Samana Cay

It’s just a quick 4 hour trip from Atwood Harbor to Samana Cay. We were glad to move along - the mosquitos were pretty bad. It was supposed to be <5kn of wind, but we got started with 15kn and got some sailing in before it died.

There are two entrances to the sound, through the reefs. A short one but with very narrow channel between corals on the E side, right next to Propeller Cay, and the W entrance with 3 miles of dodging coral heads. We took the short route at low tide and had 4 ft of water below the keel. We got ourselves anchored between Propeller Cay and Samana Cay in 18 ft of water and settled in.

Our first stop was Sampson Cave, which we think is the best cave in the Bahamas. Tyler came over and asked if I wanted to go with him, guided by Gregory, an Acklins Bahamian that harvests Cascarilla bark for about 6 months every year. It’s about 1.5 hours of hiking on “the road” which is more accurately described as a path that waxes and wanes, mostly wanes. We saw the smaller cave first, which Tyler liked, but I told him to wait for the next one. Both have clear water in them, but Sampson Cave is swimmable! After a hot hike, we were ready so we got right in. Cool, especially after the hot sunshine, but not cold. It’s briny water, with a few crawfish type critters, nothing big. Lots of stalactites, some of which are underwater.

After dressing two Nassau groupers, I was ready for some pro tips. It’s not such an easy fish to clean. I found this guy on YouTube - he’s an artist at filleting grouper, and explains what he’s doing very well! https://youtu.be/ZW7HXjHSFIE. I had speared a quite large grouper on the ocean side of Propeller Cay within about 10 minutes of hunting! We did see one more, even larger, but he escaped into a cave with a back entrance. So I re-targeted and found an ocean triggerfish that I got close to with misdirected looks (they are sensitive to being stared at). Tyler and I had a 4-5 ft nurse shark approach, so closely that I gave it a gentle poke with my spear. He then swam between us and into a small cave. There was one resident Atlantic ray that I saw on two different dives.

Now & Zen had brought some surplus solar panels and wiring to add to Gregory’s shack (1 room with front porch, and a back porch kitchen & fireplace). So we spent a morning installing those on the roof, along with a battery, inverter, and solar charging regulator. Wow, electric lights and fan!En savoir plus