North Anchorage, Warderick Wells, Exuma Land & Sea Park

Our second day at Exuma Park, we had a bit of snorkelling and trekking planned. Visitors are provided with maps for both snorkel sites and the many marked trails on the island. We caught up on the blog and  couple of other jobs first so that we managed to time our walk as per usual during the heat of the day.

View from the dingy dock – note the people walking on the sand bar in the centre of the anchorage

Our walk today took us to the top of the highest point of the island only about 30m above sea level but still giving spectacular views. The trail takes you along the beach where the skeleton of a sperm whale has been reconstructed as a monument and learning tool, the whale was washed up locally with a stomach full of plastic waste. The tour then winds across the moonscape interior of lava bordered on each side by mangroves. There are actually many different types of vegetation and each are sign posted with detailed information, the ones such as mosquito and sandfly bushes I personally thought they could do without but I suppose you have to maintain the local ecosystem.

  Jo with our Invincible sign beside the Sperm Whale memorial

      View of North Anchorage from Boo Hill

When you are at the top of Boo Hill you can see the amazing blue crescent shaped channel of the northern anchorage. There is also an area where you can leave you boat name. Kevin had decorated the board that we got with Invincible when we picked her up, marking her as hull #86. However there was yet another sign saying that drift wood only could be left in case it blows away in a storm. We decided that was a fair point so didn’t leave our board as we didn’t find any drift wood to substitute. The legend goes that the hill is named Boo after the ghosts which can be heard singing hymns up there at night following the loss of a vessel with all hands over a hundred years before. There were some quite elaborate signs and it did make it feel like quite a special place.

Boat Names at the top of Boo Hill

We took a seat on the small makeshift bench up there to enjoy the view and acclimatise to the altitude. We were joined by a lizard who was very bold and I think would have eaten from our hands if we had food to offer. As it was he surveyed each of us in turn and posed for a few photos with his splendid curly tail.

Kevin and our lizard friend

Friendly Boo Hill lizard

Invincible  – Warderick Wells

We returned to the boat for some lunch before venturing out to Rangers Park a small reef at the north of the anchorage for a snorkel. There was a good selection of fish and coral on display and a couple of small rays. However, nothing as large as the eaglerays we had seen the night before. The current was beginning to pick up so we headed back to the boat for the rest of the afternoon.

Small ray at Ranger Park reef

Overnight there were some spectacular lightening and thunder again and a heavy downpour. The anchorage is extremely peaceful though and was again fully subscribed.

North Anchorage, Warderick Wells, Exuma Land & Sea Park

We set off from Big Majors Spot around 8.30am for our 20 mile sail up the Exuma chain to the Exuma Land and Sea Park our next destination. The Exuma Park, set up in 1958, a world first in marine conservation covers 176 square miles of cays, rock and reefs. Warderick Wells is the site of the Park Headquarters and where moorings are provided.

We listened in on the daily 9am VHF radio broadcast allocation of moorings to reserve ours for arrival. This must be a popular spot though as they were fully booked but said we should make our way anyway as check out was not until lunch and they were sure we’d get a mooring at that point. We were not expecting to be there until lunchtime anyway because there was only light winds so carried on as suggested. There were a few more boats around travelling bankside. This time we were able to get straight out into the deeper water (well 4-5m) and so it was fairly relaxed sail in minimal swell despite the S-SE winds. The light breeze and building summer temperature meant that it was sweltering all the way as we struggled to get some shade and breeze.

Exuma and Sea Land Park, Warderick Wells

We arrived to the park just before it closed for lunch and we were given a mooring and good instructions to find it. The boats are all moored in a crescent shape around a central sand bank of bright white sand with a deep blue channel round the outside which makes a spectacular scene when you arrive. Nearly all of the moorings were full and I think we were one of only two boats not registered in Florida. I went to check us in with the Park HQ as I’d heard they had a book swap and our supplies are getting dangerously low with all this wet weather! Unfortunately we had missed slack water to do any snorkelling this afternoon and there seemed to be a wind over tide / wind tunnelling affect on the anchorage as there was quite a blow and chop not really suitable for swimming. Luckily they had DVDs for hire for only $2 each and after watching the same set that we had already watched before we left for the last year I could not resist!

Arriving into Warderick Wells North Anchorage

We had dinner in the cockpit, it was still really warm at 6.30pm as the wind had really died down now. We sat on the side deck in the shade and were amazed to see three very large eagle rays about to glide past the boat. I dashed up to get the camera (ever eager to record all for the blog!) which caused them to divert their course away but I just managed to get a shot of their shadows on the surface as they departed. Whilst I was fetching the camera, Kevin saw a small nurse shark as well! We are looking forward to some snorkelling tomorrow and a walk up Boo Hill to leave our boat name according to tradition.

Three very large eagle rays glide  past the boat

Big Majors Spot, Exumas, Bahamas

The mystery of the freighter was solved at 4am when the mail boat came in and moored up against the apparently disused Happy People marina. It did so without ramming either ourselves or the rocks behind us which was good.

I could not then get back to sleep so made the best of our remaining internet time and watched the sun rise behind large clouds to the east with a very red tinge of the proverbial sailor’s warning heralding the rain and distant thunder of the day. We’d only literally a couple of miles to travel today “round the corner” to Big Majors Spot, I’ve no idea where it get its rather unusual name though. When we rounded the headland we realised where everyone else had been hiding in the nice sandy bay which was cramped with large motor cruisers and a few yachts. Fowl Cay was directly ahead which hosts the Royal Plantation Resort which apparently does a great dinner and by the looks have a restored Plantation House ashore.

Busy anchorage and Fowl Cay ahead 

Invincible anchored of Big Majors Spot

We manage to get a spot closest to the beach, though hopefully far enough away to be out of pig swimming range. We did some chores and had some lunch whilst the rain stopped. Kevin prepared some fairly disgusting tinned turkey which he could not bring himself to eat to take to the pig being rather short of any fresh supplies to feed them. We took the dingy in and disappointingly at first they seem to ignore us until on looked up and they all came running and then swimming out to the dingy. One tried to board the dingy at this point and Kevin had to start the engine whilst we replanned our approach. I rather sheepishly volunteered to stay with the dingy and drop Kevin off to feed the pigs are their enthusiasm is a little intimidating.

  We’ve been spotted

 First swimmers approach

 Preparing to board

 The Pied Piper

Feeding time at Great Majors Spot

We went in closer again and two swam out to meet us as Kevin jumped out of the dingy and the all followed him up the beach all the little curly tails jigging in unison behind him. The demolished the two tins of turkey in no time and Kevin received at least one nip in their eagerness. The other local wildlife have obviously also cottoned on the the popularity of the pigs and there were gulls swooping down to steal what they could not to mention fish swimming in to claim anything below the waterline.

We took a short trip along the dramatic undercut and cavernous coastline before it started to rain again and we headed back to the boat. Through the afternoon the pigs have received an almost constant stream of visitors, those with the bigger tenders seeming to fare slightly better in the food distribution, more than one smaller tender like ours turned back when the first boarding's started and they lost out on some good tack. Other than that the rain has been on and off all afternoon so we resigned ourselves to some more reading.

Staniel Cay, Exuma, Bahamas

We lose our internet access this morning so I though I would be especially diligent and get completely up to date on the blog before we do. Last night we had an excellent evening out at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. When we arrived the staff were gutting fish at an outdoor facility at the waters edge and throwing the debris over the side. There to clean up were about a dozen nurse harks plus some pretty big rays. The kids here on holiday though that was great and they were taking the skin and trimmings and trying to hand feed them.

 It’s behind you!

  Shark feeding for children in Staniel CayNurse Sharks enjoying a free dinner 

Staniel Cay Yacht Club is another one of those famous yachting hangout that you just have to visit (you can tell because they sell t-shirts!).  So we thought we ought to experience a night there. It is has loads of character and the wall is covered in old photos of famous visitors and stages of the build starting back in the 1950’s, plus obviously all the Thunderball memorabilia.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Photos from the filming of the James Bond Thunderball film

We met two nice American families in the bar, Mark, Anna and Bella from Nashville / Florida are here for a week and there house in Florida is near the Cape Canaveral anchorage that we are planning to visit in July. They were really helpful on some places for us to visit in Florida. We are hoping to see them then and also later today when we visit the feral pigs on Great Major’s Cay, beside Staniel Cay which swim out to meet you in the dingy and like to be fed (Update to this post next time we get internet). David & Jamie are I think from Tennessee and are planning to visit London, the Cotswolds and the Lakes this summer. We used to live near the Lakes in the UK so we gave them a few suggestions on places to visit.

Thunderball Cave, Staniel Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

Today is another bright sunny day and we decide it would be a good day to go to the famous local land mark, Thunderball Cave, named after it’s staring role in the James Bond film of the same name. Due to the currents in the area we have to visit on low water slack so we have been waiting for this to occur nearer the middle of the day for better light. It occurs today at 10.30am so we head over to the dingy moorings outside. I have done a reckie the afternoon before and find it is fairly easy to find, having a sign in the rocks above it. The limestone Cay has entrances on each side and the inside has been carved out by the waves over the ages to form a cavern inside with hole through the roof with piercing sunlight shining through. It is most famed for the large numbers of fish which congregate inside and will hand feed.

 

Followed into the cave for feeding time 

Before the bread arrives but they know what is coming

Behind that mass of fish you can just see Kevin The last of the bread being eaten and the fish disperse 

Looking out the south entrance 

South entrance  Light penetrates the roof of the cave

South entrance after the second feeding 

Shoal of fish on the outside of a smaller south entrance

Kevin beside the entrance 

Jo thankfully no longer surrounded 

Fish still hopeful of more bread 

When we arrive there is another small motor boat moored up but they have not yet entered the water. The fish are obviously well versed in the procedure and come out to greet us when we enter the water. I take the camera and Kevin takes the bread. I am well used to diving with fish over the years but I have never been anywhere where they get so close and it is is quite claustrophobic as they cramp right up to your mask. Kevin starts distributing the bread and the fish go into frenzy. The photos are just a blur of movement. Kevin throws some bread near to me which brings them even closer and I squeal like a girl as the fish nip me in their excitement to get to the food.

It is quite spectacular inside the cave and when the bread is gone the fish back off a bit and I get some photos. The other group then come into the cave and do their feeding. We swim out round the Cay and back round into the entrance. I try to get the classic blue window shot from the film, but although the water looks clear it doesn’t quite come out in the photos as the sun is the wrong side of the Cay. However it does catch the light on the other entrance and the fish obligingly swim into shot. We were hoping there may be some nurse sharks, but there are not, obviously the apparently quite lazy nurse sharks thought better of hanging around in a tourist spot.

Invincible at anchor, Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

At last today dawns with bright blue clear skies and sunshine and we open all the hatches and drag mattresses, bedding and all lockers out for an airing. I give our cabin a real spring clean and Kevin cleans out the anchor locker whilst dragging out the diesel jerry cans ready for us to run ashore and top up.

We don’t need much and it doesn’t seem worth loosing our good anchoring spot, so we go in on the dingy. I am quite excited at the dock to see 6 nurse sharks lazing in the water under the boats on the dock. A big ray glides past in the clear water. I have obviously not thought to bring the camera for photos of diesel filling which just goes to show you. The fuel dock /  marina attendant is less impressed in fact is pretty grumpy to any small talk at all and leaves us to fill our own jerry cans.

I leave Kevin to go and pay whilst I walk to the store to get some bread. Apparently the girl behind the bar is too busy doing her nails when he arrives to serve him. Luckily a nice Danish guy from the boat beside us who popped over to introduce himself last night is around with his son. They depart tomorrow on their first leg north before they depart for their 21 day Atlantic crossing back the other way to the Azores on route to Denmark.

Staniel Cay Beach 

I decide to try the Pink store as it looks the biggest from outside. The screen door looks makes it look dark inside and I hesitate before an elderly female voice tells me to come in. I discover it is actually dark inside, obviously in an attempt to keep it cool, the white haired black lady owner though also has quite a creaky voice and it is quite eerie, it feels like a scene from a cheesy horror film!

I ask if she has any bread and am directed to a deep freeze and select one light and one dark wholemeal loaf. When I get to the counter the owner asks if I am sure about the darker loaf, it tastes different she says. I say yes thanks, we prefer the darker. I ask how much they are, she starts to pick off the price tag which I can see says $3.40, she says $6 each and asks if I am off a boat. How big, I say 36ft, she says wow that’s a big boat for you and your husband, without mentioning it is a catamaran, we are the smallest boat we have seen in weeks, but perhaps this makes her feel better about the 100% increase in price. I say I will put one loaf back and return the lighter loaf to the freezer. When I get back to the counter she says she is not sure she can let me have the darker loaf (the last one) as it tastes a bit funny. Completely flabbergasted by now, I say fine and put this loaf back and return to her competitor up the road.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

In the blue shop, the old guy behind the counter is really nice and they have the cereal, fresh bread and milk which I need. The 750g Special K (the only non-sugared cereal) is $7.75 mind, but our only alternative on the boat is porridge and we are conserving gas. He also persuades me to take some locally made banana bread for quite a reasonable $2. I am offered a lift back in a golf cart by a nice young local lady and I compliment her on her town which she appears very pleased by.

We head back to the boat and refill diesel and try to restore some order. We have another pleasant afternoon. I try a snorkel on the reef at the back but am a bit nervous about the local guys in skiffs which go past our boat at full speed regularly even passing between us and the reef. We have a game of dominoes in the cockpit in the early evening as I try to avenge the thrashing in our last game of gin rummy a couple of days before. We are quite thrilled to see an Osprey land on the rocks behind the boat with a large fish which he takes his time eating for the next 20minutes as we eat our dinner watching him.

Osprey lands behind the boat to feed

  Osprey close up – taken through the binoculars

Osprey close up – taken through the binoculars

Just before dusk, a local guy comes in a skiff and tells use a freighter is coming in this evening and we ought to move to the blue water over the reef from where we are because he might not see us. Kevin points out quite reasonably that there are rocks behind us and to hit us that it would have to go over them. He just repeats that it might not see us. We are really confused by this odd message, there is very clearly no dock capable of taking a freighter north of where we are, there is very definitely not the draught to take a freighter, we are certainly protected by the rocks behind with a visible flashing white light upon it.  High water comes and goes with no signs of any big ships coming in, we wonder again why anyone would try to navigate in the dark round here. We put our bimini light as well as our anchor light on when we go to bed. No vessels at all come in that night. We are still puzzled what on earth he was trying to achieve in getting us to move. The charts very clearly indicate this is an anchorage, we are not in the channel, we decide to ignore it as we are only staying one more night.

Staniel Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

Today turns out to be another dull overcast day and we pay for the local Satellite Wifi link up to catch up with the world while we wait for the rain to clear. Ironically on Facebook everyone in the UK is saying how sunny it is back there.

Staniel Cay main street – golf carts are the only traffic here

When the rain clears we make a quick sortie ashore, we are mostly in search of the Island Store as they apparently stock propane. We walk round the attractive looking Staniel Cay Yacht Club, the bar of which is full at 1pm, they obviously have all decided there is not much else to do in the rain but we don’t like drinking in the day time and leave them to it. Staniel Cay is one main street along the waterfront with a few residential roads stretching back. The town beach is very pleasant white sand and there are some brightly coloured holiday rental cottages, an art gallery, school, police station, the ubiquitous Battleco tower and offices. We reach the church at the end of town and have found no store, we get directions from a local guy back to one of the side streets and find two stores which are like outhouses on people’s homes, but these are not the Island store. We ask inside the bright blue store (as opposed to their competitor the Pink store) and we are told to go back to the church, along the shore and over the bridge. We step outside the store and see a huge black ugly looking squall heading this way and decide to go back to the boat.

Happy People marina

The rain is in for a couple more hours and we wait it out on board. Around 4pm, the rain stops and the sky clears and the bay is a buzz with little skiffs and tenders. Kevin ventures across the bay in our dingy and pull up at the Island Store, which from the name we are anticipating to be the main one in town. When Kevin walks in there are only two shelves, obviously not. The lady behind the counter on seeing our small Camping Gas cylinder immediately says, “European Gas cylinder, nope, we don’t have any fittings for those, even if we did we have no gas until next week. You need to go to Nassau for that”. Kevin returns to the boat to report the news, we debate how hard can it be to make up a metric connection when they obviously get enough enquires for them to recognise it instantly. We discuss our travel plans and decide to get to Nassau slightly earlier to get our refill – as a good First Mate I realise the importance of the Skipper’s cup of tea in the morning, not to mention our daily espresso.

Invincible at anchor off Staniel Cay under black clouds

We have another evening on board, as we are reaching the end of our DVD collection now, Kevin has persuaded me to watch the Band of Brothers series (I’m not a bombs and bullets kind a girl). I surprise myself by rather enjoying it though – we have both learned to enjoy each others films on this trip.