The Bahamas
Exuma Land and Sea Park: Emerald Rock Moorings
March 14-19th, 2017
We travelled to Warderick Wells in the Exuma Land and Sea Park and picked up a mooring in the Emerald Rock mooring field. The Exuma Land and Sea Park is part of the Bahamas National Trust and extends about 4 miles north of Warderick Wells and 4 miles south. The park is a no-take zone: no fishing, no shelling. It really is a beautiful paradise worth preserving.
Our first two nights at Emerald Rock were really rocky as we were exposed to west winds. We felt a little resentful towards the folks in the north mooring field and the Hog Cay "Pirate's Lair" moorings, who were completely protected. As the weather improved, we grew to really love the Emerald Rock area.
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| Emerald Rock Mooring field vista |
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| Tons of beaches for Hastings to enjoy! |
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| Starfish at Loyalist Beach |
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| Emerald Rock at sunset |
Hog's Cay has 6 moorings and is great in west winds. No one was here on this day as the winds shifted to the north east and caused breaking waves at the entrance to the mooring field. It's a pretty area with plenty of coral for snorkeling. Warderick Wells has a trail system and you can access these trails from any of the beaches and mooring fields.
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| Hog's Cay Warderick Wells Mooring Field |
The north mooring field is the primo spot. You can call Exuma Park on Channel 09 one day ahead to request a mooring. In the busy season, there are more boats requesting moorings than there are slips available. The north field is truly beautiful - just a sliver of dark blue navigable water amongst sand bars. This field does have a crazy current and it is very tight to maneuver in.
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| Warderick Wells north mooring field |
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| Warderick Wells North Mooring Field |
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| Exuma Land and Sea Park office dock |
Yes, please! Oh, wait. We had three cameras capable of taking underwater photos. We had a Canon S100 with underwater housing. It died and despite repeated re-builds refuses to live again. We switched to a Sony TX-5 that is waterproof to 10 feet that I used for kayaking in Florida. Well, on a snorkel around Emerald Rock it died it's final death. Sometimes Matt gets a far away look in his eyes and I know he is thinking about Amazon Prime, God's gift to America, but not the Bahamas. He wants us to have some suffering to keep us humble. We still have the GoPro, but it's fish eye makes the sharks all seem very far away.
Check back on Sunday for photos from the trails of Warderick Wells.
Do you have an Amazon Prime addiction? How many back-up cameras do you have?
4 comments
Once again, your pictures are beautiful. We've got three cameras aboard (including the phone), but none of them are capable of taking underwater photos. I think the closest we ever got was a disposable Kodak camera that was encased in plastic -- how sad is that. Lol.
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ SV CAMBRIA
It's not that sad! We used to be in the water all the time when we lived in Florida, but I've only snorkeled 3 times in the Bahamas - it's just been so windy and 72 degree water actually feels pretty cold!
DeleteWe moored in that beautiful channel of Warderick Wells one day and took nice shots from above. And, seeing those massive lobsters in the park without being able to eat them was quite shocking. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe first four years on our boat, I had a dedicated above water compact camera and a crappy one for under the water. The last four years, I had a decent underwater compact that also took nice above water photos. It was our only camera and I now wonder why... The last two years, I still have that one as a back-up and a more decent "land" compact.
Liesbet @ Roaming About – A Life Less Ordinary
Protected lobsters always seem big and smug, and they somehow know what day it is too! During season, there are none. Off-season, they are all having a parade and smirking!
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