Into the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park at Little Halls Pond Cays
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Wed 28 Apr 2010 17:38
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24:19.50N, 76:33.87W
One of the outstanding areas of beauty in the
Bahamas lies within the Exuma chain and has been set aside as a
protected park where its prohibited to remove any living (or dead) object
either under the surface of the crystal clear water, or from the
beaches, or anywhere else within the park boundary. The park motto is -
"Take only photographs - leave only footprints". The park occupies 176 square
miles of land and sea and is patrolled by wardens and volunteers, including
cruisers who have spare time to give something back in appreciation of time
spent in the beautiful Bahamas. Tasks they are given to do are fixing or
servicing engines, checking safety systems, clearing beaches of plastic and
accompanying wardens on patrols around the park area, to name just a few.
Well, we hooked no monster fish on the way to the
park from our previous overnight stop. Some monster lumps of weed yes, but
no fish, so we reeled in the lines to comply with the park's 'No Take' policy as
we neared the boundary line. No doubt a mile or so ahead inside the no-take zone
the seas were probably boiling with tasty pelagic fish. Our first stop
in the park was at Little Halls Pond Cays, set in a spectacular area where there
is not only a very pretty coral garden to explore beneath the water just north
of nearby O'Briens Cay but also the submerged wreck of a light aircraft
used by drug runners some years ago. This aircraft which is in approx 12
foot of water can actually just be seen on Google earth just under half a mile
south east of the anchorage we have used as our current earth position.
Testament to the stunning clarity of Bahamas waters!
 The private beach at
Little Halls Pond Cays - our anchorage for the
night Anchorage
approach
We donned our wetsuits, not easy in the
tropical heat and motored the dinghy over to the area marked on our chart as a
"sea aquarium coral garden". As with Thunderball Cave, when we entered the
water over the reef we were surrounded by the inquisitive and
pretty Sergeant Major fish we'd previously encountered. Well, obviously not
exactly the same fish, but the same species. Further below the larger fish could
be seen lurking in various rocky holes, protecting their territory from
intruders. There were some large Groupers present which would have graced any
restaurant table, but of course these specimens were protected by the park rules
and were for looking at only. There were also some large colourful parrot
fish taking chunks out of the coral growth, the sound clearly audible. As
the current started to run it was becoming difficult to stay on station over the
reef and we wanted to take a quick look at the submerged aircraft a short
distance away, so we heaved our bodies back into the dinghy, arms and legs
flailing looking like two elephant seals engaged in a mating ritual.
The short ride over to the mooring buoy over the
top of the aircraft revealed that the tide was now running even stronger so
Phil jumped in with a line attached to him which in turn was attached to the
dinghy. The sunken light aircraft looked like a 2
seater with a single engine and was lying upside down on the
sandy seabed. It's pretty intact, as it was entirely built of aluminium but it
was hardly a DC10 in size which meant that a quick dive down was all that
was needed, just as well as it was all Phil could do to fin and keep up with the
current. So the dive was cut short on the grounds of safety and this time just
the one 'elephant seal' was hauled back into the inflatable by 'Mrs Seal' who
was no doubt pleased to get back to the boat for a welcome cup of
tea.
We had anchored over a good soft sandy bottom with
excellent holding, however this area was certainly affected by the
strong tidal stream. Later we could see a small group of Snappers hovering just
behind the boat stemming the current, no doubt waiting for something to whiz
past that was worth eating. They stayed there until the tide changed when they
just disappeared as fish do. The day's breeze dropped and we experienced one of
those very rare occasions - a dead calm warm clear night where the stars were on
full display in all their glory. Oh! that all cruising days could
be that way, with just 10-15 knot breezes in the daytime for sailing with and
those clear still balmy nights!
 
2 black headed gulls try to
steal our dinghy but can't start the
engine !
Another Bahamas
sunset
and .......................early morning on the Bahamas
Bank
Our time in the Bahamas is gradually running down
and we decided to move on the following day to Warderick Wells Cay where the
headquarters of the park is based. |