Sea Life from Palm Cay

These fish were swimming in the marina where we were docked. 

Barracuda - a baby one

A spotted eagle ray - it has a beak on it's head which looks very bird-like!

This was the first of 3 days needed to get to Bimini which will get us back to Florida!

Highbourne Cay and Palm Cay

We first went to Highbourne Cay (no photos).  We got fuel, water, and some food from their small grocery store.   The unfortunate thing here is that our boat got damaged at the fuel dock as Ed was steering us away from the dock when we were done.  The wind was blowing us back into the dock and as we went forward the support for the solar panels got caught on a piling and some of the pieces got bent and broke.  Fortunately it didn't fall down, but was very loose.  When we anchored that night, Ed re-screwed the support down and was able to put some of the pieces back together.  It's a temporary fix, so this, and some other issues that have cropped up on our trip will need to be attended to when we return.

The next day after Highbourne, we went to Palm Cay Marina.  This was the first marina since Cave Cay when we were still going South.

 The entrance into the marina was tricky.  There were markings on the chart showing where there were some coral reefs sticking up from the water and warning cruisers to move around them.  There were quite a few dark areas and we did quite a bit of veering around some of them. 

A coral reef at the surface of the water.  They are very hard and will break a rudder of any boat if hit.

Dolce Vita docked, resting quietly!

Before a shower and desperate!

After a shower....aah!!!!

                                                                  

Out to dinner at the marina's restaurant.

A very tired admiral!

                                                                          

A very tired captain!

Lights on the beach in front of the restaurant.  They flickered on with different colors, sometimes all the same color and sometimes varied, like the above photo.

The marina is next to a condominium complex so the marina caters to them.  There is a membership required to go onto this beach and some other areas on the property.   This place is well maintained, unlike a lot of the Exuma islands where areas were not kept up well.


Next?    Bimini and yes, Florida!

Warderick Wells

We returned to Warderick Wells to wait out a blow that was expected to come, and, besides, we really loved the place from our first visit!

After setting our anchor, we set out to snorkel.  They have a wonderful coral reef there with a great variety of fish to see.  Since this is a park, there is no fishing or hunting allowed.  There are lots of very large lobsters in holes in the reef.  (Ed says they are looking up at us going - "na-na-na-na-na-na!!")

We did snorkeling the first and the second day we were there.  After that, we were stuck on the boat with some very strong winds.  We did meet our neighbors on Sundowner, Doug and Deb, and they introduced us to their friends - Robert and Rhonda on Eagle II and Mike and Linda on Fair Winds.  We had drinks and appetizers on Sundowner's boat one evening, on our boat one evening and on the last night we went over to Fair Wind's boat.  All three couples are heading South, mostly together.  They plan on meeting up down the road.

The park had a happy hour on Saturday on the beach.  That was a lot of fun.  We met quite of few people from the other boats in the harbor.  

A funny thing happened on the way to the happy hour.  I was getting into the dinghy to wait for Ed who was getting things from the cabin, when the dinghy went too far away from the boat,  the water was choppy,  I lost my balance, and into the water I went!  Ed sure was surprised to find me in the water between the dinghy and the boat!  I didn't tie the dinghy tight enough to the boat.  It was a very cool fall - and I couldn't stop laughing!  Back on the boat I went and changed my clothes.

A not-so-funny thing happened right before my falling in the water episode - when I was moving the dinghy from the back of the boat to the side ladder, I pulled a muscle in my arm (my right one).  It still hurts when I lift my arm up.  It's getting a little better every day.  The day after it happened, Ed tied my arm down with an ace bandage to remind me not to use my arm.  It helped.  I am still favoring it, hoping it will heal quickly.  It is healing but not as fast as I would like.  Getting good at doing things with the left hand.

Here are photos from our first day of snorkeling at Warderick Wells:

Grouper

Butterflyfish

Needlefish

The closest fish I could find that matches this one is a Wrasse. 

I loved the coloring on this fish.  I couldn't find one like this in my book.

This is a Nassau Grouper.  It is a very large fish and has some unusual markings.

Obviously, a turtle, but I was so excited to see one near me.  I didn't feed this one!

This was an amazing sight - an Eagle Ray!  The wing span was huge and look how long the tail was!  Ed came over to show it to me - it swam right under me and I didn't even know it!

Right after I saw the turtle I saw at least 4 more Eagle Rays swim by!

These fish looked like they were playing hide and seek!

Here are photos from our second day of our snorkeling at Warderick Wells:

Stoplight Parrotfish - Terminal Phase

This fish looks like he was smiling at me!  I put his picture on my laptop wallpaper and posted him on facebook.

This is where I spotted a Lemon Shark - by the time I registered it was a shark, turned on the camera, and aimed - no shark in the picture!  Fortunately, it was not very close and paid no attention to me.

Butterflyfish (Can you tell I like these kind of fish?)

Another turtle

Nassau Grouper - a different angle

This was the neatest personal experience for me - this large school of big Yellowtail Snappers swam right in front of me - I swam right next to them for quite a ways!

This is the last of my underwater photos and the last of the snorkeling for the trip.  It was such a wonderful experience and I will forever remember all of God's creatures that are here for us to enjoy and take care of!  

Highbourne Cay and Palm Cay coming up next.....

Thunder Ball Grotto and O'Brien's Cay

In the previous blog I told you about the Grotto.  After our snorkeling in the Grotto we went to O'Brien's Cay where we did some more snorkeling in an area called the aquarium.  O'Brien's Cay is North of Cambridge Cay where we had visited on our journey South.  We didn't get an opportunity to see the aquarium at that time, so I was very eager to go back to experience the aquarium for myself!  It was so worth the trip!  It was fabulous!  There were so many fish everywhere!  We would be swimming right in the middle of so many schools of Sargeant Majors and Yellowtail Snappers!  Some of the other people were feeding the fish kernels of corn which the fish absolutely loved.  This got them coming out of their hiding places and swimming all around us!

Here are my photos from Thunder Ball Grotto:

There wasn't enough sunlight coming into the Grotto so the photos didn't come out very clear.

 Here are the photos from our snorkeling trip to the Aquarium:

So Cool to swim through all of these fish!

Damselfish

Lots of Sargent Majors and at the center bottom is a Stoplight Parrotfish-Initial Phase

Yellowtail Snapper (I am told this is what Japanese restaurants use for their Yellowtail Sushi)

The closest I could come to identifying these cute little blue fish is a Blue Hamlet which is in the Hamlets/Sea Basses Family.  It is amazing how many fish look so much alike in my fish ID book.  (Perhaps they think the same way about us humans?!  ha-ha!)

Homo Sapien - very rare in this neck of the "woods!"

 

O'Brien's Cay was a very small island and we snorkeled all the way around it.  There were not very many fish on the back side of the Cay but the plant and coral life was breathtaking!  

Here are photos of the opposite side of the Cay from the Aquarium:

Butterflyfish

He was too deep for me to ID him positively.  I think it's a Stoplight Parrotfish - terminal phase

A return trip to Exuma Land and Sea Park Headquarters coming up next - and........more snorkeling!!!!!