Shroud Cay to Warderick Wells
Our original
plan was to remain at Shroud Cay one more day and devote our time to snorkeling
the nearby reefs. We were up early for breakfast
and tuned in the 0800 weather report out of Highbourne Cay. When we heard the wind would build and clock
further to the south, we decided to cancel that plan and head to Warderick
Wells where we could have protection during the blow anticipated to begin on
Sunday. There are a limited number of
moorings available at Warderick and more boats will be seeking shelter than
there are moorings. We figured if we
came in a day early and reserved a mooring through the weekend we’d be better
off than remaining at Shroud for another day and discovering there was no room
at Warderick. So, we weighed anchor and
were soon bound for Warderick Wells.
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| Foreign Affair Moored at Warderick Wells |
The wind was clocking south sooner than expected. Instead of a close reach as we anticipated based on the previous day’s forecast, we found ourselves beating into three and four foot waves all the way to Warderick. It proved to be a long day tacking back and forth to windward. A little over six hours later, we dropped sail and motored the final distance to the mooring field.
Five other
boats were converging on the entrance to the Warderick Wells north mooring
field along with us. We called the Exuma
Park office for the number of our assigned mooring just prior to entering the
very narrow channel to the mooring field.
We were told to take ball #7 which we thought was a good omen.
Upon making
our turn into the entrance channel, it was obvious the place would be filled
for the evening. We passed the first
three boats moored in the channel and passed through the red and green buoys
marking the channel’s center line at a particularly low spot. Out of courtesy, we went astern of the next
three boats to avoid disturbing them with our wake. To our great surprise, despite being only 10
feet or so off the stern of the moored boats, we were soon touching the sandy
bottom and having to lay on the accelerator to plow through and get back into
the deeper water.
The wind was
blowing in the high teens and the mooring line was very heavy compared to most
we have encounter. Carla was on the bow
and caught the mooring line but soon lost the boat hook as it slipped out of
her hands while trying to retrieve the heavy line. We then switched places. Carla took the wheel and Dwayne grabbed the
mooring after several attempts. It was all
very frustrating since we have rarely had trouble grabbing a ball on the first
or second attempt.
The mooring
episode resulted in a void in conversation.
We were both very displease with how it went. Carla retreated to the cabin while Dwayne
snugged up the mooring lines, handed down items from the cockpit for stowage,
covered the wheel and main sail. It was
not until later in the evening that we realized we had not recovered the long
boat hook that slipped from Carla’s hand while attempting to moor. Neptune just grabbed it from her hand and has
it now. Every so often, Neptune collects
his tax. We hope he doesn’t ask for more
too soon. We laughed at ourselves and felt
better.
The only
inhabitants of Warderick Wells are the park rangers. There are no services and no cell phone
coverage. You can’t even get water at
Warderick Wells. The rangers have ice
available but you cannot take on water.
The park office has a small display of bones from various sea animals
such as whale, dolphin, sea turtles, as well as, corals. There is a complete skeleton of a pilot whale
on the veranda. Books and shirts are
available for purchase. You could rent
movies for $2 a day and there was a book exchange – bring one, take one. We became members of the Exuma Land and Sea
Park National Trust which gave us priority reservations for moorings in the
park and covered our mooring fee for two nights. We signed on for three nights hoping the
predicted blow would end by the time our reservation ran out.
We took a
quick tour of the mooring field with our dinghy. Divers were exploring a site just off the
south entrance to the mooring field. We
came across a German flagged trawler which was very unusual. Sailboats cross oceans; trawlers do not. We spoke to the three men who were just
finishing taking showers on the stern platform.
We learned they were from Berlin but kept the boat in Stuart, Florida
when not in the Bahamas. We had hoped to
find Triumph already moored but not
seeing her we returned to Foreign
Affair. Triumph came in shortly
after, passing us on her way to the mooring right next to the Germans. We’ll most likely see Bill and Elaine
tomorrow at the pot luck dinner hosted by the park rangers.
Carla made a
delicious dinner of smoked brisket, baked beans, cole slaw and Coo-Coo, a
Caribbean polenta. We watched a funny
comedy, Thin Ice, which was set in Wisconsin. I won’t say more, other than it is worth
viewing due to the humorous plot and surprise ending. Once again, we were asleep by 10 pm.
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