We took a walk around the private island that the marina is located on. The bay side, across the island from the marina, is beautiful beach and mangrove trees and palms. 
We found this little guy. He’s taken over one of those tree snail shells, the same type as the one that decided to climb up my curtain.
The marina itself Is small, catering mostly to larger motor boats. There were only 2 sailboats in the marina.
After we left the marina, we sailed about 3 hours to Shroud Cay, one of the northernmost cays in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The park was established in 1958 to preserve and maintain the delicate ecological balance on the marine life. It is about 22 miles long, comprised of quite a few small cays.
They are all protected, no fishing, collecting of conch or lobster, no taking of any live or dead sea shells. The park offers several areas that have moorings to use instead of anchoring. Dropping an anchor on the top of a coral reef can do a lot of damage. We used one of the moorings provided at Shroud Cay, although there was nothing but sand underneath. It’s only $20 to use a mooring.
Luke has climbed the coral rocks to the drop box for our payment… OSHA would be screaming…
We made our way carefully along the coral rocks to the top of the island, following a sign that said “well”. There IS a well here, along with a bucket tied to a mangrove tree. The wall around the well was done in 1927, according to the scratching in the concrete. We dropped the bucket in to check the water – yes, it’s salty. I read later that the water “layers” here, similar to the cave we visited in Lucaya. The seawater comes up from the ocean, but in the spring, when there is more rain, the non-salty rain water collects on the top of the salt water. I’m guessing it takes an experienced hand to skim off the fresh water from the salty.
Next stop, Warderwick Wells Cay, the headquarters of the park. You can not anchor in this area, only use one of the park provided mooring balls. It’s small, with 21 mooring balls in the main mooring field. Because of the uncertainly of weather and boating, they don’t take reservations, but have a selection system of their own. If you want a mooring, you call the office the day before you want to be there to get put on the “list”. Full almost every night, there is a 9 AM call-in each morning. First, the boats that are leaving that day call in on the VHF radio. Next, the ranger calls out each boat that is on the list, asking if they still want a mooring and confirming their length and draft. Then anyone else who hasn’t “pre-registered” puts their name on the list. The ranger signs off and does the math, juggling the number of moorings available and putting boats into them, ones that match the length and draft requirements of each mooring ball. It’s very shallow and narrow, so the moorings are not equal. After about 30 minutes, the ranger calls back out on the VHF, calling each boat by name in the order in which they were on the list. Now, there are are 3 mooring fields in the park. The treasured “northern mooring field” which is right in front of the park office, has easy access to the beach and trails, and for most boats, allows on-board internet service (rather than having to sit on the office porch). The northern mooring field is where we are. We were lucky.
Each boat is either given the guarantee of a mooring ball in the northern field or given the option of taking one of the other mooring fields. Without exception, the boats that didn’t make the cut opted to be put back on the list for the next day instead.
As soon as we got here, we signed in and started exploring. There is a trail that goes across the island from the bank side to the bay side of the island. This is again a coral rock trail.
It goes across Banshee Creek, dry in the low tide, flooded at high. Thank goodness it was low tide.
Past Banshee Creek, you climb the other side of the island to beautiful views of the bay.
This is looking towards the bank side, showing the rest of the island.
At the very top of the island is Booboo Hill. A boatload of missionaries crashed here, drowning all of them. Legend has it that the hill is haunted and at night, you can hear them singing hymns in the distance. Boaters leave a piece of wood (preferably driftwood) with their boat name as a gift, trying to ensure safe seas.
Also at the top is a blowhole. Look carefully --- Luke’s hat brim is blown up and flat, and the sleeve of his yellow shirt is blown up. We watched it literally blow the baseball cap off one guy.
Snorkeling is supposed to be wonderful here, but the water temperature is 74, and I’m sorry, that’s just a little too cold for me.
There is a nice porch on the ranger station, where folks gather to talk. Just look at this view. Another day in Paradise! That's Latitudes, closest.
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