Warderick Wells

Our new favorite place in the Exumas.  This place has it all.  Ruins with a mysterious past, snorkeling of world class proportions, trails everywhere and of course, the famous BooBoo Hill.  The headquarters for the park is located here and the staff is an extremely knowledgeable and nice group of young folks from the US.  There are several smaller islands (just like everywhere else) near the bigger islands that also have trails and great snorkeling.  Another spot where we could have spent a lot more time.

This is from our Bahama mentors boat.  Thanks for all the great advice and information!

We spent a lot of time looking at the work of other sailors to create a unique memento of their boat and trip to Warderick Wells.

We found the piece of driftwood on Shroud Cay and David chain drilled it then gouged out the letters.  The date 1-4-13 is on the back.  Happy Birthday Andy!

This is one deep hole.  There are many of them all over the island but this was the only one somebody had bothered to make a ladder to explore the depths.

One of the rocky beaches along the east side.  There were also several nice sand beaches.

He didn't think I would post this one with the googly eyes.

We are on a trail bisecting the island just north of the ranger station.  The marshes shallow out at low tide.

We kept looking for a group of knights who say "Nee" with this one. It seemed worthy of a Monty Python skit.

The building on the left is the headquarters and the building on the right is the Bahamian Defense Force.

An honest to goodness pirate's lair.  This area has a shallow fresh water pool and is screened from the nearby beach so it was heavily used by pirates preying on Spanish treasure ships.  If the rocks could talk I bet there would be some hair raising stories.

The walls runs from beach to beach across the entire island.  There is another one that parallels this one. The wall was built by Loyalists after they escaped during the American Revolutionary War.  It stands about 3.5 feet high and you can see that it's thick and took a tremendous amount of effort.  We're not sure what they were trying to keep out or maybe keep in.  The sinkholes are too numerous between the two to try herding animals.  Even for the poorest person from the states, this was not a step up in places to live.

Some of the ruins of the houses.  The walls were mostly stacked rock.  With a lack of timber, I'm guessing the roofs were palm branches.

This was part of the mooring field directly in front of the park headquarters.  The wind really howled but we were protected.  The moorings made us feel more secure and not have to worry about our anchor dragging.

Sanctuary on our mooring.

There are dozens of trails to choose from.  Fortunately there are many long term visitors who volunteer to keep these signs and trails in good shape.

Every bottom needs a good cleaning every once in a while.

View from the top of a hill looking out into Exuma Sound.

More cairns to mark the way.

Shroud Cay

This is an amazing collection of sand dunes and mangrove marshes.  It is the northern edge of the Great Exuma Land and Sea Park.  You cannot take any fish or shells so things tend to be more intact in the area.  There are several flowing waterways cutting across the mangrove interior.  Climbing the dunes affords spectacular views of Exuma Sound and Exuma Banks.  With the strong tides, the flow reverses twice a day.  Also, the difference between high and low tide really changes what you have to look at even in the exact same spot.  This was definitely a worthwhile stop and if we had more time, we'd like to spend more days exploring.

The first park sign we saw.

Yep, that's the real colors, no Photoshop here.  The dropoff was just offshore and very deep to make that dark blue.

Marsh flats at low tide.  Look how clear the water is here.  The bottom is about 6 feet down.

These lizards are everywhere.  Their tails remind me of scorpions but they are much nice, I hope!

This trail leads from the beach up to the crest of a hill. 

This cave could be seen from one of the waterways but no way to get to it.

The water clarity is wonderful.

These were abandoned by a sand dune.  I wonder what the story is behind them.

Every place has something unique.  Mr. Scarecrow is the one for Shroud Cay.

I never get tired of watching all the varieties of shorebirds making it through another day.  I know they are working a lot harder than I am.

One of the waterway ending in a sand dune.

The interior of Shroud Cay as seen from the top of a dune.

Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay was our first experience with realizing we couldn't trust the guide books to be current.  We had read about the bar on this island having the best burger in all of the Exumas and a nice resort plus the ruins of a drug lords lair.  Well, the ruins were there but the resort and bar were closed.  It was still a very interesting stop and fun exploring the trails.  It does have a runway built by the Columbians so other area resorts use it to fly in customers.  Not sure why the resort couldn't make a go of it but it looked like it was nice once upon a time.

Future coconut tree.  You can see how this travels to so many islands throughout the world.

One of the six cottages under renovation.

David liked this mural and hopes it doesn't get renovated away.

One of the pathways at the resort.

We took this on Dec. 31, 2012.  I think they missed the deadline.

Obviously some body has a sense of humor.  I wonder if the crutches are working.

Aren't we cute on the beach?

Lots of planes use this strip.  It isn't in great shape but it is here.  The end of it is only about 100 feet from the end of the island.

This trailer is near the end of the runway.  The tag on it is from California.

This was the only building still accessible from the drug lord's lair.  It was the barn and growing shed.  These chicken coops made us miss our daughter Angela, the chicken queen of wherever she lives.

This is the opening for the cistern for the compound.  If you look closely, you can see the pipes leading out to the other buildings.

We found the dump while we were out exploring.   David found a new bike but we don't have room for it, too bad!

The rickety docks of the compound.  They are in horrible shape but still in use by resorts picking up tourists from the airstrip.  I can only imagine what people think when they see them.

Allen's and Leaf Cays

These Cairns mark trails all over the islands.  Sometimes it just seems like stacks of rocks and we have added more than a few ourselves.

Our dingy on the beach at Leaf Cay.

The iguanas are trained to come down to the beach when a boat arrives.  Go fast boats from resorts and even as far away as Nassau come every day to bring tourists to feed them.  We enjoyed the show for free.

This a a typical navigation mark/light in the Bahamas, non-functioning and rusting away.

Shoreline of Allen's Cay.  This area actually had a great bit of coral and fish to look at.  I really wish we had an underwater camera.  This is the best snorkeling we've had since Okinawa.  Happily, it is all fairly shallow and the water clarity is wonderful.

These ruins are of a house on Leaf Cay.  I can't imagine what made someone build here since there is no source of water or dock to bring in supplies.  The ruins are mostly a canvas for boaters to leave their mark.  One thing though, the house was situated with a great view of the area.

These steps led up to the ruined house.  You can see that there was a tremendous amount of concrete involved in the construction.  We found the concrete mixer dumped in the water on one of our snorkels.  Fish and coral loved it.

View of the Exuma Sound from the ruins.  The colors are truly breathtaking.

This iguana was living in a tree alongside one of the trails.

Our first stop after Nassau was the anchorage between Allen and Leaf Cays.  This was a great introduction to the Exuma Cays.  There were quite a few boats in there but plenty of room.  We have figured out that with so many folks out cruising there would be no seclusion during this time of year.  The weather is so much nicer than up north.  In fact, the greatest percentage of boats are from Canada.  We hear French every day as well as German and British English.  We have also met a boat from New Zealand so it's definitely a cosmopolitan group.  

More Nassau Pictures

I once again have a link but it is limited in the amount of data I can upload.  I am going to post as many pictures as possible until it cuts me off so enjoy!!  We are currently at Staniel Cay/Big Major Cay and plan to see the swimming pigs and the cave where the James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed.  We have been experiencing strong winds, clear skies and lots of rain, and that is just today!  I will also get the tripline updated as well.

This boat is from a short distance from our home port of Fort Walton Beach.  Even more interesting, the young mate on board graduated from high school with our youngest daughter, Martha.

Fort Montague at the eastern edge of New Providence.  Another small fort. 

 

 I guess they didn't really expect trouble.

These condos were at the end of Paradise Island across from Nassau.  Looks like any place in coastal Florida.

Wardrick Wells

I will make this post short and picture less in hopes that it will make it.  We are currently in Wardrick Wells.  The headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park, a Bahama National Park.  Things have been going well, no breakdowns or major injuries.  We have visited Allen's Cay with it iguanas and good snorkeling, Norman's Cay with it's former Colombian drug lord lair, Shroud Cay with awesome flowing channels in its mangrove interior and now here.  We will be working our way down the Exumas, ultimately to Georgetown.  Where we go next depends on water.  There has been no place since Nassau and no cell town since near Allen's.  It is a bit disconcerting to be out of touch but not all bad.  I will keep updating as I have a signal.  Right now, I'm using a link from a satellite that is shared by all the boaters in the area plus the park folks so it is slow and dependent on the generator not running out of fuel.  We wanted the island life and this is it!!!