Warderick Wells
Exuma Park Land & Sea Park
Saturday, March 10, 2013
Another beautiful day! Second night at Warderick Wells; such a scenic place. We arrived Thursday afternoon after radioing ahead to reserve a mooring. This is one of, if not the most popular place in the Exumas, and you pretty much only get a mooring ball by getting on the waiting list a day ahead.
After securing the mooring, we took the dinghy ashore to check in and learn more about what is here. Decided to take advantage of the remaining afternoon time to do some hiking. We took one of the trail maps and hiked for about 3 hours. Spectacular scenery! The rocky trails took us along areas of mangroves and other vegetation; interesting to note the different types of growth. Johnny took delight in spotting more of the little curly tailed lizards like those we saw on Shroud Cay. But I have to say the most amazing sight is the water, especially from atop the hills where you can see such varied colors…everything from white in the shallows over sand, to multiple shades of aqua, and farther out, the navy of deep water. Makes you want to just stop and stare forever.
The trail back north led us down to a beach that was rocky at the water’s edgy and sandy above that, with yet another strand of flat rock above that. Not the variety of shells we’ve seen on other islands, but lots of coral and remnants of sea life we haven’t seen before.
We made our way to Boo Boo Hill, a high spot on the island where cruisers have a tradition of leaving pieces of driftwood with their boat names, crew, and date(s) of their visits. Reminded us of the shelter in the islands of the northwest where we saw something similar years ago.
As we neared what we assumed was the return route to the beach near our mooring, our way was blocked by water. We ventured out in several directions, but encountered water at every turn. Finally we spotted trail markers on the other side of the water and decided that the trail did in fact go through the water, so we waded across water that turned out to be only about calf deep at low tide. After looking at the map again later, the route was clearly marked. We had just let our preconceived notions of the trail confuse us.
One thing about the Land & Sea Park, there is nothing available in the way of provisions, unless you count the tee shirts and other souvenirs available in the office. No water, no fuel, no groceries. Glad we had read in advance and knew that.
Dinner Thursday night was penne pasta with Vodka sauce from a jar that was amazingly tasty. Not as good as when Johnny makes the Rachel Ray “Not Single for Long Pasta,” but definitely a close second.
Friday we had pecan pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then set out in the dinghy. We beached south of Emerald Rock with plans to hike some of the southern trails, but we met some folks coming back down because they couldn’t find trail markers. Chatted with them a bit. One couple lives in Georgetown, SC. Small world.
Got back in the dinghy and went around to the Hog’s Cay anchorage. Came back to the north harbor, and JR snorkeled for a short time before we returned to the boat for lunch. I made some really tasty nachos using canned beef over chips and lettuce. Added sautéed onions and peppers, cheese, sour cream and jalapenos. Not bad at all. (You’ll notice that food is still a priority for the Rosses!)
After lunch I read a while and JR went online to do his thing, then we took the dinghy back to the beach.
Saw the SC couple again (they are on Salt Shaker, an IP) and talked about making signs for the top of Boo Boo Hill. When she said she hadn’t been able to get him to carve theirs, Johnny offered the use of his tools. So we may be getting together later today to complete that project.
We went up to the Blow Holes and then back to Boo Boo Hill and Boo Boo Beach, where I found a piece suitable for JR to make our sign.
Yesterday on the park morning net, we heard Southern Cross (one of our buddy boats on the crossing from Marathon to Bimini) request a mooring for tonight. We had been emailing back and forth and had learned that they are heading home earlier than originally planned. Looking forward to seeing them again.
So, that brings us to today. Johnny is working as a volunteer this morning, doing some splicing of lines they use for moorings here. And I’m just being lazy, sitting here on the porch of the park office catching up on some journaling and blogging while I look out at this gorgeous water.