This expanded view of Spiral takes away some of the mystery associated with that image. This view is oriented with north to the right and shows how the Exuma Cays arc across the northern end of Exuma Sound. These cays, combined with the sand bars that stretch west of Eleuthera Island, block the currents coming up from the south. The resulting circular flow of these currents shaped the surface sea foam into a spiral. A smaller spiral also can be seen just inside of the upper right corner of the Sound. The land at the lower right of the image is part of Eleuthera Island.

The area covered by this image is approximately 64x38 miles. A full-resolution crop of the image file is available here that shows the detail present in the full image print.