Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea Park HQ

Off the hook at 8 am and headed to Warderick Wells. While we were underway, we put the finishing touches on the Cartermaran sacrifice to King Neptune to leave on the Boo Boo Hill Trail later today. Roo wanted to draw a picture of the Cartermaran on it- from memory- and did an incredible job! While we were in Great Sale Cay, we found a washed up and mostly intact sea fan that we knew we wanted to add to it. 

This time, with better maps and depth routes, we were able to cruise closer to the islands on our journey south. There were beautiful sandbars and spots with waves crashing over the reefs, both indicating much shallower waters. 🌊 

Successfully grabbed a mooring ball at Exumas Land and Sea Park close to the HQ beach. Even though I grabbed the eyelit when we initially passed over it, I dropped it as it went under our tunnel. Ben backed up slowly and I snagged it again, while Lori and Sasha got our lines threaded through. I was able to put the boat hook away and take over Sasha's line to cleat it off while Ben supervised Lori cleating her line.

Everyone sunscreened up (and wore their dreaded UPF shirts to avoid reburning the sunburn from yesterday) and we all jumped off the boat and swam 20-30 feet to the sandbar. We found some conchs- both abandoned and with critters. There seemed to be a lot of corals buried in the sand that we kept stepping on. I found an orange squishy thing and Lori pulled it up to find out that it was a piece of live coral! 🪸 She put it back and we decided we shouldn't be touching them.

There were SO MANY baby critters at one spot that Roo and I walked to with Lori. We called it the nursery. There were baby sea stars and baby BABY sand dollars. I'm talking just a tad bit larger than a sesame seed!

Exumas Land and Sea Park is a no-take park, so after we looked at our finds and talked to them, we tucked them back into the sand and continued on our way. We had to take mental pictures because we were far from the boat, didn’t bring our cameras, and didn't want to go all the way back to get them.

Swam back to the Cartermaran for lunch and shade. The current had us zooming back to the boat and we had to swim hard to make it! The kids jumped off the front of the boat, used the current to float under the tunnel, and then grabbed a line or the swim ladder on their way through.

Lori was hanging in the water and I saw a shark swim towards us. She grabbed her snorkel and was able to watch it and saw it had 2 remoras with it. 🦈 

Moose wanted to see it, and it was swimming toward the sandbar, so he jumped in the water to look. Meanwhile, a bull shark came swimming under the boat and when he realized it, he started kicking and splashing as hard as he could to get back to the swim steps and out of the water. He said his life flashed before his eyes. All I could think of was that his splashing was going to attract it rather than deter it and my heart was racing long after he got out of the water.

After a while, Keith dipped back in and the same thing happened to him that happened to Moose- a shark came from under the boat unexpectedly and he jumped right out of the water.

Once everyone was out, we were hanging in the hammocks, playing games, and chatting, and I spotted a shark swimming toward the back of the boat. The kids decided to go say hi to it on the back steps. This guy and his remora hung out with us for a while. Everyone got to pet him and say hi, except for me and Keith. Keith attempted to but the shark stopped swimming as close to the boat so he couldn't reach. I was just too chicken.

Right before high tide, we got into the tender and rode over to Boo Boo Trail. This was not the same place we hiked from last time, but it was a super steep shortcut. On the way up there, another family was coming down and excited to see our contribution.

Roo wanted to be the one to place the sacrifice to King Neptune. She had to climb up part of the pile to put it exactly where she wanted. It was so hot outside that we managed to stay up there for a few pictures and then head back down.

We tendered over to the sperm whale skeleton on the beach and the HQ building. Ben wanted to see if the station would be open tomorrow so he could get another Bahamas National Trust shirt like the one he has and loves, but it sounds like there is no one working there today or tomorrow, despite open hours being posted for both days. (9-12 & 1-3)

Another nurse shark came over to the boat after dinner. This one had 3 remoras and I decided I was going to pet it. He was curious about the boat but sadly never got close enough to let any of us pet him.