Allans Cay and Exuma Land and Sea Park

Iguana on Allans Cay

We left Nassau on the 15th and headed on to Allans Cay. This little island is uninhabited - that is - there are no people. However, there are a ton of iguanas. The island, and a couple of other smaller ones are home to what appear to be tame animals. They are not. The guidebook says to leave your pets and toddlers on the boat! Twice a day cruise tour boats show up for people to walk around with them.

Tour boats have arrived for the iguanas to see the people!

Well, while we were in the anchorage at Allans Cay, we experienced some boat trouble again. This time the fuel oil pump on the generator failed. Lucky for us the folks on Deuces Wild, Bruce and Carla, had an extra pump on their boat and Bob got it to work. Bless you Bruce!

Deuces Wild

Then Bob started the engine on the port side and it died after running for a couple of minutes. When he started it again, it ran even less - third time it made no attempt to start. That sounded to us like a fuel problem, so Bob changed filters, and luckily it started! One of our friends has said that a trip like this is an exercise in "fixing complex systems in exotic places!" How right he is.

Boats at anchor at Allan Cay

While we were there, Grant and Brenda on Belleza caught up with us too. It is always comforting to see some of the folks we've met along the way again. We puttered around in our dinghy enjoying the area and swimming near the boat. Beaches were out since the iguanas own them.

Belleza

We decided to move on yhesterday to the Exuma Land and Sea Park. This is a 176 mile area of cays, rocks, and reefs running from Little Wax Cay int he north to Conch Cut in the south, and is founded by Exuma Sound on one side and the Exuma Bank on the other. No fishing or taking of anything are allowed.

The Park Headquarters in on Warderick Wells Cay. We arrived to late yesterday to check in, so we $e up to $20 a day to tie up to a mooring ball and $10 a day for Internet. What a deal. This place could not be more beautiful. It is the kind of place you will only see by boat. There are no places to rent on land in the way of a cottage or hotel, and no airstrip.

We took a walk across the island to the other side after checking in. It was a tough walk to say the least. We wish we had retired sooner. It was quite hot and we had onlyh taken one water bottle with us. We were really bushed when we got back, but the scenery from the top of the island where you could see both sides was incredible. We had not carried our camera, so I'm including a link to some info on the park. We'll take photos tomorrow. http://www.bnt.bs/parks_exuma.php

The snorkling here is fantastic. I found this site of some photos taken of the underwater life that are better than anything I could take. We will go snorkling tomorrow. http://www.pbase.com/imperium/exumas_underwater

We are moored next to two small sailboats with children aboard. One has three children and the other has four! I can't imagine doing that, but I'm sure the kids are having a ball. Many people do this and home school their children as they travel. So it is not just old retirees out here travelling by boat.

It is so peaceful here that I almost hate to make the keys on the computer click. Good Night.