Warderick Wells and on to George Town; February 27-March 5:

We got up Wednesday morning and headed south to Warderick Wells. This Cay is the Headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The park is a nature preserve that includes 15 major cays and stretches from north to south about 22 miles. It's a wonderful place to be, but we were there not just for the beauty and the fact that Adrien and Nina from Dolphin were there....we were sailing for cover from a Nor' wester due to hit in a few days! We needed a protected place. Warderick Wells fit the bill with very strong moorings and good protection. The moorings are by assignment only here. The procedure for getting one is for a vessel to radio in a day ahead to be put on the waiting list and then listen the next day at 9:00am to see if you get a mooring assignment. We were relieved to get in since the place was FULL! I don't know if the fact that we called the Bahamas National Trust to renew our membership and asked them to be sure and call Warderick Wells to let them know helped us get in(members get preference), or if it was the fact that Adrien went up to the office to personally tell them this bit of information that did the trick. Either way, we were relieved to be in!!

Again, the first thing I did when we arrived was jump in the water and snorkel! We had a great mooring right near one of the reefs. Over the time we spent there, I swam with a nurse shark, a spotted eagle ray and a lemon shark! I finally saw a spiny lobster which The Bahamas are famous for, a lionfish and many other colorful fishys and coral! I really love snorkeling and trying to identify all the living creatures and plants that are unique to the ocean.

During our time here, we enjoyed hikes up to Boo Boo Hill and down to Boo Boo Beach.




Some of them before the cold front and one after! The views from the hill are spectacular.



Looking to the west, "The Banks" side, you can see the deeper blue channel where the moorings are and the extremely shallow water all around!



The view to the east of the ocean side is majestic. The Bahama Islands are surrounded by banks of shallow ocean with deep (1000s of feet) channels that cut into that. The name, The Bahamas, comes from the Spanish words that mean Grand Shallow Ocean. Up near Boo Boo Hill there are "blow holes". When the surf comes in from the ocean side a rush of wind (and sea water if the tide is high enough and the surf is strong enough) blasts through these holes in the limestone.



I experienced a "Marilyn Monroe moment" with the skirt of my swimsuit blowing up and my hat, as well! All of the Exuma Land and Sea Park is a "no take zone" so Mark just took a picture of the "blood tooth" shell that I found on Boo Boo Beach. I had never found one of those before so it was hard not to add it to my collection!




We introduced Adrien and Nina and others to the rock that looks like Aslan, the lion. Kenny discovered that on his visit last year!



We enjoyed catching back up with Nina and Adrien with visits between our boats



--a little bit of business, a little bit of pleasure. We had a nice dinner on their boat with some new friends that they introduced to us, Lauren and Brian, on "Que Cera Cera".



The cold front hit and the winds were as high as predicted (gusts up to 34 knots), but we fared very well on mooring ball #16.



Everyone stayed inside Saturday when it hit. We rented a couple of movies from the park office! The temperature dropped to about 64degrees.




I finished my sailboat mosaic and stayed cozy on Nancy Lu.

We left Warderick Wells Monday along with Dolphin. They stopped at Staniel Cay, but we sailed on (We got to use the spinnaker sail again!!) to Black Point, a town we enjoyed last year on Great Guana Cay.




When we got there that evening, we went to shore and walked to the house where Sharon and Charles Vassalo live when they are on island in the winter. They serve as missionaries there. Their little parsonage was closed up tight. We walked on to Lorraine's Café for dinner, and I asked about them. Lorraine told me that they didn't come this winter because Sharon had surgery. I was sorry not to be able to see them again.




We had a nice night at anchorage in the harbor at Black Point, and left early this morning to make it through Dotham Cut at slack tide on our way to the east side of the Exuma Island chain to sail down to George Town, Great Exuma Island.



When you go through a cut from the shallow "Banks" to the deep ocean side or vice versa, the current is very strong and makes it hard to control the boat. That is why you plan to go at slack tide(the short period where there is no current between a rising or ebbing tide).




Mark's always happy when we make it through a cut just fine!!




He'd also be very happy if we could catch a fish.






Today, a beautiful Mahi Mahi got away and we let a little barracuda go. We're excited about picking up our guests, Claire, Kenny and Kay in George Town on Saturday! I've got laundry and a little grocery shopping to do before then. We finally can get internet so I can catch up on posting these blogs!

Man! I forgot what it looks like at night in Elizabeth harbour with all the anchor lights from the hundreds of sailboats--they look like stars! It is the last week of the cruisers regatta here. I hope the boats stick around so Kenny and Kay can see what it's like.

See the photo gallery for more pictures.