Boating with Sunset Delight: Bahamas - Warderick Wells: Exumas Land and Sea Park

Day 277

April 13, 2016

NM Today: 0

NM Total: 4181

Given this is a “Land and Sea” park and we did the land part yesterday, today we explored the sea component of the park. Clark picked up a “sketch chart” in the park office of the places to go snorkeling. We wanted to go out at slack tide to avoid the heavy current at the various points of interest. Unfortunately low tide hit at 7:30 a.m. We managed to get ourselves out to our first designated snorkeling spot at 9:45 – so basically nowhere near slack tide.

As our first stop we went to Judy’s Reef located west of mooring ball #1. When we went snorkeling by the plane wreck a couple of days ago, I encountered two serious problems while snorkeling. First the rapid current kept carrying me into the plane wreck which made me terrified I would get injured, and second, I had a very difficult time getting back into the boat. Since I could stand at the plane wreck and I could not stand at Judy’s Reef, I thought my chances of getting back into the boat here to be slim to none.

The end result, I sat in the dinghy and watched Clark snorkel around the area. I could see the current was strong. When Clark swam, he hardly made any headway, and as soon as he stopped swimming to take a picture or catch his breath, the current took him rapidly backwards. I was very happy I was not trying to deal with any of it.

Judy’s Reef Coral

Sting Ray at Judy’s Reef

Fish at Judy’s Reef

Eventually Clark figured out that he could swim close in to the land by Judy’s Reef where the current effect was minimal, then swim out into the area with the coral and fish to let the current take him back towards the boat. Clark wanted me to share in the fun and see some of what he had seen. He explained about how he used the current (and lack thereof) to his advantage. I reminded him that I could not get back in the boat, so we decided not to pursue me snorkeling at Judy’s Reef.

As we dropped our line from the mooring ball, Clark came up with the genius idea that I could put on my mask and lean over the side of the dinghy to put my face in and see the sights. In fact he practically insisted that I see the sights this way. Terrified I’d fall head first out of the boat, I gathered my courage and put my face in the water. I came up sputtering like I was drowning. I reached for my snorkel as Clark said, “Maybe you need your snorkel?” I just growled at him as I continued to put it on.

My other concern, besides falling out of the boat head first, was losing my breakfast which had not been eaten long enough ago to allow me to put all my weight on my stomach without discomfort. I had to lean well out of the dinghy to get my head far enough over to get my face in the water putting a lot of pressure on my stomach. I must have looked ridiculous! I did, however, get to see lots of coral and a few fish including one very pretty blue one.

I declared that I had seen enough, and so we moved on to stop two at Mooring Ball #9. An entirely different problem presented itself with this spot as the hull of the sunken boat to be dived (snorkeled) upon was directly below the hull of a sailboat moored at ball #9. The trick here was to figure out how to get the dinghy close enough that Clark could have it nearby as he snorkeled and checked out the wreck.

Eventually the owners of the sailboat recognized our plight and offered that we could tie our dinghy to their sailboat to snorkel on the wreck. The sailboat was named Windara, and the retired owners hailed from the Caribbean in winter and Michigan in summer. They have been sailing exclusively in the Caribbean for the past six years and now plan to bring their boat back to the U.S.

Once again I refused to attempt swimming in the extra strong current. I sat in the boat and talked to the owners of the sailboat while Clark checked out the sights. They explained that the remainder of the sunken boat that sat directly under their keel was moored at ball #9 when it suffered an electrical fire and burned to the waterline. The owners of the boat had gone visiting and sat on another vessel as their boat burned.

Buoy #9 Boat Wreck

Boat Wreck

Baracuda Under Windara Keel

Boat Wreck

Fish at Boat Wreck

When Clark completed his exploration of the ship wreckage, we thanked our sailboat “hosts” for their hospitality and went back to Sea Moss ostensibly for lunch. However, Clark decided we should drop off a boat card to Windara, and of course that had to be done before we could eat. I had hoped against hope that we would just drop off the card and then go back to our boat, but Clark got talking and talking and talking. At some point they mentioned they liked the name of our boat and of course Clark explained how it is a pun on CMOS.

Once the sailboat owner found out Clark was technical, he asked if Clark could answer a question for him. I groaned quietly to myself since I knew we would be sitting at the sailboat for eons longer. Finally we said our goodbyes and went back to Sea Moss to eat lunch and let the current die down a bit before heading back out for more fun.

After lunch we first tied up at one of the two dinghy moorings at “The Ranger’s Garden”. Once again I sat in the boat while Clark explored – the main reason being my inability to find a way back into the boat should I disembark. Other dinghies came with people who jumped in and swam around looking at the fish and coral. I felt rather melancholy sitting there but I did not know what else to do. Clark explored the area for a rather long time. I thought he would never declare himself done at this spot.

The Ranger’s Garden – fish

Ranger’s Garden – coral

Fish and Coral

Coral Clark named “Homer Simpson”
due to its shape

More Fish

More Coral

As we prepared to leave The Ranger’s Garden, the owners of Windara came along in their dinghy and asked if they could share the mooring ball with us. We said we were just leaving to go to Emerald Island – a place they had heartily recommended earlier. As we started to pull away, I saw that they had portable swim ladder hanging from their dinghy. I pointed it out to Clark and said, “Hey, that’s what I need!” I explained my plight regarding not being able to get back in the dinghy and they suggested we make a rope ladder to help me get a leg up.

We left them with high hopes that we had found a solution to my dinghy boarding dilemma. With minimal current and new hope we headed to Emerald Island where I decided that, “by hook or by crook”, I would go snorkeling.

Emerald Island

Blue Fish

Evelyn Snorkeling

(to prove I actually did it)

Fish

School of Fish

More Fish

The rope ladder idea proved to be a failure. When I put my foot in the loop of the rope forming the makeshift ladder, at least half of me went under the dinghy, so I had nothing to grab to get leverage to pull myself in. I tried shortening the length of the rope hoop, but then it was too high and I could not get my foot up there and get any leverage that way either. Ultimately I just sort of thrust my body up onto the side of the dinghy, and Clark grabbed my arms when I got up to help pull me in. With his help we managed to wiggle me into the boat.

As we pulled away from dinghy mooring ball #1 at Emerald Island, a dinghy pulled up with a man in it with a heavy British accent. He told us that lobsters could be found at mooring ball #2 at Emerald Island. I thought we were done for the day, but of course Clark needed to go take a look. Once again I sat in the boat and waited. He scouted east and west then north and south and saw not one lobster. The Brit had said they were sitting in a hole in the middle of a pile of rocks, but Clark just could not find them.

Having been out in the sun all day, we were both feeling the heat as we headed back to Sea Moss. As we approached our boat, Clark looked over to the right and saw the beach and decided that we should go play and relax before ending our water adventure for the day. A dip in shallow, cool water sounded heavenly. We pulled the dinghy up to shore and set an anchor at which point I thought Clark would join me for a swim.

I headed out into the water. When I looked up to see Clark, I found him – not in the water with me but at a covered picnic table talking to a bunch of men. I swam and floated by myself for a very long time. Not until I finally gave up on him altogether did Clark go out into the water for a swim. By that time, having had enough time in the water, I had returned to shore.

Later, he explained that he had met Captain Bruce from the schooner Beacon Won. It seems that Captain Bruce built this boat with his wife’s help. The boat is available for charter and holds 7 crew and 32 passengers. It took him three years to build the boat – one of many he has built himself.

Beacon Won
(built by owner Captain Bruce)

Schooner Beacon Won at Exumas Land and Sea Park Mooring Field

As I swam, I watched the current set of about 12 passengers on Beacon Won frolicking in the water with stand-up paddle boards. They amused themselves by trying to stand up on the boards in between drinking Captain Bruce’s Rum Cocktail. For the most part they fell in a lot, but they were having an uproariously good time doing it.

Besides learning all about Captain Bruce’s self-built boat, Clark gathered “local” knowledge for the rest of our Exumas exploration. He had planned on stopping at Staniel Cay and then Black Point with the idea in mind that we would try to get some food provisions at the first stop. With Captain Bruce’s input, he reversed the order of the two stops. It seems that Black Point offers better, cheaper food options than does Staniel.

Shortly after returning to Sea Moss, the owners of Windara passed by our boat in their dinghy and yelled to us that they were following two sting rays.