We are now on Warderick Wells Cay which is home to the headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The Park is 22 miles long and 8 miles wide. It includes 15 large islands and many more tiny ones and its purpose is to provide a safe haven and replenishment area for the wildlife native to the Bahamas and to educate the public in saving this beautiful environment. The water here is pristine and has numerous reefs to explore and snorkel or dive on. Fishing is not permitted in the park and if you hike anywhere, you must remain on the trails. Yesterday we hiked up to the infamous Boo Boo Hill where boaters go and leave mementos from their boats. We placed our homemade boat plaque amongst the hundreds of others that were there. There is also a spectacular blow hole nearby which provided much entertainment to the children hiking with us as well as the adults. We have been following the same route of many other same boats, thus we have gotten to know quite a few of them. We have been busy snorkelling, hiking, visiting during potluck dinners at the Park Headquarters and enjoying happy hours on different boats. We will probably leave tomorrow and head to Staniel Cay where our friends Brad and Anita Taylor will join us for a few days on the boat.

We left Frazer Hog Cay for our last really deep water crossing of the Tongue of the Ocean. After that we would be in the relatively shallow waters of the Bahamas Banks. We headed for Nassau where we would visit with Bruce's cousin Heather, her husband Mark and their 3 children. We stayed at the Nassau Harbor Club as we needed to get fuel, refill our water, do some laundry and re provision the boat. Heather and Mark helped us with all of this as well as having us for dinner one night at their place. Thanks for all the chauffeuring around and all your help! We hope to see them again on the way back and have them all on the boat for a sail and a night on the water. Nassau was certainly a change of pace from the quiet nearly deserted islands that we have visited in the Bahamas so far. We couldn't get over how busy it was. The Bahamas has really suffered the effects of the slowing economy as everywhere we go we have noticed resorts that have closed their doors and the ones that are open, have very little visitors which is a shame as they are so beautiful.

We finally got a weather forecast that gave us at least 3 days of warm weather and light winds so we left Nassau on a beautiful day to cross the Great Bahamas Banks and start our exploration of the Exuma Island Chain. Our first stop would be Allan Cay. We had to pass over the Yellow Banks which is a shallow bit of water with numerous coral heads. When we got there, I went to the bow and watched for coral heads so that I could direct Bruce around them. Before we left Marathon, Addison and Pat Chan on Three Penny Opera had given us a pair of headsets to use to communicate to each other when we were anchoring or needed to communicate with each other when one of us was on the bow and the other driving. This has been the best gift ever as we have used them many times and don't know how we ever managed without them! Thank you, thank you Pat and Addison!

When we dropped the anchor in front of Allan's Cay, we really felt we had arrived. This was our first experience of the inviting clear waters of the Exumas. People have told us how beautiful it is and we have seen pictures of it but nothing compares to actually seeing it. Allans Cay is also home to intriguing prehistoric iguanas. They are protected here and you can go to shore and feed them. As soon as you approach with your dinghy, they come out to meet you. Once or twice each day a fast boat arrives from Nassau filled with tourists who want to come and see the iguanas. You can put food on a stick and they will eat it right off the stick. We spent 3 nights on Allan's Cay before heading to Normans Cay where we would meet up with friends that we had crossed the Gulf Stream with and spent time in Bimini with.

Norman's Cay was very interesting as it had once been under the control of a drug lord by the name of Carlos (Joe) Lehder. Now most of the island is privately owned and it has its own airstrip. It has one restaurant and bar by the name of MacDuffs and to get there you must cross the airstrip making sure to look both ways for landing or departing airplanes! We took a long walk to the top of a hill where there is an abandoned houseboat. Legend has it that this boat used to come and anchor off Norman's Cay and had been warned by the drug lord not to do so. The owner ignored this advice and upon returning to his boat one day discovered it to be gone from its anchorage.

It was later found on the top of a hill!