We survived our crossing to Allen Cay and safely arrived in the Exumas!
We spent 2 nights here at Allen Cay – which is apparently a happening little spot to stop, as it is one of the first cays you get to. The fact that it (they – technically there are multiple tiny islands clustered right here) are covered in iguanas means that tourists flood the place.
We are seeing sailboats, day chartered power boats and mega yachts – all anchored right here. The charter people just seem to dash over from Nassau to see the iguanas and then dash back. The mega yacht next to us has 5 or 6 jet skis that the guests zip around on. The sailboaters just dinghy over to the beaches and stroll around, enjoying the land for a while.
Yesterday was our only full day here, and we certainly made a full day of it. We did a few boat chores and then dinghied around into the cove on the south end. I did beach yoga while Mark snorkelled. Then we did some beach reading, had snacks, chatted with some other cruisers, walked all over the cay and went for a nice swim in the cove before heading back to Luna Sea.
Mark is getting in the habit of keeping a fishing line or 2 out, and he caught another fish. This time a triggerfish. (Thanks to all of you on social media who chimed in when we asked what it was!) We have heard these are delicious, so I got busy filleting and dreaming of how I was going to prepare our first real catch. We were both pretty excited about our upcoming fish- binge. The fillets were huge.
Then Mark started Googling triggerfish, and our FB page started chiming in with alerts…. Turns out this is another common carrier of ciguatera. I am going to let you read the symptoms of Ciguatera:
Ciguatera presents primarily as an acute neurologic disease manifested by constellation of gastrointestinal (diarrhea, abdominal cramps and vomiting), neurologic (parethesias, pain in the teeth, pain on urination, blurred vision, temperature reversal), and cardiovascular (arrhthymias, heart block) signs and symptoms within a few hours of contaminated fish ingestion. The pathneumonic symptom of Ciguatera intoxication is hot/cold reversal, although not all patients report this.
Symptoms can last for years and are often triggered by eating fish (any kind, regardless of if it has Ciguatera itself), alcohol and exercise. I already knew Barracuda, especially large ones, were to be avoided due to Ciguatera. But we had no idea so many reef fish were affected. We really just want to catch a (not too big!) mahi… So we are going to skip our fishing in anchorages for now and focus on catching mahi underway.
Speaking of underway: as soon as we get around to it, we are pulling anchor and heading further south. The winds are going to swing over to the west in a couple of days. Fortunately they will be mild, but we need a spot where we can swing with the winds – and you know, not end up smooshing our boat up against limestone.
Next Up: Highbourne Cay! (probably…)
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Looks like a fantastic trip to Exuma! We’d love to see you down here again – do you have any plans to return?
One day we will head back to the States – and we can’t miss a nice, long stop in the Bahamas on the way!