Andrew Laird

Quick hop to a new island in the national park! We decided to get a mooring ball for the night since anchoring is prohibited in a few areas around here. We had a tricky navigation path through a few channels with very strong current. Sophie navigated everything perfectly and got me right to the morning ball for an easy landing. The water, as always, looks incredible and we are about to take Duggie for his evening (birthday) walk. Can’t wait to swim here at high tide tomorrow morning!

Snorkeled around Rocky Dundas caves again and the reef in front of the cave/rock is just so good! Great clarity and sunlight overhead, hard to get out of the water. Motored through the narrow shallow beautiful channels of the Land and Sea Park to settle near Johnny Depp’s island (little halls pond cay) with a surprising amount of other boats. Swam the aquarium snorkeling spot around 6pm and it was small but awesome!! good depth, lots of coral heads and walls, plus the evening sunlight beaming through and lots of little fish 🤌 silly we didn’t bring our proshots… walked a beach nearby with a couple other dinghies, met some sailors, duggie started chasing lizards. Nice day on and in and near the water 💙🐠🐟🐢

The water clarity and blues were spectacular today! We snorkeled thunderball grotto cave again and could see at least 100 ft, it was some of the clearest water I’ve ever swam in! Beautiful sunlight against the colorful coral rock wall outside of the cave. Super strong current so fun drift swim on the way back. No wetsuits so got cold! We moved up the outside (east) side of the islands, motors on and jib up but only 6-10 knots so pretty unhelpful. Got to north side of Compass Cay at the same time as four other boats! two cats kept going, we anchored near the one cat already there, and then a monohull came and anchored in between us 😒 Dinghied to shore and walked the sand flat / stream to this natural pool behind rocks called Rachel’s Bubbles. The waves come over just a little at high tide and it is lots of white bubbles underwater.

14-18 knot downwind sail. We have been loving the downwinders! The water was calm, clear, beautiful and shallow the entire way. Everything is closed today at Staniel so we will have to provision tomorrow morning. We saw all of the mega yachts again! They are insane! Enjoyed a morning of snorkeling at Jacks Bay Cove. There were some large rocks scattered around the sand with a lot of fish and I saw the biggest crab I have ever seen! It was probably about 18 inches wide! Didn’t bring the proshot unfortunately so no underwater photos today.

We had a steady south east wind of 17knots with gusts to 22. We reefed the jib and had a full main and our SOG was between 7 and 8 knots! Flying! Wind angle was between 100-115 downwind and it was a very comfortable sail. We got a late start because we said goodbye to our friends on Isla Bonita and they bought two Proshot cases. Also speared our first snapper (schoolmaster snapper) right before we left prime cay. The sunset was beautiful at jacks bay and we had great protection from a stiff south east wind overnight. Cooked the snapper in a curry sauce and it was 🤌 Sophie eats fish ALL THE TIME now! Hoping to do a morning snorkel then head north to Staniel Cay for provisions. We are almost out of vegetables!

What a day!!! Woke up to four dolphins swimming around Willow - we quickly jumped in and swam with them for 45 mins!!! They were so curious and playful and cute! They picked up sand dollars and rolled in the sand and smiled at us :) Two parents and two children. Dinghied over the channel to a great little beach on Lignumvitae for a Duggie walk. Got some work in but then the dolphins returned to Willow!! So of course we jumped back in for another 30 mins of dolphin swimming. On an adrenaline high we decided to go scuba diving around this awesome shallow reef we’d found the day before. Dove off of Lil Willy in 10-20ft of water and it was serene and beautiful and super fun! Could surface to talk then go back down - great reefs, a school of squid, and lots of ProShot content. Ended the day with chairs on the great flats beach inside Prime Cay and Ange got a sunset kite session in while I walked with Duggie. Memorable day to say the least!!!!

We love Prime Cay! With a 25+ knot consistent wind, we hunkered down here for three nights and could’ve stayed a month! Anchored in beautiful clear 10ft of water by a channel that was deep (15-20ft) with little rocks to swim around and lots of little fishies. We worked the morning (after Duggie walk on Lignumvitae) then dinghied to a reef in the choppy water and found lots of alive coral heads and a massive unafraid school of squid! Fun swim. Worked some more then dinghied to the inside beach which had a phenomenal walk around flats, over beaches, through pine and palm tree forest to a far big beach 🤌 Met Mark and Isabelle from Isla Bonita on the way home, they challenged us to bocci ball and we chatted on the beach for a bit! Super nice couple. Tahini noodles and chicken from Charlotte and Wyatt for dinner, yum!

Jib up for a nice motor downwind sail in 15kn with biiig swell, surfing down the waves all the way! Anchored in a pretty bay on the north side with clear sandy water and two little beaches. A good place to hide out the next two nights of 30+kn 🙃 off to work and snorkel!

Quick motor to the next island north, first time to Children’s Bay Cay! Currently anchored in a pretty bay with a sandy beach and palm trees - it was too hard to pass!