Warderick Wells

We are on a mooring at Warderick Wells, within the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The park was established in the Bahamas in 1958 and it is a very prominent part of the Exumas cruising experience. We are taking a vacation from cruising here, because the moorings are well laid out in a well-protected cove, we have plenty of food and water, and we have WiFi service, after being cutoff for 4 days.

We stayed in Nassau an extra day, to finish up some items that required internet/phone connectivity, and then left for Allens Cay, about 35 miles SE. The trip started well, and the winds were generally favorable (NE 15-20), but the seas were a bit lumpy, and we forgot to close the small hatch just aft of the mast, so the interior cushions got drenched, and we have lost the Vonage phone to seawater contamination. The Vonage router and the external antenna made it, but we also have some questions about the charger for the Blackberry, so we will not be talking to people for a while. Email still works, though, and we will try to buy another cheap phone when we get to Georgetown.

Allens Cay was interesting, but the anchorage was quite rolly. We went ashore to see the iguanas, and putted around the anchorage, waiting for the upholstery to dry. Two nites there, and then we were off for Norman’s Cay, just south. This was a bit better, until the middle of the night, when the winds blew 25-35 kts from the NE. The windmill made LOTS of electricity, and kept the batteries charged, but both the cats and we were not happy by the motion, so we came down here on Tuesday.

You have to call the park in the morning, and get on the list for moorings, and sometimes they are full in the north anchorage, so you have to take a mooring at Emerald Cay, or in the south of the island, but we lucked out with a mooring up here in the north. We have taken two hikes into the interior of the island, and it is spectacular. We plan to stay till Sat or Sunday, when the wind will shift back to the north, and we hope to ride that further south. We are running the genset to make electricity and water, and cool down the boat during the day. We are glad to have the watermaker, because we would have been really constrained without it.

The kitties like the moorings better than up north, and they get to go out at night, because it would be a good swim for them to try to abandon ship.

More photos go up soon.