Compass Cay and the Nurse Sharks

Compass Cay is a private island with a great marina and a few vacation cottages. There are also resident nurse sharks that come to the marina to be fed, which is a big attraction that draws boat loads of people from surrounding islands. The entire island is maintained by the owner of the marina, and you can really tell that a lot of TLC goes into taking care of everything. The marina was colorfully decorated with driftwood signs painted by cruisers, and there was a series of trails that led to various points of interest, like Rachel’s Bubble Bath, the crescent beach, and the Bat Cave.

As soon as we pulled up to the dock in our dinghy, we saw the sharks swimming around, and I was the lucky one that had to get out of the boat to pull us in. It is relatively safe being around nurse sharks, but it was still intimidating being surrounded by them. They have small, serrated teeth and suck in their prey with an influx of water so you definitely want to keep your hands away from their mouth. There was a small group of people already in the water, and they started feeding them as we approached. We stuck around for a few minutes to pet them and then went to inquire about eating lunch. They only serve hamburgers and hot dogs and only if they are not too busy doing other things. Luckily there was a group from a large yacht that also wanted lunch so the two guys who worked at the marina stopped what they were doing and fired up the grill. It was $15 for one hamburger (and no sides), but it was worth it! It was the first place we had eaten out since leaving Nassau, and I had gotten tired of eating the same ole things on the boat.

I had read on Active Captain that the beach is postcard picture perfect so we walked the short distance to the beach, set up our umbrella, and relaxed for a couple of hours. It was very pretty, but I still think the beach at Shroud Cay is the best I have ever seen. David went snorkeling and saw a couple of squid, which I thought was pretty cool. After we had our fill of the beach, we tried to find the Bat Cave, but we somehow lost the trail and gave up. On the way back to the marina, we saw a 2-3 foot long green snake at the edge of trail, and I almost lost it. If you know me, then you know that I am TERRIFED of snakes. I even have nightmares about them and prefer to only see them safely in the confines of a glass cage.  It took me a few minutes to get the courage up to walk past it, but I was sure to put David between it and myself J We ended the day with a short swim in the natural swimming pool created by His and Hers Cay.