HIGHBOURNE CAY, NORMAN’S CAY AND WARDERICK WELLS
21 November 2011 | Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea Park
Cheryl - Lots of wind
We were able to get the Yamaha outboard going again, thanks to Juan. There was water in the fuel, not sure how it got there. But, problem fixed. Stayed one night at the Highbourne Cay Marina then anchored off the Cay the following night. The next two nights were anchored off Norman's Cay. Norman's Cay claim to fame is some drug guy once lived there. There is a great little restaurant/bar called Norman's Cay Beach Club (formerly known as McDuff's). They were just reopening for the season and waiting for their supplies to come in from Nassau. The second day we were able to get a burger and fries for $18. That's $18 each, plus 5 beers and tip for a total of $80.00. Great guy, Steph, who owns/runs the place and his 5 month old lab named Salt. The island is shaped like a very long horsehoe, just around the southwest tip of the island is where a plane crashed (a DC something), lost it's hydraulics at take off, several years ago this happened. Anyway, we took the dinghy and anchored next to it and snorkeled around. Part of it sticks out of the water, deepest about 8 feet. Some coral and fish but very clear aqua water. There was a catamaran with 4 french people next to us, met them at McDuff's the first night. Second night we were there they must have gotten lit at McDuff's, they couldn't seem to find their boat in the dark and I heard lots of merde's (shit) and grunts and groans (not sure what that was about) right next to our boat. I got out our good flashlight and aimed it on their boat. After that I heard several merci's (thank you).
We sailed (yes, sailed) to Warderick Wells which is one of the islands in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The Park covers about 22 miles with no fishing allowed. We are on a mooring ball which is $15 per day for our size boat. The Park Headquarters are located on this cay. Lots of hiking trails around, Bill and I did one up to Boo Boo Hill and the Blow Holes. We have lots of great pics but don't think we can upload them from the wifi here. Apparently the wifi has been down until today since the hurricane that went through here a few months ago. Looks like we could be here for several days. We had a couple of good weather days and now it looks like 4-5 days of 15-25 mile winds.