Pipe Creek

This anchorage isn’t what we expected. Looking at the chart it seems as if the Pipe Creek area had relatively narrow waterways surrounded by islands and cays. It is actually quite wide open. The “creeks” are deeper channels surrounded by sand bars. Some of the sand bars are dry at low tide. Most of the time they are covered by water. Our anchorage is opposite a cut leading to Exuma Sound. Swells come in from the sound making the anchorage rolly at times. Now that the wind has shifted to the west the waves have subsided. The current is very strong here and the orientation of our boat is dependent on the current, not the wind. When the wind is over 20, then it determines the orientation of the boat. Some people put out a stern anchor as well as one at the bow to keep the boat from swinging with the current. We haven’t bothered with that. 

We took a dinghy ride south this morning to check out more of the Pipe Creek area. We were going over a sand bar and eventually George had to raise the outboard up a notch. Then he had to get out and pull the dinghy. Then I had to get out and we both pulled the dinghy. Eventually we got back to deeper water and we continued our ride. The water is clear and many gorgeous shades of blue, depending on the depth.

After lunch we got back in the dinghy and took a ride through the mangroves at Compass Cay. The creek started out very wide and became narrow as we neared the top of the cay. By the time we decided to turn back we didn’t have enough room to turn the dinghy around. George had to get out to muscle the dinghy around. 

The first photo is from the Explorer Chartbook, I put a red arrow in to show where we are located. The last photo was taken in the mangroves.