Warderick Wells

Today we enjoyed pancakes with our second to last egg for breakfast and then we got our stuff ready to head into shore around 10am. We decided to hike some of the trails to see some nature on land. We met up with the Hungarian family on the beach as they arrive just before us. We ended up chatting and walking with them for a while until we got to Emerald Beach and we went into the water because it was so hot. Then we walked from Emerald Beach through the shallow waters at low tide to get to the other beaches on the way to the Exuma Park Head Quarters. It was much faster and cooler to get to the other side instead of hiking in a sharp, craggy rocks with low brush to avoid. We couldn't walk all the way to the head quarters in the waters along the coast because it became deeper and so we went back on the Sunshine causeway trail to get there. We didn't have to walk much further to get to the park office and when we finally got there we enjoyed the cool shade on the nice big porch. We sat and rested enjoying the beautiful scenery while chatting with Dan as they got to the office before us since we were hanging out at the beach for a little while. Then Fred came by with some ice water, which was excellent as we were parched from the long hike over in the searing sun. Dan filled our bottle completely and we consumed it all very quickly. We haven't had ice in a while and we savored it. Fred told us about a bonfire they were going to have tonight (Saturday) where the office would provide ice and we would bring our own drinks and snacks to share. It reminded me of a meet and greet with the other boaters around here. The office was closed from 12-1pm so we left around 12:45pm to head back to our boat. We saw the park offers kayaks to borrow for free and so we decided to take them up on their offer so we wouldn't have to trek back through the trails. We were able to kayak all the way back to Rendezvous Beach very quickly compared to walking the trails and we stayed much cooler with the water splashing on us. Luckily, I had a plastic baggie to put my phone into because it got pretty wet with the waves kicking up from the wind, which was still coming from the south. When we got to our dinghy we relaxed for a little while at the beach in the water to keep cool and then we towed the kayak back to the park office so other people could use it. The Hungarian family split up from us after the park office because they wanted to walk over to Boo Boo Hill, but we wanted to save that hike for another day. So after returning the kayak to the office we went back to Frodo for some lunch which was leftovers from last nights dinner and a can of pears. Then some park people came by and told us to inform the Hungarian family they needed to move 30 feet further away from the mooring field. I really wonder what difference it really makes when there is no boat on the mooring balls, but whatever. We read and napped until we needed a break from the bouncy boat and we got some beach gear to hang out on the beach until dinner time. We enjoyed being in the shade of our umbrella sitting in our chairs reading and cooling off in the water. Then we had some udon noodles with cabbage for dinner and headed out to the meet and greet or happy hour back at the park head quarters a little after 7pm. We didn't see any of the staff present when we got to the beach, but there were people already sitting around talking under the tiki hut. We began chatting with Tom & Brenda who happen to be from Roswell, Ga of all places! Tom was some kind of doctor and he was very friendly chatting us up. He told us about Harbor Island being a high roller place and how he plans to attend the July 4th celebration there because some guy throws one every year and you never know who might show up. It was funny he dropped some names like Cher and Katherine Hiegel, but we aren't really into that kind of scene so it was interesting hearing his stories about previous years parties. There were also people from South Africa (Gary was the only name I recall) who were traveling with Tom and they brought a very tasty cream cheese with sweet chili pepper sauce and crackers. It reminded us of the jalapeno jelly with cream cheese that we ate with Jen & Maxwell on the Baba, which was also delicious. We chatted with Fred, who we met earlier today and found out he works for the Bahamas Defense, which is their military to protect the people and the coast similar to the US Coast Guard. He is from Nassau, but has been stationed here for a year. He told us about this huge rat that is only found on this island and we saw them walking around after all the other boaters left the tiki when the sun had set. We had seen this animals droppings all over the island during our hike today and even on the beach. JR didn't know what is was and thought it was some kind of fruit, but I corrected him in the fact they were indeed droppings of some animal in the rodent family. I recognized it from the guinea pig droppings when I used to have one as a pet. I had never seen a rat so big before and it wasn't shy so I was even able to snap a couple quick pictures of it. After chatting with Fred for a while, he invited us over to eat “dinner” the following day at noon. We were happy to accept his invitation and were confused about the time of “dinner” with it being our lunch time, but we know the time so there is no misunderstanding of when to eat. The bugs were getting too friendly even after I sprayed on insect repellent so we hurried to get our dinghy back in the water so we could be on our way. We took a bit of a long dinghy ride back to our boat and we laid on deck to star gaze in the cool winds under the half moon until we were ready to sleep. The wind shifted more to the east so the boat was less bouncy and we were more comfortable inside the cabin. :)