Amulet underway

Following Dave's family's departure, Melinda and I departed for Cambridge Cay, the first island inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park, which is a world class preserve. Very strict regulations on anchoring, and the park seems to provide ample buoys, which are available at a cost of $30/night, and have to be reserved through a morning radio call from the Park service no more than 24 hours in advance of arrival.

We took up a mooring and then launched the Zodiac for a nearby deserted sandy beach island, and enjoyed the sunset.

The following day we reserved a mooring buoy behind Hog's Cay, and then powered 3 hours through a very circuitous route due to lack of depth to Hog's Cay. To our utter shock, we were the only boat that utilized the eight or so buoys. It was heavenly to be in such a beautiful place all alone. We took a Zodiac ride to the nearby islands, including Tyler Perry's private island which featured some pretty substantial infrastucture. We went ashore at Wardwick Wells, and walked to the other side of the island, passing "Pirates Liar" along the way which was one of the few natural springs utilized by pirates in days gone by. Apparently, the pirates used to bring their bedrolls ashore to the clearing by the spring and avail themselves of fresh water and much needed land time.

On Sunday, April 9th, we reserved a buoy in Northfields, which is the main mooring area for the Park Headquarters in Wardwick Wells. Once we entered the harbor, we had to follow a giant "U" pattern through a narrow channel, bearing only 7 feet to get to buoy number 18. With the remainder of the afternoon, we went snorkeling, and saw some nice live corals, but not much else despite the fact that many rays and a few turtles passed underneath the boat.

On Monday, we went ashore and climbed Boo Boo Hill, which is the high point of the island. It was extraordinarily scenic, and offered views in all directions, but particularly interesting was the harbor view, with it's narrow, shallow channel outlined in blue.