January 24, 2018- On our way to Warderick Wells

January 24, 2018 - Leaving Cape Eleuthera

6:30am- Went to take a shower and was greeted by the blue herring. Guess he wanted to say goodbye before we left.

 7:30am Steve and I tied up at the fuel dock aiting for the 8:00 opening.  As Steve was at the stern of the boat fuelling up, we noticed two nerd sharks right underneath our boat.  The water was crystal clear.  When the dinghy and kayak are tied at the stern of the boat, it is quite the task for him to get to the fuel pump opening.






8:24am- And we are off setting our course to Warderick Wells Cut. 

10:30pm-  The Atlantic is calm today while crossing.  We had to motor sail.  We see the odd flying fish.
 

12:00-  How ironic!  As we were eating our canned tuna sandwich, Steve yelled out:"There is a fish on the line.  As he was reeling him in, you could see he was a good size.  He was so excited when he figured it was approximately a 20 pds Mahi Mahi.  He had him gaffed and as we were trying to find something to put him in,he jumped right our of the gaff and into the water.  There was blood all over including Steve shorts. All I kept hearing Steve say afterwards is :"What a shame".  Guess we will have to continue eating our canned tuna. 

This is the fish we could have eaten

 

1:30- We arrived at Waderick Wells and picked up a mooring along with Ariel at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. When you arrive, you need to carefully follow the deep path around a sandbar.  The park official, clearly guides you by radio where your mooring is located. As we were going by other boats, they were saying to us...."you caught a fish!"  We didn't understand how they knew that until we took down our dinghy and saw the blood all over the side of the boat. 

Off to explore the park.  It was well worth it.  The view was SPECTACULAR.  

FYI: In 1958, the Bahamian government set aside the 176-square mile area known as the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park as a land and marine-protected area.  Parliament also established the Bahamian National Trust as a non profit, non governmental organization to oversea national parks. Today they manage 31 national parks and protected areas within Bahamas.  The park is a "no take" zone.  Nothing living or dead can be removed from the park.  Fishing, lobstering, conching, shelling and hunting are strictly prohibited and huge fines along with boat confiscated can occur.  Guess I won't be shelling there! 

2:00pm- We talked to a guy who said stingrays jump 3 to 4 ft out of the water early morning and told Steve to drive the dinghy slow since there have been people hit by one.  There is a lot of fish in these waters. 

Cruisers offerings for calm seas

We walked a path and made it up the Boo-Boo Hill. What a panaramic view of the Exumas. Traditions is you leave an offering at the top of Boo-Boo Hill to appease King Neptune and be blessed with winds and smooth seas. Steve and I picked up a rock and placed it on top of everyone else's offering.  We didn't know what else to offer since we didn't bring anything.

John, Nancy and Susan

 We bumped into Nancy, Susan and John on our way back. 

 

It was so hot that when we came back to the boat we jumped in the warm water.  So refreshing..

5:00pm- Cocktail time on Ariel.  We shared hors d'Oeuvres and great stories with Dr Jim, Nancy, Susan, John, Katrina and Jan. 

6:30pm- Steve and I barbecued hamburgers and I just couldn't stay awake so I went straight to bed afterwards.  Must be the combination of heat, sun, swimming and maybe alcohol? 

We covered 32.88 nautical miles