Sunrise on Tuesday, May 6, 2025
This morning the lady from the park ranger station sang to us about the park rules and payment procedures again. We were planning to move again and we spent a fair amount of time discussing route. The fastest way to get there would have been to go up on the east side of the islands, but it was likely going to be uncomfortable in the ocean. We opted to take the west side, where the water was protected. Just as we had to circle the island to get into the anchorage, we had to circle the island to get back out.
Here was a boat in the pass that we had taken in a couple of days ago. We’d be in that pass ourselves soon. We pulled up anchor at around 1000.
The 20-minutes we spent in the ocean going south on the east side was indeed uncomfortable. But once we turned into the channel and were back into the protected waters, it was a smooth ride the rest of the way. We’d made the right choice. Here was a shot looking back into the anchorage, taken from approximately the same place where the boat in the above photo had been when we’d captured it.
Our destination was Warderick Wells Cay, and we arrived around 1315. This cay was known for a unique mooring field called The Horseshoe. The Horsehoe was a narrow strip of deeper water in between two small islands. As the name implied, the strip of water was horseshoe shaped. Deeper draft boats, like us, could only enter and exit via the ocean side (east side) at high tide. We weren’t fans of shallow, narrow channels and we have a deep dislike for moorings, so we opted to anchor outside the horseshoe. Even where we anchored, it was more shallow than we’d prefer. This was the view of Warderick Wells Cay from where we anchored. The boats visible in the channel are all on mornings.
And the view of three tiny islands to the south. The larger boats all anchored closer to those islands as it was deeper.
Warderick Wells Cay was also part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, and where the headquarters was. After we got situated, we took the dinghy into the park ranger’s office to make sure that we were properly registered.
We landed the dinghy at the dock. This was looking northeast.
This was looking south, towards the anchorage Kosmos was in. We suspected the other building was the ranger’s home.
We headed up the stairs to the ranger’s office
On the deck, there was a small pilot whale on display. The sign said it was one of four that had been stranded in a nearby Cay in 2010.
The views from the deck were stunning. This was looking south at the anchorage Kosmos was in. If you look closely, you can see her.
Looking east
Looking northeast
We’re pretty sure the lady who helped us was the radio singer, and in person, she spoke normally. She confirmed that they’d received the online payment and that no more paperwork was needed. We walked down the path behind the ranger station down to the shore.
There was a partial sperm whale skeleton on display. The sign was faded, so we couldn’t read it all, but we made out that the whale had been 52 feet long.
There was also a gazebo with chairs.
Walking back towards the ranger station.
The other three families who had been at Little Bell Cay with us had also come to Warderick Wells. All three of them were on moorings in The Horseshoe. We stopped by Oceananigans to ask if there were plans to get together in the evening again. We wound up staying all afternoon and didn’t leave until 1900. The other two families eventually came to Oceananigans, too.
Keith and the kids played board games most of the afternoon. At one point, they all went to the beach together to go for a walk on one of the walking trails, but they quickly returned because it hadn’t occurred to them to bring shoes.
The adults sat on an outside deck and watched the various sea creatures swim around the boat. We saw rays and all kinds of interesting fish, including what looked like a baby sunfish. There was a turtle that regularly popped up for a moment, then went back down for a few minutes, then popped back up for a moment in the same spot…
Twilight
