4/27/16
Allans/Pensecola Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 59.315N, 077 41.209W
Posted by Bill

As we departed Green Turtle Cay, we topped off our fuel and headed to Powell Cay, a short 2 1/2 hour run. Powell Cay is uninhabited and has really nice beaches. We anchored at position 26 54.010N, 077 28.934W and headed for the beach for some wallowing, drink of choice…my evolving banana rum punch recipe. At one end of the beach there was an “encampment” of miscellaneous crap that fellow cruisers before us left and arranged to hang out. We have seen this several other places on remote parts of the Bahamas. I am not sure why people feel the need to do this. Perhaps they are just bored. I think it is disrespectful of nature and the beauty of these cays and islands. It adds no value, only detracting from the natural setting.

Typically, these “encampments” mark a trail head if there is one, so we followed the trail to the ocean side of the cay and soaked up the views. Then we came back and combed the beach for shells. Last year we briefly stopped here, but found the best shells here, and this year was no different. We got several conch shells and sea biscuits. We also saw tons of sea life in the water as we waded and wallowed. I also swam along the rocks near shore. There were tons of small tropical fish. Finally a bull shark chased me out of the water. Here is a pic of one of the beaches on Powell:

While we were here, I jumped in the water at the boat and put a new prop shaft zinc on, as the old one fell off somewhere along the line. For those readers that don’t know what this is, we have to keep sacrificial metal near the underwater metal on the boat. When in salt water, stray electrical currents will attack and dissolve metal, especially prevalent when you are tied to a dock and plugged into shore power. Zinc is easiest metal for the current to attack, so by putting zinc near the boat’s metal, the zinc is sacrificed and the other metal is left alone. The water was so clear and shallow, it was a good place to take care of this maintenance. It was like being in a giant swimming pool.

Today we moved on to Allans/Pensecola Cay, another couple of hours along the route home. This used to be two separate cays, but the gap filled in by nature over time. This is also a remote cay. The anchorage is very well protected from most directions, and once again, the water was so clear. We were anchored in 10 feet of water and here you can see our anchor chain on the bottom:

Here are a couple of other shots of the anchorage:

We dinghyed to another “encampment”:


The doll reminded me of something out of a Stephen King novel…creeeaaapppppyyyy! We ran in fear…lol. Close by, there was a tree that marked a trail head to the ocean side. Cruisers had hung crap on the tree marking it. At the end of the trail there were several trees where people hung “mementos”, in other words trash and crap:


Again, I rant, why in the hell is this necessary. How does it add to this scene along the same beach:

We really liked the anchorage here. There was a lot of grass on the bottom which does not help the holding in high winds, but it was very calm while we were here. It was also incredibly quiet and peaceful. Here was the sunset tonight: