EXUMA CAYS LAND & SEA PARK

 

       Exit Strategy entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP) through WARDERICK CUT one sunny afternoon.  Mooring fields are situated at all the popular spots for exploration within the park, one being right at Warderick Cut. To use a mooring, one must contact the park via radio the day before you intend to arrive and be put on a waiting list.  Then the next morning at 9am the park assigns moorings via radio broadcast.  So if you are close enough to transmit and hear the daily park net, it is a simple, efficient system.  However, if you're not within VHF range, then you need to proceed to an approved anchorage. Prior to our arrival we were not within radio range, so we proceeded to one of the few places where anchoring is allowed, namely EMERALD ROCK.  The safe and suitable route  to Emerald Rock was yet another case of "you can't get there from here" easily due to a massive shoal area on the Exuma Bank.  By way of crow, the distance from Warderick Cut to Emerald Rock is about 1.5 nm, but the course we had to carefully motor was about 5 nm. 

 

                                       

       The ECLSP offers a collection of beautiful sites to snorkel, as well as many well-maintained trails to hike.  While we visited, the weather was more conducive to land activities, so we plodded through a number of trails on WARDERICK WELLS CAY and took in some beach time.   The Bahamas are coral atolls, so the trails oscillated from being soft sand to being hard, rough coral rock. Nothing substantial can grow on this type of terrain and finding a little shade ashore was a problem.  



 

 

       At the top of Boo Boo -as in GHOST- Hill. Boo Boo Hill on Warderick Wells Cay is so named because a ship wrecked near it off the Atlantic coast of the ECLSP.  It is said that you can still hear the cries of the crew at night if you are on the hilltop.   (Note the boats in mooring field over my shoulder.)

 

Vessel monument on ridge by Boo Boo Hill



       This impressive Humpback Whale skeleton is on beach near the ECLSP Office.  It was salvaged in the 1990's from Highbourn Cay- Exuma after the whale beached himself.  They believe the whale may have been confused by sonar signals being  emitted by a US Navy vessel who was conducting tests in the vicinity.

 

We hiked many trails since the current was too
 strong on many days to snorkel safely.

 

       On days when the weather was calmer and the current was not as strong, we snorkeled a couple of sites.  The area around Emerald Rock was disappointing at best.  Two dinghy moorings were available there, but after swimming over and around the first spot, we decided to skip the second. So far, we have been somewhat disenchanted by snorkeling in the Bahamas.  The coral heads strewn throughout the Exuma Bank waters are often small with a distance between.  Also,  swimming has been difficult because there often exits a forceful current.

 

Vivid corals in cut at Hog Cay.

One morning while hiking to the top of the ridge, we caught a glimpse of a completely empty and visually inviting mooring field (of 5) in the ECLSP by HOG CAY.  We were giddy with delight- if you can imagine that- and radioed the park office to make a reservation for the next day.  Spending the night there along the Atlantic coast would also serve us as a great jumping off point to sail to our next destination.  At 9am the next day we got our mooring assignment and began our 5 nm. trip out of the Emerald Rock anchorage.

        Upon entering the mooring area at Hog Cay we found one huge motor yacht on a mooring.  We carried on toward our assigned ball and saw another even larger motor yacht power towards OUR ASSIGNED MOORING and pick it up!  Words and a few hand signals were exchanged and then we took the next ball past them.  Danny radioed the park office who immediately sent two ranger boats to take charge of the matter.  What we didn't fully realize was that the ball we were assigned was the ONLY one on which we wouldn't go aground at MLW.  The yacht apologetically released our ball and we picked it up. 

        Shortly afterward, another motor yacht- this one SUPERSIZED- picked up the mooring next to us.  Then the "circus" really began.  A 40' transport vessel pulled up to the shore and unloaded SUPs, kayaks, jet skis, umbrellas, coolers, etc...  There were about 20 guests, aged maybe 18-24, on the mega yacht perhaps doing Spring Break on Daddy's Gold Card.

         We were no longer giddy with delight.