Post #99: All’s Well at Warderick Wells

Wednesday, January 26 to January 30, 2022

You have to have a reservation in order to use the mooring balls in the north field of Warderick Wells, headquarters to the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park. You start the process 24 hours before your desired arrival and then are put on a waiting list. So you may get a spot if a ball becomes available or you might have to wait another day…or more. However, once moored, you can stay as long as you’d like but usually boats move on after a night or two.  We were lucky to secure 5 of the 22 balls and waited out another northerly blast for 5 days. Actually, this was the same storm that pummeled New England—we just didn’t get the cold temps and 24” of snow! 

The north mooring field is a breath-takingly beautiful U-shaped bay with a sandbar in the middle which you absolutely must avoid or go aground.

We went on three snorkeling expeditions and took the requisite hike to the top of Boo Boo Hill to add our offering to King Neptune (a piece of driftwood with Onward 2022 written on it)

We met a few new friends along the way—a scurrying land crab,

a flitting killdeer,

and a giant termite mound.

All the while we avoided the Poisonwood tree because, according to the sign, “All parts of the tree contain an allergenic compound called urushiol, which will cause an itchy skin rash when touched. The only known antidote…is the sap of the Gumbo-Limbo tree.” (Not sure where to find one of those so we maintained our distance. Trust me.)

We have taken this hike before (see Post #66) but have only seen evidence of the elusive hutia, a furry mammal that looks a bit like a little woodchuck to me.  Come to find out, they are nocturnal and are found at only three locations in the world, all small islands in the Bahamas. According to the Park info, hutias were an important food source of the native inhabitants of the Bahamas. But over the centuries their population became so depleted that, prior to 1966, they were thought to be extinct. They were “rediscovered” on East Plana Cay, and in order to protect the species, small populations were exported to Warderick Wells and Little Wax Cay. The current colonies are thriving and we saw their footprints everywhere:

The Park Headquarters has a stuffed example on view.

I mentioned above that we took three snorkeling excursions. My kids gave me an underwater camera for my birthday in anticipation of this trip.  How do I tell them that I have so far taken 45 photos—half of them blurry selfies since I hit the wrong button and almost all the rest of them show, well, grayish rocks. I know I took way more photos, definitely of fish, but I must have somehow shut the camera off to save battery life and just kept clicking away.  And the fish keep moving, folks, c’mon give me a break!

The thing is, I know that my children will not be surprised to read this. Sigh. I’ll try to post the two good photos soon. Somehow.

If you’re enjoying working from home during Covid, you might want to consider applying to be the Park Warden since this would be your view:

As an after thought, now that you’ve seen the map of Coco Cay, I thought you might get a chuckle out of these two from Warderick Wells. Pretty simple presentation, but you gotta love the names of the trails and beaches.