Keene Sailing

Sharks, don’t swim here!

Here piggy, piggy, piggy

Just when you think you know a place, its signature so to speak, you come to realize you didn’t know it well at all.

Our guidebook describes the Exumas as an “emerald necklace” of islands. As  we sail south, passing island after island (small uninhabited islands), I can see this is a very apt description. Our destination is Warderick Wells Cay.  When we arrive, we see that the island has formed a perfect semi-circle. The water is a rainbow of turquoise, green, and to our surprise periwinkle (purple to all you non gardners). This spot is utterly natural and pristine. In a word “exquisite”.

The Bahamian government set aside 176 square mile area known as Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park, as a land and marine protected area. Warderick Wells lies within this area.  NO FISHING, NO TAKING ANYTHING OFF THE LAND, NO MESSING WITH THE WILDLIFE, NO TOUCHING, hefty fines if you do.

In the evening there was a cruisers gathering on the beach. We met a lot of wonderful people. There were three cruisers from Canada we ended up traveling with over the following week. What a good time.

Valentines Day we invited our friends over for breakfast. We had just gone to the local bakery the day before, so we had fresh coconut bread, eggs with salsa and fresh fruit and coffee. We all went out to dinner that evening to a wonderful local place right on the beach. The bakery and restaurant are actually part of the house these people live in. The kitchens are tiny, but the food they make is D-lish! We love the local places. Well actually at this point every place is a local place.

Our next stop was Stanley Cay. We took a dinghy ride to the other side of the island. You will never guess what we saw. Swimming pigs!! I told you, you would never guess. We have pictures. They live on the island. It’s all natural, no gimmicks. They will swim out to your dinghy looking for food because people feed them. When one started swimming toward our dinghy, I told Bob to “TAKE OFF”.