A Tale of Two Chemists: Warderwick Wells - Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Warderwick Wells - Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park … Thursday 28th February 2013

The Exumas seem to us to be remarkably beautiful with the clearest water you could ever imagine. At the same time we're finding it really difficult to settle into a rhythm and the cruising seems very challenging. The Exumas are a chain of islands that run NW to SE with Exuma Sound (deep) on the east side and Exuma Bank (shallow) on the west side. The numerous cuts in between can be navigated but you have to be very conscious of the strong currents and the impact of the weather. The prevailing "Trade" winds blow from the east, but at the minute we are experiencing an unusual pattern of prolonged north / westerly winds as a sequence of cold fronts move through. Our initial impression was that there were few anchorages with protection from the west. This is probably true in the northern section of the Exumas but as we move towards the central section there are more than we first Appreciated. However, they do happen to be tucked away in areas that are challenging to get get to because of strong currents, narrow channels, shallow water, coral heads etc. One of the things we realized today was that the "top of the line" Navionics Platinum charts for the Bahamas that we bought for our chart plotter have very poor data for this area. I'm not taking small inconsistencies, I'm talking depth contours that are wildly wrong and recommended routes (illustrated by magenta lines) that if followed would run you aground on sand banks that are quite clearly marked on the paper charts. Actually it's disgraceful and when we get back to the USA I plan to contact Navionics. Anyway enough of that rant!

Yesterday afternoon we had anchored off the northwest shore of Hawksbill Cay. The holding was excellent in about 7 feet of water at low tide and we had some protection from the southerly winds and waves, both of which had settled by evening. During the night the winds did swing over to the SW and started to strengthen. By 6 am we were really bouncing around to the point where I was concerned about bottoming out the keel. Fortunately by then we were on a rising tide. Getting the outboard motor back on the dinghy was a real nightmare in those conditions, but the last thing we wanted to do was tow the dinghy with the outboard still attached. After trying (unsuccessfully) to get an updated forecast on the Single Side Band radio and eating a quick breakfast we started up the motor, pulled up anchor and headed out. We had put our name on the waiting list for a mooring at Wardewick Wells, headquarters of the "Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park" and at 9am we found out that we could have a mooring, but only at the exposed western end of the channel. Beggars can't be choosers so we snapped up the opportunity. It was only a short 10 mile trip with a rough section battering straight into the oncoming waves (the only direction the water depths would allow us to go), a longer and better leg close hauled to the south and finally, a pleasant downwind section to the entrance of the channel. We picked up the mooring with no major difficulties despite significant current. This area has been described as one of the most beautiful "anchorages" anywhere in the world. It would be hard to disagree - except to say that you aren't allowed to anchor. In fact you aren't allowed to enter the channel until you have a mooring assigned. Anyway this very narrow channel runs in a curve between islands with the bulk of the area covered with sand bars. The water color varies from deep turquoise to golden brown depending on the depth. Once on the mooring we had a quick lunch and chatted to one of our neighbors. He had a lot of helpful insights into the cuisine life and the challenges of the Exumas in particular. He had spent 7 years living on his boat, went back to work for 5 years and now is cruising by sea in the winter and by and in the summer. He did say that he really started to get into the groove and enjoy it the second year. After lunch we took the dinghy into shore and paid our dues at the ranger station, then took a walk across the island on one of the many trails. The park was set up in 1958 and encloses 176 square miles of pristine seas and islands. There is no fishing and you can't take anything away - except photographs, memories and all your personal litter. It really is beautiful. We hope to be able to spend several days here, but the forecast is for more fronts to come through over the weekend and where we are currently moored is likely to get quite rough. We have requested to move up inside the channel but that relies on others leaving and being high enough on the priority list. We'll find out tomorrow at 9 am. If we can't move inside we'll probably leave for a more sheltered location and come back to Wardewick Wells when we make our return journey north.

Mike

24 23.856 N, 76 38.155 W