising, but mechanical stuff can break, and it always breaks when it’s most needed! We refrigerated some stuff that took up volume, but were able to salvage all but a few things, most disappointing among which was 2 half gallons of ice cream, provisioned specially for the Bahamas! Such is cruising life!
