Sunday, January 25, 2009

Warderick Wells-Exuma Land and Sea Park

Ahoy,

How is everyone? Hope you all are doing great and finding the same sense of hope now that Barack Obama is our president. We watched with tears of joy as he spoke to US citizens and citizens from all over the world with the message that unifies and signifies the beginning of a paradigm shift that seeks our better selves. We begin to feel both proud and safe again. The Bahamians are so excited about our new president. It has been great to celebrate along with them.

We left Nassau 3 days ago and just woke up to a beautiful day in an anchorage on Warderick Wells, which is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The park covers 176 square miles of land and sea. It was begun in the 1950s and has grown as part of over 700,000 acres conserved by the Bahamas National Trust. The park includes critical habitats and endangered species, including one of the largest breeding colonies of West Indian flamingos, an important sea turtle facility and one of the most successful marine fishery reserves in the world.

We are anchored just off the tiny circle of land called Emerald Rock. It is about 100 yards in diameter and surrounded by coral heads that we will dive on later today. It is our understanding that the fish are so fearless through 50 years of protection that they will swim right up to us. This area is considered one of the most beautiful in the world for reef diving.

Yesterday we took a walk around the island just before sunset. We walked up Boo Hill to the highest point on the island, which is about 80 feet above sea level. While on the deck of the park headquarters looking out over the water and boats I saw a huge spotted eagle ray broach and fully reveal its wondrous body before it splashed back into the water. As we cruised back to Namaste in our dinghy we saw the wing of another ray before it dipped below the surface.
Some of the pictures in the blog include Chris’s hands holding the little Bananaquit birds that are friends of the park service rangers, pictures of the land and seascape surrounding Warderick Wells and the newly painted engine covers.

We are making lots of friends along the way. As we traveled down from Deltaville we meet folks that we see again and again. In Shroud Cay and then again last night we visited with folks on two different boats from Deltaville. We also spent some time with some folks that we met in Nassau and hope to catch up with another couple from Nassau down in Georgetown. The community of cruisers embraces openly and is always helpful and supportive. We have met so many people who are willing to share best anchorages, places to provision, do laundry, get good water and fuel, best snorkeling and so forth.

We are about to go up to park HQ to use the Internet so I am signing off for now. On to snorkeling and hiking the island’s treasure trove of beauty.

Sorry not all the pics loaded and I am running out of time...next time!

Take care all,

Love and Peace