Wandering around Warderick Wells
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Fri 27 May 2011 00:29
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24:31.61N
076:47.77W The Bahamas returned today in all their glory.
After a tropical deluge during the night which sounded like an incessant drum
roll on the coach roof, we awoke to clear blue skies and blazing sun. We had our
usual lazy PJ-clad coffee in the warmth of the cockpit as we established a plan
for the day. Under the influence of the brightness of the sun, the colours of
these islands come to life. The drab greys and blues of the last few days were
transformed into fabulous turquoise over the shallows.
After a brief episode with the temperamental
outboard (hopefully just spark plug problems), We buzzed into a deserted beach
in Jemima the dinghy. Warderick Wells is the centre of the Exuma National Park,
and home to its headquarters, so it seems as if they had made a particular
effort to provide walking trails and panels about native species of plant and
bird. Winding back and forth among head-high palmetto palms, we followed the
path over a hillock of ancient, spiky coral and were presented with a
breathtaking view of beach, greenery and the inevitable shades of water strung
with four or five yachts lying to the ebb tide.
On top of Boo Boo hill - named apparently in honour
of the lost souls of a wrecked schooner which sank with every hand - decades of
visitors have left driftwood planks painted with their boats' names and the
date. We added our own small offering on a tiny scrap of rotten 2 by 1 inch
wood. We borrowed heavily from the Sadler logo, in the style of Will and I's
painting on the quay at Las Palmas. Photographic evidence will be supplied in
the next posting (from Nassau).
We snorkelled in the afternoon. Because fishing and
conching are forbidden in the national park, sealife is much more abundant and
larger than usual. Thus, Alex spotted half a dozen huge spiny lobsters hiding
under a rock. Far from being afraid of us, these five pound monsters emerged to
wave their antennae in a threatening fashion. We saw massive groupers and a big
eagle ray wheeling about over the bottom, accompanied by a remora - a thin,
lithe fish with a spongy pad on top of its head for suctioning itself to a large
host. I also saw a three foot version of the stripy gurnard I caught (and
dropped back over the side) at Staniel Cay.
At about 4pm we hauled up the anchor and sailed
northwest to Hawksbill Cay, just south of Norman Cay where we started the week.
The wind has been a steady 12-14 knots for the past couple of days and it's been
good to turn the donk off and set the sails. We buzzed along at about 6 knots
most of the afternoon, in four metres of water. These shallows take some getting
used to after so much Caribbean sailing where the depth is off the scale until
you're 100 yards from the shore. But it's great fun sliding about between the
cays, weaving through narrow channels and around coral heads and sandbanks. The
pilotage isn't nearly as tough as our guide leads us to believe, so it's really
possible to relax and enjoy the splendid scenery. In the lee of the cays over
the bank there's rarely any wave over about a foot tall, so it's pretty calm
too.
Back to Nassau tomorrow across the Yellow Bank.
It's about 50 miles from here, so we'll have an early start. With luck we'll be
able to sail. I wish we'd had more time to explore the Exumas and a little less
anchored in Nassau Harbour, but at least we ate a fair bit of cracked conch.
We're meeting Graham at the Poop Deck for lunch on Saturday, so we're not done
yet with conch!
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