Exuma Land and Sea Park

From Allen Cays, we headed south to Warderick Wells Cay and the headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. A.W. White, in his A Birder’s Guide to the Bahama Islands (1998), says, “This park was established in 1958 and is the world’s oldest land-and-sea park. It extends from Wax Cay Cut in the north to Conch Cut in the south, and covers 176 square miles. In 1986 the park was declared a no-take zone, and hunting, fishing, spear fishing, and removal of living creatures and natural objects were made illegal. Since then, the park has served as a replenishment center for conch, lobster, grouper, and other heavily fished species.”

Moorings are available. We radioed from a few miles out and were assigned mooring E14, off Emerald Rock, which we found with little difficulty. At least a dozen boats were moored near us, with more in the quiet waters beyond the HQ buildings. We didn’t quite make the SRP deadline as we had lines and clutter not quite stowed, but we forgave ourselves and had a pleasant pre-dinner drink, then dined aboard.

In the morning, WW and I took the dinghy (he calls her Tender to Django or TT Django, which is proper; I call her Boffo) to the headquarters and I bought Birds of the West Indies, by H. Raffaele et al. (2003). Then we joined Whit and Frisha, who had kayaked over. On the beach by the HQ buildings was what I at first thought was a dinosaur skeleton. Sadly, it was the skeleton of a sperm whale which had been killed from ingesting plastic bags. Apparently, large fish and whales may mistake them for man o’ wars, which are a normal part of their diet. The bags are absolutely deadly. We are pretty neurotic about keeping all plastic away from the sea.

We walked up BooBoo Hill, named for the ghosts which are said to haunt it since a shipwreck in the 1700s when all aboard were lost. Atop the little hill is a pile of driftwood with boats’ names and visit dates, going back many years. Only driftwood is allowed, everything else is removed by the Park caretakers. I took a little twisted piece of wood and scratched DJANGO Montreal Feb 08 in red pen. Then Django’s token joined the heap. Some of these mementoes are quite elaborate and beautiful…carved or painted or both.

On the way to BooBoo Hill, we crossed calcareous rock which makes lovely musical tones when tapped. We meandered through mangrove swamps which are nurseries for young fish and sea creatures.

Back at HQ we discovered a bit of a fuel spill in Boffo, but the park people happily supplied us with special rags for mopping it up. Fortunately, none had got outside the boat. We bought a few bits and pieces and watched gorgeous little bananquits demand food (and get it). A Bahama mockingbird tried to get some of the goodies, but seemed overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the smaller birds.

Whit kayaked back to Django and Frisha tried, but there was a pretty strong current, so WW and I gave her a tow part way back. Then it was time to leave our mooring and head south. Next stop: Staniel Cay.