MIDORI ADVENTURES

We have spent five nights on a mooring ball at Warderick Wells, the headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. A designated marine replenishment area and nursery, the park is a "no take" zone. Fishing, conching, shelling and lobstering are strictly prohibited. Nothing (living or dead) can be removed from the park.

The northern mooring field has the most spectacular colour of water, but situated close to Warderick Wells Cut , has a very strong current. As we are anticipating northeasterly and easterly winds, we take a mooring near Emerald Rock on the west side of the island.

The park office includes a gift shop, marine and wildlife displays, and a book exchange. Wireless Internet and ice are available. Warderick Wells offers moorings, good snorkelling and several hiking trails and "Boo Boo Hill" where many cruisers have left their boat name on a piece of old planking or driftwood.

In the company of Steve and Mary Ann, our first snorkelling excursion is an easy one. We swim to shore from our respective boats and drift over some coral outcroppings. We see some pretty fish, big and small, and........a lion fish! (Apparently, there were two) They are considered to be an invasive species, but they sure are pretty. We wonder what the stance of the park officials is on this species? When we get back to MIDORI and I am busy hanging our rinsed suits on the lifeline, I look down and see a lone nurse shark enjoying the shade of our port hull.

On Monday morning, we do the hike up to Boo Boo Hill to look for the piece of driftwood with our boat name and date of our last visit, but it can't be found in the huge pile, so we create a new one with black magic marker. The blow holes are not spraying today as we are on the wrong tide. The windy side of the island is definitely windy though! After packing a picnic lunch, we dinghy south to Bush Basher Beach and hike across to Pirate's Lair on the east side of the island. A brief rain shower passes by and we get wet, but the temperature of the air is warm enough.

Tuesday was a wet, grey day and we stayed aboard. We did manage to collect the rainwater out of the dinghy and hook up our rain collecting system to replenish our deck shower (garden sprayer) and our clothes washing bucket.

We hear familiar boat names on the VHF radio, like GRATITUDE and ALCHEMY, but can't seem to get a response. SUNSPOT BABY pulls in to the mooring field a day after us and CHINOOK WINDS a few days later. We enjoyed meeting Herb and Linda on the trawler, UTOPIA. They are new sweethearts at the tender ages of 60+.

On our last day, we dinghy over to Butterfly Beach and snorkel around the rocky point and find that "Larry" the Lobster is still there hiding in his coral lair. He is bigger than ever!
We also see three lion fish amongst the brightly coloured fish and coral.

Having overheard them on the radio, we dinghy over to the northern anchorage to say hello to Van and Lauren on GRATITUDE, who have just arrived with company (good friends) from Maine who flew in to Staniel Cay. It is good to see them again and we are bound to see them again as they are also heading to Georgetown. And yes, they have been having problems with their radio.

On our final evening at Warderick, we enjoy a great meal on LIVING WELL.

Tomorrow we will travel 15 nautical miles to Sampson Cay.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn