30. The Exuma Cays, Land and Sea Park

The forecast for the next few days was for increasing winds over 30 knots out of the north with possible squalls so we headed south to the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park.

This is a Bahamian national park which covers 176 square miles stretching about 22 miles in length and approximately 4 nautical miles on each side of the cays. It is a no take zone by both land and sea -nothing living or dead, can be removed from the park. Their motto is: Take only photographs….Leave only footprints! Throughout the park are underwater coral reefs, pristine beaches without a soul in sight and many hiking trails on the different cays. There is no garbage disposal in the park and no fresh (called sweet) water.

The headquarters of the park are located in Warderick Wells Cay where we spent four days on a mooring ball in the Emerald Rock Mooring Field waiting for the weather to pass.

Our anchorage at Emerald Rock, Warderick Wells

We were lucky and had only the occasional short shower and only two days with uncomfortable winds and one really uncomfortable night with high winds, rain and rolling waves.



While at the headquarters, little banaquits came and ate sugar off my hand. They are quite tame and used to humans. We spent the next few days snorkelling, swimming and hiking the many clearly marked trails. The cays are mostly limestone which are not very dense rocks. Often you could hear an echo as you stepped on a rock. Below there was an area where each rock tapped seemed to produce a different note.

Roman took some wonderful shots using his new camera.

One of the things I bought at headquarters were identification cards for the birds and fish in the Bahamas. This bird is called the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Here a hermit crab is coming out of a shell

One of the trails was called Boo Boo Hill. Apparently a schooner sunk off the coast and all lives were lost and the ghosts of those drowned cry when the wind blows. The trails went over limestone rocks and it is amazing how vegetation seems to grow right out of the rock. The trails have interesting information on all the plants. Who knew that there were so many types of mangrove trees! All I knew about them was that no-seums breed in them. Some mangroves can live is saltwater and expel salt through the roots and/or leaves.

Views from the top of Booboo Hill
See the different shades of blue.



One day we hiked to see the ruins of the Empire Loyalists who came to the island in 1780 after the American Revolution and built a small colony.

This is part of the original buidings of the United Empire Loyalists.

In those days the island was covered with gum and tropical pine trees which were cut down by 1820 leaving the island dry with little protection from the winds and the ocean. Almost two hundred years later, vegetation is still trying to make a comeback but it is a very slow process. Apparently once there was a deep well and cistern but now the water is brackish.

Once this water was crystal clean.

We travelled across the island several times. Here we are crossing some salt flats. We were able to identify many fish in the shallow water.

They will remember that we were here!

A view from the Exuma Sound side of the island.

Here the water is much deeper and the waves really roll in.

This is a skeleton of a whale that is on the beach closest to the Park Headquaters.


One night we had an "appetizer and munchies" get together on the beach. While we snacked on all the delicious food, the no-seums snacked on us. Of course I was the prime target or so it seemed to me by the number of bites I got.



Below, Warren and Joan from Finnistere came for dinner one night.


When the winds let up a bit, we travelled to Cambridge Cay where we still rocked and rolled. I worked on getting the material ready for the Tyler Blog which I decided to do after looking at the pictures I took when we went home. I often work on the material for a blog but must wait until we get a strong internet signal. That is why sometimes I will post several blogs at once.