Bum's Rest: Highborne Cay, Noman's Cay and now Warderick Wells

Feb. 22 We woke up to rain showers today . Not much to do today, just took a small walk down the end of the dock to see if the sharks were there. Yep! They had a small pavilion on the dock that we could stay out of the rain. A stray cat came over to visit. He was not scared at all of Sailor. He wanted to play. Somebody must be feeding him there is cat food out. Kathy cooked tonight. Shrimp and Chicken on linguine, salad and chocolate cake. Played a lot of games on the computer and caught up on the blog

Feb 23 We left here at Highborne Cay Marine about 10:30am. Watched for the sharks on the way out. Boy, are they big. They remind me of big cat fish. It was a flat calm ride to Norman’s Cay. I took a lot of pictures from the bow. The water is so clear at 20 feet you can see the bottom. This would of been the perfect time to have dolphins come around. But, where are they? Sailor and I were looking and singing our song.

See the black spot (right side) that's approx where we anchored.

As we were coming into our anchorage, big sea rays were all around us. Once we were anchored, Wayne put the dingy in and we went exploring. See pictures…

Our boats are behind in the anchorage.

Carolos (Joe) Lehder bought a villa in 1977 and in 1979 his company bought half on Norman Cay. He was known as a smuggler of cocaine from here to Florida and South Georgia. Around this time his new plane crashed on the flats while doing a routine fly-by. The plane was flying in a load of sod for the island, and the pilot decided to do a maneuver called a touch and go to simulate a takeoff with a full load of cocaine (which the pilot was scheduled to depart with as soon as the sod was unloaded). Something went wrong and the new plane crashed.

We dinghied over to the site of the plane, and I think the pictures came out cool.

Sailor met a new friend, Sally who is 11 years old. What a sweet pea.

I cooked tonight. Homemade baked macaroni and cheese, salad, ham with pineapple. We had one beautiful day today.

Feb 24. We were up at 7:30am listening to the weather for tonight. A cold front is coming through. Think we are staying were we are for now. Wayne moved the boat over to deeper water and re-anchored for tonight’s winds. Around lunch time we dinghied over to the beach and walked towards McDuff’s Bar and Grill Resort. You follow this old worn out road, then stop to check if any airplanes are coming in for a landing, then cross the runway to McDuff’s. We stayed for a drink. I had my camera, but, had taken the sd card out to download pictures and forgot to put it back in. OOPS! We had to get back, because it looked like it was going to pour. About a hour later a thunder storm came close. It poured so hard you couldn't’t see land across the anchorage. We decided to stay home for dinner. I have leftover lasagna and salad.

Feb 25. It was a windy night with heavy rainfalls a few times. The winds were 25knots to 30 gusts. I was up till 12:30am reading and going up topside to check to see if we were dragging and watching the other boats that were anchored here. Wayne was sleeping and had the anchor alarm on also. When I finally went to bed, Wayne put on rain gear and went topside to watch till daylight. I think I had 2 hours sleep. The boat was rocking hard side to side. Rain finally stopped by 7am.

Listen to the weather at 7:30am and other boaters talking around at different anchorages. Later on Wayne took Sailor over to shore. Before he left me, he put a second anchor out. The wind has not calmed down at all. Kept his handheld VHF on when he went to shore each time he took Sailor

We cancelled dinner last night, because of the weather. No one was leaving their boat again tonight. Kathy cooked tonight and said come over and have take out. Said she had to cook it anyway from last night. So, Wayne picked it up and then took Sailor for his last walkie. Jeez, didn’t know I could get take out!!! Kathy made steak and gravy, roasted potatoes, and zucchini. It was YUMMY!!!!! Thank You!!!

Wayne is sleeping topside again till the winds die down. Winds are still 20knots. Drag alarms are on. “They say” the winds are dying down tonight. Time will tell.

Feb26. We left Norman's Cay at 9:15am this morning. Calm motor sailing to Warderick Wells in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. 24* 24N, 076* 38W. Right now we are on a mooring ball neat Emerald Rock area.The water is so calm you see the bottom and you feel like your in a big swimming pool. It is beautiful here. We will be staying a few days, a new cold front is coming through and we need to wait it out. Wayne is volunteering to work on the island for 4 hours tomorrow. We are trying to get a mooring ball inside on the North side, it's more protected. We are on a waiting least. When we got here we took a dinghy ride to the office. On the beach they have a sperm whale skeleton. Washed up on the beach in July 1995 and was 52 feet long. I cooked tonight. Spaghetti with shrimp, salad and coffee.