We left our anchorage in Thompson Bay at 0912 and dropped the anchor in Joe Sound at 1300.  There was very little wind so the water was flat and crystal clear on the Exuma Sound side of the island.  The depth was shallow the entire way, so we could see large starfish on the bottom, but little else.  In the photo above, we are behind Interlude. We stayed close to shore the entire way. Joe Sound is by Galliot Cay, just south of Calabash Bay at the northern end of Long Island.  We had been to Calabash Bay by car to have lunch at Cape Santa Maria Resort last Friday.  I don’t think we would have entered this very small cut if we weren’t following Interlude.  They had been here once before. We came in just before high tide and had a few feet of deep water on each side of us, with rocks on the port and a sand bar on the starboard.   

Immediately after entering, we turned left and found a spot to anchor.  There are eight boats anchored here and there isn’t room for many more.  We were the last two, but one more came later while we were gone and squeezed in.  The shore is on one side of the anchorage and sand bars are on the other with a narrow path of deep water in between.  At low tide, the Sound is mostly sand and at high tide there are just a few small sand bars showing.  The sand here is fine white powder, probably the prettiest we have seen, rivaling the pink sands of Eleuthera.

After being sure our anchors were holding, we dropped the dinghies and headed about three miles back out on the Long Island shoreline to Cape Santa Maria, just in time for a late lunch.  We all had the same meals as last time, three lobster salads and one mahi salad. 

After a walk on the beautiful resort beach on Calabash Bay we returned to the restaurant/bar in time for Happy Hour and had rum  punches.  By now it was time to return to the anchorage to take Daisy for a walk on the beach.

After Daisy’s walk, we decided to swim off the back of the boat.  While the water looked calm, there was a strong current so we tied a long floating line to the swim ladder and held on to it while we swam.

After awhile we took the dinghy to a small patch of sand still above the water in the incoming tide.  We sat in the water while Daisy walked around us.  In the photo, the water gets deeper beyond where we were sitting.  Usually Daisy can tell where the bottom falls off and avoids going where she has to swim, but this time we tricked her into going above her head and she had to dog paddle. Eventually she tired of the game, walked back to the sand patch, jumped into the dinghy and watched us.

We’ll be here a few days and the weather will continue to be warm and the winds relatively calm.  This is also a great anchorage to sit out frontal passages and squalls because it is very protected on all sides.   Last night the winds did pick up to 15 kts, but we didn’t feel a thing.  There are lots of places to investigate by dinghy and kayak. We’re looking forward to staying in a place so peaceful and deserted after spending many weeks in Georgetown and Salt Pond with so many other cruisers.