Exumas - Conservation and Ghost Legends

January 27th, 08:00 we departed Nassau after fueling up we headed south to Highbourne Cay. It was a beautiful day and the wind started to pick up so we hoisted the sails and shut down the engines. With 10-12 kts of wind, we were managing 5.5 kts SOG (speed over ground). The 35 nautical mile (nm) trip took us almost 7 hours but it was a nice calm sail and motor for Sharon's first day out. We anchored by 15:00 and Nikki dove the anchor as the water was getting warmer and clearer, she didn't mind this task instead it is a way to cool off.

Due to a weather front moving in we couldn’t stay and explore Highbourne Cay more the next day as the anchorage was too exposed, we hope to hit it on our way back. 

We moved to Hawksbill Cay which has a more protected mooring field to be in. The

weather was already picking up as we headed out with winds around 18 kts but gusting up to 28 kts. We decided to just use our Genoa sail and still made 6-7 kts. Hawksbill is part of the Bahamas Land and Sea Conservatory which was put in place to help protect the islands, blue holes, coral reefs, and estuaries that make up this 100,000 acres of ocean park. So the snorkeling and beaches in this part of the Bahamas are amazing and well-preserved. No big corporations or hotels here, just white sand and blue ocean. We spent two days here, there was a nice walk on the island, the path was marked with debris from the sea and was pretty cool. The rock structures had holes in them and trees were growing out of the holes and the view from the top of the walk was pretty spectacular. We also got to enjoy the beautiful water before setting off to Warderick Wells. 

Warderick Wells was just a short 4-hour sail from Hawksbill and we had good winds at around 18-20 kts hitting speeds of 7 kts. Alas Barry was getting nervous as the entrance to Wardrick is quite shallow and narrow at various parts, so sails came down and we motored into the Warderick Wells mooring field entrance. This was by far the most picturesque place we had been to in the Bahamas to date. It is an absolute must-do. The mooring field is along the narrow one-way channel that has a beach and a small hill, BooBoo Hill, on one side and a huge sand bar that gets covered by the tide on the other. 

The Legend of BooBoo Hill

It is said that one stormy night a ship vanished just off the reef of Warderick Wells taking the lives of every soul on board. Some say the bodies of the vessel are entombed in the surrounding reefs and the hill itself. On clear moonlit nights, you can hear the sounds of these souls echoing off the hills. It is now customary for cruisers to leave a piece of driftwood with their boat name on it at the top of BooBoo Hill as an offering to the God Neptune requesting safe passage through the Exumas.

Needless to say, we did the hike, and thanks to Bob bringing an offering we feel hopeful that the rest of our journey will be blessed. The entrance to the trail is over by the Land and Sea Park headquarters where there is a whale skeleton on the beach, I know more ghosts right? As this is a conservation area it also means no beaches or hikes for Zorro and it is a leave footprints-only area. There is no garbage or recycling in the entire park. No fishing and you are not allowed to take shells or rocks from the park islands. So basically leave it as you see it. I feel this is one of the reasons this is such a beautiful area. 

The next day Bob, Nikki, and I set off to do some snorkeling around Emerald Rock and some of the various coral heads in the area. Sharon stayed on board to keep Zorro company and do a band workout on the deck. This was such a great place and is definitely on my return list. 

Tomorrow is February 1st, marking one month of our journey, it is also a travel day as we head off to Big Major to see the swimming pigs and the Thunderball Grotto. What a crazy place the Bahamas are.