Sharks and Sea Monsters

There are very few places that are considered to be true “Hurricane Holes,” spots where boats are expected to be able to ride out significantly bad weather. Apparently more than one person seems to believe that Port Egmont, the bay where we are currently anchored, is such a place.

While not the first time we have been to Egmont, having visited here for lunch last year with our friends Daniel and Beate, this is the first time we have been here on our own boat. Port Egmont is very secluded and although bordered by numerous large and expensive houses, there are no services here nor even a place to go to shore. With that said, it’s a perfect spot to hide out as evidenced by the fact that, aside from one other cruising boat, we have the entire bay to ourselves. Oh, that is, except for the 23 Moorings boats tied to the mangroves astern of us!

We had heard that the charter companies leave some boats here when inclement weather threatens but we were in no way prepared for the sight of seeing 23 boats tied in a line along one of the shores. No one is on any of these boats of course. They’ve just been left here to ride out any storms on their own. Hopefully that does not get tested this season.

This bay, with its virtual 360 degree protection, reminds us a lot of “The Pond” at Norman’s Cay in the Exumas, one of the first places that Rebecca and I went to hide from some bad weather. Here is a short video of us making our way through the sketchy entrance into The Pond.

Interestingly, we have heard that both Port Egmont and Norman’s Cay’s Pond have sharks that regularly visit them. While this may be true, I suspect that this just might be the kind of story that gets shared by the locals to keep people from visiting their beautiful and secluded bays. I’m surprised that we haven’t yet heard of any sea monsters here!