Do Not Visit the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Top reasons not to visit:

1. There’s no cell service here
2. No stores, bars or restaurants
3. You can’t fish or collect shells – the park is a no take zone
4. There are sharks (and they like to swing by for attention)
5. You’re never going to want to leave

“Established in 1958, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is the first marine reserve in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean. Covering 112,640 acres of land and sea, it is renowned for its breathtaking beauty, species biodiversity, secluded beaches, amazing views and safe anchorages. Throughout the park you can explore the underwater magnificence of coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, stroll along pristine beaches, traverse several hiking trails, and observe tons of wildlife including birds, fish, turtles and iguanas. ECLSP Wardens and RBDF officers, stationed at Warderick Wells maintain constant patrols and surveillance of the park.”

https://bnt.bs/explore/exuma/exuma-cays-land-sea-park/

We had a beautiful sail from Rock Sound (the first with our new jib, which we absolutely LOVE!). As we approached Warderick Wells, we went from being off-soundings in a couple thousand feet of water to being in less than 100′ of water in under 1/4 mile, and soon we were in the most clear, electric blue 30′ I’d ever seen. Lowering the sail was nerve wracking with nearly 3kts of current to deal with in a relatively narrow channel, and coming in to the mooring field was no better. The moorings are centered in a curvy deep water channel that runs between sand flats, and the current rips through. We arrived just after low tide and we weren’t entirely clear on the best way to get to mooring #8, which was about halfway down on the east side of the field. Fortunately the owner of the boat on the first mooring waved us over and told us to stay close to his boat, and the only time we touched bottom was a soft bump as we swung around the stern of the catamaran on the mooring behind ours to line up for our approach. The local welcoming committee, a triggerfish, came out to escort us to our mooring. Once again, the headsets were invaluable as there was zero room for error on this pick-up. Chris put me right on the mooring and I was able to secure a line without issue. It makes me glad for all those thousands of mooring pick-ups up on Long Island Sound!

We arrived in time to put the boat away, pour ourselves a celebratory sip of Zacapa, and head into the beach for the Saturday evening cruisers’ meet-up at the tiki hut on Whale Beach. Our friends Meg and Sandy on Kennebec were there and we met several other cruisers, including the owners of Windswept (who we later learned were across the dock from us in Lucaya), who keep their boat in Marion, MA. It was the perfect way to celebrate actually making it down to the Exumas, and we could already tell we were going to love it here.

On Sunday, we took a beautiful hike – originally we were going to go from Whale Beach up to Boo Boo Hill, but I cut my ankle on a piece of limestone (moral of the story – wear shoes here, not flip flops) and the tide at Banshee Creek was too high to cross anyway. We went back to Windara so I could bandage myself up and headed back out to hike the Causeway trail. I was insanely glad for my sneakers as we scrambled up the uneven limestone trail. While I’m not a fan of heights, the views were breathtaking, even if I needed a minute to adjust before taking it all in. We continued along the Hutia Highway trail to the Atlantic side of the island, along the beach and back to Boo Boo Hill from that direction. I can’t begin to do justice to describing this landscape or the colors of the water here, and I remark at least a million times a day how unreal this place is.

After so many years of preservation, it’s incredible to see what a vibrant, healthy ecosystem exists in the absence of human interference. In the morning, it’s typical for us to see a fever of spotted eagle rays gliding by the boat, get a visit from the local nurse shark, or see juvenile black tipped reef sharks, lemon sharks or stingrays on the shoals. Green sea turtles feed in the grass off our stern. Warderick Wells is also one of only three islands to host a population of Bahamian Hutias – rat-like rodents that are The Bahamas’ only native land mammal. We’ve seen several birds, many of which weren’t familiar species.

Soft white sand blends into a million shades of blue water, varying from the lightest blue-green to a deep electric blue that I didn’t even know nature could produce. Palm trees rustle in the wind, there’s a red mangrove nursery along the salt water creek that runs from one harbor to the other, and small native trees find a way to take root in the unforgiving, jagged limestone terrain. There are so many stunning beaches, and we generally have them to ourselves. We found a beautiful little beach to watch sunset from that we couldn’t have ordered to be more perfect.

You definitely have to snorkel at slack here, because the currents really rip, but there are lots of awesome spots to explore. During a work-week lunch break, we snorkeled a little unmarked patch reef that Sue told us about in crystal clear water and saw two sea turtles along with lots of fish. We heard there are a couple of big lobster out there, but we didn’t see them. So of course, we had to go back. Our friend Shelley joined us and this time we found the lobsters –absolutely mammoth! We also did the Rangers Garden as a quick drift dive (the current was really starting to get going and Shelley and I had a hard time swimming against it), and Emerald Rocks. The next day, we went out to Judy’s Reef. We needed to time it for slack, as the reef is at the tip of one of the small islands off Warderick Wells and the current is strong. We got in the water a little before slack and since Peter didn’t want to get in the water (too cold for him!), he followed us in the dinghy as we drifted along the island’s outer wall. While it felt like only a few minutes, we spent two hours exploring the reef and saw an abundance of life.

We were able to identify the following species between our snorkeling trips, dinghy missions and just sitting on our mooring:

One of my favorite things is that every morning, Cheri broadcasts her announcements on Ch 16 in a wonderful sing-song cadence that you can’t help but smile at. Once her announcement is complete, she’ll ask boats looking for a mooring in the north field to switch to Ch 09 – first she asks for departing vessels and then anyone looking for a mooring can make their request (you can also call in and get your name on the waiting list the day before). The reason for that protocol is that once you’re on a mooring, you can extend your stay as long as you wish. We extended twice, and while you don’t HAVE to radio in, we figured it makes her job easier to know our intentions. We ended up joining the BNT Support Fleet, which gives you 2 free nights on a mooring plus priority status for future mooring requests within a year.

Even out here where there are only a handful of moorings, we’ve had lots of opportunities to be social. When we made the choice to come here we figured we’d miss the Super Bowl, but the park warden, maintenance team and Royal Bahamian Defense Force detachment invited visiting cruisers to their quarters to watch the game. They were wonderful hosts and cooked us a fantastic dinner. Cruisers were asked to bring something to share (and BYOB). Everyone had a great time!

We went over to Anodyne for sundowners (after wrapping a line around our dinghy prop like idiots), had Corky and Alex and Sue and Don over to Windara for sundowners the next night, and celebrated Sue’s birthday on Valentines Day aboard Windswept along with Corky and Alex. Now Kennebec, Anodyne and Windswept have all moved on. It’s always sad to see friends go, but the best thing about being out here is that we know we’ll get to see everyone again somewhere down the line and have new adventures to share.

And just when we thought we’d be alone out here, a couple we met last year at the Conch Inn in Marsh Harbour showed up. We spent an awesome couple of days hanging out with Shelley and Peter. They, along with their little dog Molly, were wonderful hosts aboard their beautiful Hunter, Shellbelle.

They also joined us for a couple of beach days– first at Tabebuia Beach (where Chris and I did a bit of a beach clean-up and found a fishing float that washed up – the perfect thing to turn into our contribution to the monument atop Boo Boo Hill) and then Butterfly Beach. Even though it was really windy, these pristine beaches were perfectly protected and we basically had them to ourselves.

Originally we only planned to stay through Saturday, but it’s so amazing here that we decided to stay a few more days. I can’t imagine a better place to spend our vacation (we took the week following Presidents Day off). Even though the weather wasn’t ideal for our last few days in the park, we still enjoyed it to its fullest, taking the chance to snorkel, hike and just relax at the beach. Monday was rainy, but the clouds cleared out just in time to treat us to a stunning sunset.

Warderick Wells very well may be our new favorite place in the world, and while we spent almost two weeks here, there’s so much left to explore. This just became a yearly stop for us, and I look forward to visiting more of the Exumas in our next trip. But considering we’d ruled out a trip here at all this year, I’m SO glad we revisited plans and chose to make the hop down.