Shroud Cay - Turquoise seas and Lilac Skies!

Shroud Cay is an archipelago of cays and rocks surrounding a shallow tidal mangrove Salina which serves as a nursery for many different sea creatures and birds.

This was the perfect place to kayak and we anchored at the entrance to the southern mangroves. The next morning about an hour before low tide we set out. One tends to think of mangrove waters as brown brackish water, in the tidal mangroves here it is nothing like that. Right to the middle of here mangroves there are Turquoise crystal clear waters and with not a breath of wind blowing and not a ripple on the surface except that caused by the quiet wake of our kayak we could see every detail beneath us. Fish darting away from our shadow. Huge conch plodding their way tirelessly along the bottom and shark! We saw more shark in the mangroves than on the reefs. Black tip reef shark prowling for their breakfast of fresh fish!

We paddled all the way across the island, beached the kayak and walked the Atlantic shore. Just our footprints on virgin sand. Seagulls and Osprey swooping down to greet us. Along the high tide mark tiny Sandpipers searching for snacks. 

The Sandpipers were acting strangely and we soon spotted their tiny chicks. Funny looking little things like miniature chickens on long legs racing frantically at their parents call for the bushes endging the sands. Those tiny parents are so brave it always moves me. They cry out and run towards us trying to draw us away from their chicks. The one flies then lands in an ungainly manner then lies there fluttering as if she is hurt. The as we get nearer to her she makes as if she is trying to run but holding her wings at a funny angle as if she can't fly. If you turn a little towards her chicks she runs back towards you then she lies still fluttering hopelessly until you turn to her again and she hobbles on, drawing you further from her babies. Once she feels her babies are safe and your attention is off them she takes off back chirping at her babies seeming to count them and check they all ok!

The colour of the seas and the skies are incredible, no amount of words or even photos do it justice. The turquoise seas with areas of navy blue, sea green and blues reflect in the skies creating a lilac horizon which fades  up to the clear blue of sun drenched skies.  No matter how many times you see them it still stops you in your tracks with a whispered awed 'wow'!

The Northern most entrance to the mangroves is the only one you are allowed to enter with a motorized vessel. That was our next stop! We packed a lunch and loaded the water cooler and set off for the other side. To our disappointment we found a charter boat had dumped their guests at our intended day spot at the inlet on the Atlantic side. No problem, we pulled the dinghy over the shallows at the inlet and headed out to a reef at sea. There we spent a happy hour snorkeling and spotted the apparently rare to Caribbean waters 'Caribbean Torpedo', one of the Electric Ray family!

Then we dinghyed up the shore until we found a secluded area with a naturally formed small cave-like arch in the rock. Perfect the cave provided shade for our lunch and water and we lay one the beach reading and watching the long tailed tropic birds swoop overhead!

The next day Alley Cat and Shiloh caught up with us and we all boarded our dinghies and headed across to the inlet. The tide was now going out and we had great fun swimming into the current inside the inlet and being washed out through to cut to sea. The guys had been teasing Holli all day about 'things' in the water, so when Holli called out 'SHARK! SHARK!' Pointing at Andre we all laughed. The we noticed there really was one, the slightly murky waters of the churning cut disguised a good sized Reef Shark swimming in between our legs. He was less than a meter from Andre's feet and as soon as we all started moving he swam lazily among us out to deeper waters. He had examined the menu and found it wanting. 

I will try load the video when we have faster connections.