February 7th
We left at 7:29 and had an awesome close hauled sail to Warderick Wells north mooring field. This place is awesome!!! This is where the Park Headquarters is located. The park is 22 miles long and includes 15 Cays and many more tiny ones. The park boundary extends 15 miles on either side of the Cays. The parks purpose is to provide a safe haven and replenishment area for native species and to educate the public. Nothing living or dead can be removed from the park.
You enter the field following a very narrow channel of deeper water with sand bars on either side of the boat. We were assigned mooring ball 14. The process is very simple. We called the Park Headquarters on VHF radio the day before and request to be “put on the list”. The day of arrival we called the Park on channel 9 and reported our arrival and were given our mooring assignment.
We were expecting some strong winds in the next few days so we decided to stay secure on the mooring ball for 5 nights. It didn’t hurt that this is an incredibly beautiful island. We had two nights of potluck appetizers and drinks on the beach at dusk. Most of the other boats stayed as they had the same idea with regards to the weather. It was a great opportunity to meet new people. Most of them have been here many times before.
We took the hiking trail to the top of Boo Boo Hill for a spectacular 360 degree view around the island. (See Gallery when I get better internet) The story of Boo Boo Hill is that a schooner sunk off the island many years ago and all souls onboard were lost. No bodies were recovered and it is told that when there is a full moon their ghosts gather on the hill and sing hymns. There are also blow holes in the rocks and when there is a strong wind and large waves the sound coming from the holes sounds like ‘BOO!”
At low tide the centre of the mooring field is almost dry and a great place for a walk. Dizzy loved it but couldn’t quite understand why his playground was sometimes under water.