Exuma Land and Sea Park 1/26/13

After a couple of rocky nights off Shroud Cay, we woke up the day before yesterday ready to get moving.  Shroud Cay boasts a beautiful estuary through the mangroves so we headed out early to see what it was all about.  Unfortunately, with the weather being more a factor, the ride was fun but not nearly as peaceful nor the beach as enjoyable as promised but the trip was worth it nonetheless.

Rick was READY when we returned so we quickly shifted into “moving mode”.  Everything was put away, the dinghy raised and such and off we went.  We had a beautiful sail down the inside of the Exuma chain.  We had less than 20 miles to go and set our sails, seeing over 6.5 knots the whole way – sometimes topping 8!  (Yup, 8 miles an hour is SCREAMING!  Gotta love it!)

Warderick Wells is one of the places that everyone comes to the Exumas to experience.  It’s a land and sea park comprised of dozens of little islands all with some special claim to fame.   It’s a “no-take” zone meaning nothing is allowed to be removed – from fish to shells and the like – so there is a lot of sea life to be seen. 

We have a mooring in the middle of the northern field which has the most gorgeous palette of blue waters you can imagine.  If only cameras could do this justice.  We arrived to the waves of our good friends Ian and Lynn aboard Windward from the beach.   How great to see familiar faces!

Since then we’ve been busy exploring the island and the surrounding waters.  Warderick Wells Cay itself is quite large and is covered with a dozen hiking trails over the iron rock landscape looking something like what you might expect on the moon!  We have explored a few trails and spent a couple hours snorkeling yesterday that were the highlight of our Exuma experience to date.  The pictures, of course, cannot even begin to show how amazing the area is and I’m still learning the finer points of snorkeling so my underwater photography skills definitely have need for improvement but suffice it to say – this is some great stuff!

I saw a 10” parrot fish with all the colors of the rainbow, a hole with huge lobsters just piled on top of each other, countless colorful fish from the size of a fingernail to the size of my head and lots and lots of coral.  Never having been in a true snorkeling paradise before, every glance is a marvel!

Ian and Lynn are hosting Canadian friends, Rob and Laurel, and also knew our mooring neighbors Matt and Patty aboard Patty D so we have spent the past days sharing the sunset, coffee, muffins, dinner and friendship.  I finally feel like we’re having the “cruising experience” with friendly faces, great food and lots to do.

As another front threatens, Ian and Lynn and company headed out early this morning to safely return their guests to Nassau and we are settling in waiting for the anticipated 30+kt winds due to arrive some time today.  It’s comforting knowing we’re on a good mooring, next to several folks we know and can weather this storm without incident.  Who knows, I might even be able to get back in with the fish today!