Hidden Gems of the Central Exumas

Great Guana Cay and Little Farmers
Cay offer many reasons to linger

Many yachtsmen, in a hurry to arrive at Exuma’s popular Elizabeth Harbour, miss some very special places. This year, my husband, Jerry, and I decided to slow down and see what we’d been missing.
Among the hidden gems of the Central Exumas is Great Guana Cay between Dotham Cut and Farmers Cay Cut. Both of these cuts provide safe access to the Exuma Bank for protected travel in the prevailing easterlies, or the Exuma Sound for those who want to cover more distance on the rare days when the Sound is calm.

Black Point Settlement, nestled at the northwest corner of Great Guana Cay, is one of the largest and most traditional settlements in the Exumas. With its anchorage on the Exuma Bank side, just north of the Settlement, Monarch, our 52-foot Halvorsen trawler, had good protection from the prevailing easterlies in six to eight feet of water. Black Point is an excellent example of a real “Out Island.” The local men are famous for their fishing skills. The women are known for plaiting, and we saw groups of them sitting outside their homes, chatting, while deftly weaving palm fronds to be used in baskets and handbags.
A walkabout on this 12-mile long island took us past a school bustling with children in crisp uniforms and to a pleasant park at the end of the main road overlooking the anchorage.  Here, the tree trunks are gaily painted with many designs, including the blue, black and yellow colors and geometric shapes of the Bahamian flag. Nearby is a unique driftwood and shell “Garden of Eden.”
We followed advice gleaned from the VHF radio and stopped at Scorpio’s Bar for “the Exumas’ best happy hour!” – two-for-one drinks on Friday and complimentary conch fritters, the best we’ve had in the Bahamas. If dominoes is your sport, you are sure to find a lively game.
Another spot where we enjoyed traditional Bahamian cuisine is Lorraines’s Café, which has Internet connection available for a fee and is sort of a one-stop shop for many things. Owner Lorraine Rolle and her husband have a cottage for rent, her mom is the local breadmaker and her brothers are fishing and snorkeling guides.
Don’t miss DeShaMon’s restaurant, reported to have the best cook on the island. Both restaurants can take reservations over VHF, which allows the proprietors to venture out to catch your dinner. The Settlement also features a couple of local grocers where you can find limited provisions.
Just south of the Settlement and Little Bay, on the Bank side, are two beautiful white beaches. North of White Point you can anchor for good shelling. All along this shore are anchorages, caves just above the waterline, and patch reefs and coral heads for snorkeling. Watch the reefs as you traverse these waters, as some have as little as three feet of water over them at low tide.
Farther south, Oven Rock is a large conical rock that brings to mind the traditional Bahamian stone oven. It lies off the southwestern shore of the cay. If you climb the hill east of Oven Rock and descend its backside, you will find the opening of a large cavern that drops 90 feet. Its two freshwater pools make an interesting scuba dive, with depths of about 70 feet and lateral branches extending as much as 700 feet.
When we’d had our fill of shelling and snorkeling, we motored on to 3/4-mile long Little Farmers Cay; population 55. We picked up a mooring in Big Harbour, as there was sufficient tidal current through Farmers Cut to scour the bottom. We launched the dinghy and set out to meet the locals. The town’s government dock in adjacent Little Harbour is suitable for dinghies and small runabouts. Here we met the welcoming party; four fellows selling freshly caught and cleaned conch. We bought four conch, and a few beautiful shells as well.
The presence of satellite TV made Little Farmers Yacht Club THE place to gather for the Superbowl. Rather than being private, the Club is a casual public restaurant, island style. Owner Roosevelt Nixon was grilling succulent ribs on a 55-gallon drum barbeque. The Club offers dockage with depths of nine feet, fuel, electricity, showers and free Wi-fi for marina guests. Seven nearby moorings go for $10 per night, and in March the Club added two heavy-duty moorings to accommodate vessels up to 150 feet in length ($20 per night).
For additional dining ashore on Little Farmers, don’t miss Ocean Cabin, a restaurant that also rents mooring balls ($10 per night). Ocean Cabin hosts the popular annual Farmers Cay First Friday in February Festival (5F) Party. This is the place to be in February, when the harbors are filled with yachties who have come to see Bahamian C-Class racing, hear the music and sample a wide variety of Bahamian cuisine.
We made dinner reservations with Ocean Cabin’s owner, Terry Bain, and selected our entrees so he could go out and catch it. Terry and his wife Ernestine serve cold drinks, Bahamian fare and, right after the supply ship comes in, ice cream. Internet is available here for a fee. In the “island time” atmosphere typical of the Bahamas, the establishment advertises its hours of operation as, “Open most days about 9 or 10, occasionally as early as 7; but some days as late as 12 or 1. We close about 5 or 6, or maybe about 4 or 5. Some days or afternoons we aren’t here at all and lately we’ve been here about all the time except when we’re some place else, but we might be here then, too. If this be so, then you soon come.”