Our anchor had barely settled into the patch of white sand in seven feet of water behind Shroud Cay when a dinghy approached from the only other boat in the anchorage. When pulling into a quiet cove with only one other boat, one never knows if you are welcome company or intruding on another boat’s solitude. In this case, the solo captain from the other boat was eager for others to share the special landscape. Coincidently, the other boat in the anchorage was the same make as Alembic, our Whitby 42 ketch. There is an immediate kinship that forms with owners of sister ships and our visit with Russ from NautiCuss was no exception. Russ bounded aboard our boat and we swapped Whitby trivia as if we were old friends. The conversation turned toward Bahamas cruising and Russ was eager to share some local knowledge. Since this was our first visit to Shroud Cay we were keen to learn of some new spots.
One of the magical things about cruising with an open itinerary is that unique opportunities for adventure seem to spontaneously appear. Russ invited us to join him on an afternoon dinghy exploration up a creek that meanders across the cay to a secluded beach on the ocean side. As a bonus, there was also a hike up to the notorious but elusive Camp Driftwood. For those who don’t know the legend, Camp Driftwood was the site of a DEA reconnaissance perch that had a view of Norman’s Cay. Between 1978 and 1982 Norman’s was the headquarters for Carlos Lehder’s drug smuggling operation. At the time, Lehder was running distribution for the Medellin Cartel under the notorious Pablo Escobar.
We headed out in our dinghy on a rising tide following Russ into the entrance of the creek. In places the creek was quite shallow. Despite the limited tidal range in the Exumas, running the creek during the upper half of the tide offered a bit more water below the prop. The downside of an incoming tide was that the current was running strong in a few places. Our dinghy, with only a six HP outboard, struggled a few times to stem the current. Back and forth we meandered until the bright blue of the deep water cut became visible in the distance. Around a final corner we grounded onto a pristine white sand beach with open ocean to one side and the waters of the creek to the other.
We eagerly scrambled ashore and planted an anchor high up the beach to keep the dinghy from wandering off on a solo excursion. The white sand of the beach extended out to seaward creating a beautiful spot to swim or just wade in the gin clear water. Finding the trail to Camp Driftwood proved to be easier than anticipated. The trail head was right at the edge of the beach. The actual site of the DEA lookout is also easily identified. In recent years, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park have erected a sign marking the spot.
The hike to the summit of the hill was fairly easy but we were glad just the same that we had brought sturdy sandals for the adventure. Once we reached the top, we were rewarded with an excellent 360 degree view. The distance to the airfield on Norman’s was further than expected. In fact the view in that direction was not that great. With powerful binoculars, however, it would likely be possible to observe and identify aircraft taking off and landing on the island’s airstrip. Apparently, this was the primary reason for the reconnaissance site. From the hilltop on Shroud Cay the DEA officers attempted to track the aircraft smuggling drugs in and out of Norman’s island and report this traffic back to agents in the USA.
With our mission accomplished we scrambled back down the hillside to our dinghy and shoved off to catch the last of the incoming current to speed up our return to Alembic. We thanked Russ for the adventure by treating him to sundowners in our cockpit while we swapped sea stories and shared the beauty of this special spot.