Catching Rays. Catching Up. Exploring the Exumas.

After crossing to the Exumas, we spent about a week in Warderick Wells, which is home to the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It has the most amazingly beautiful turquoise water that you almost cannot believe until you see it with your own eyes. I told Matt it was worth the 3,000 miles and 6 months of travel to get here and have the chance to snorkel. The snorkeling was amazing on the one calm day we had there. We found soft and hard coral and all kinds of fish, a slow and graceful loggerhead turtle and a giant ray. Pictures don’t do it justice.

Warderick Wells and the Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park mooring field by park headquarters.

The view from our anchorage heading to the park headquarters.

Park headquarters.

Let’s snorkel!

Floating along with the underwater sea life feels so incredible.

The snorkeling was amazing and pictures don’t do it justice. We floated along with a loggerhead turtle. We spotted a giant ray, and saw so many colorful fish swimming in and around coral.

We anchored in the Emerald Bay mooring field at Warderick Wells for better protection from a few days of high wind and seas.

We got socked in at the park for a few days with high winds and seas and conditions that weren’t conducive for traveling further south. Our only timeline was to get closer to Georgetown by February 3 in time to pick up Matt’s brother Peter, who has joined us for 10 days of sailing. Time in the park was fruitful. We met a lot of other sailors with experience in the Bahamas and got great tips for where to pick up Peter in case we couldn’t sail all the way to Georgetown in time.

The park has a trail system so that you can hike from one end to the other and all around in between. As much as we could get off the boat, we took the dinghy to shore and hiked, at times trying to get to the highest point for a bar or two of cell coverage to check messages and call home.

View of the Exuma Sound on the calm day before the winds.

The beach near our boat in Warderick Wells.

Impromptu happy hour on the beach. 

The wind during our time in the park was unreal. It blew about 25-30 mph consistently for about three or four days. The wind whistled through the mast and rigging, the boat swayed and rocked incessantly. At night, it just kept blowing. It tested our nerves. Several boats banded together for an impromptu happy hour on the beach. What else can you do?

Finally, the weather started to turn more favorable and it was time to leave the park and start heading south. We had about 80 miles and 4 days to get to Georgetown. Easy.

We made it to Cambridge Cay, which was the southern most part of the park, and decided to stay the night. Again the wind picked up overnight and rather than try to navigate through a shallow, somewhat winding area full of coral heads, make a turn in swift current and head out to the channel, also in high winds and waves building, we agreed to stay put one more day and ride it out. It gave me time to prepare some good eats for our visitor and bake bread.

Sunset at Cambridge Cay.

We spent two more days traveling south, with a stop in Staniel Cay to pick up a few supplies, water and fuel and explore the town. We missed the stop with the swimming pigs here.

Sunset at Staniel Cay.

Moonset at Staniel Cay.

With time starting to get tight to make it to Georgetown, we took an alternate route, anchored near the settlement of Barreterre north of Georgetown and Matt took the dinghy to pick up Peter. Peter left Minneapolis in -7 degree weather and took some good-natured ribbing about being able to get rid of his smart wool socks for a while.

Two Thills meet up at a bar in Barreterre.

The dinghy delivery of our weary traveler.

We’re now spending time with Peter exploring more of the Exuma Cays, harvesting coconuts, snorkeling, eating well on the boat and enjoying some rum drinks at the end of the day.

Coconut harvesting day. 

Boat hooks work well for knocking down ripe coconuts. Just watch your head!

Man with Coconut. 

We harvested the coconut water and also some fresh meat to toast and add to various dishes.

Whoa, the wind! Matt atop Lee Stocking Island.

We’re trying to find more places to snorkel. The water is incredible in the Exumas, so clear and turquoise.

Sea life.

We’ve seen so many rays.

Same ray, up close.

Ray at rest.

We took the dinghy to Leaf Cay and were greeted by a community of pink iguanas.

So the iguana says, “Hey I like your dinghy. Got any snacks for me?”

Where the iguanas live. They scurry out from the beachfront rock caves and seem awfully friendly.

Iguana selfies.

Striking a pose.

Iguana at rest in the shade.

More iguanas up close.

Let’s go snorkeling before they eat us alive!

Rum drinks and pizzatizers on the boat.