Peaks To Reefs, All In One Day

Warderick Wells   

This morning we had art class. In preparation for our trip up Boo Boo Hill, we prepared our avatar offering. Barry applied the base coat of white paint to a piece of whale-shaped driftwood I had found. I came back and did the personalization with Sharpies. As we waited for high tide to pass, I met a few of our flippered neighbors while reading. I finished one book and started another. When the time finally came, we hopped in the dinghy and headed to shore. The trailhead is right on the sandy beach. Pretty soon, however, the terrain changed to eroded limestone. One of us (Barry) was wearing proper footwear. I had on flip flops and took my steps with a bit more caution.

After clearing the rock, we had to cross Banshee Creek (the reason we waited for a falling tide). The water was no more than mid-thigh deep for this obstacle. Curly tailed lizards and ominous trees kept us alert. A final climb up a sandy slope took us to the crest of the hill.

It was quite a view -- our mooring field to the west and Exuma Sound to the east.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The low winds and calm seas made it one of the best days we've had during our stay in The Bahamas. Crossroads was behaving herself on Ball #12.

Back to the mission at hand -- depositing our avatar. We took a few minutes to look over the previous offerings, and recognized a few names of those who have been here before us. Barry tried a few positions and we ultimately settled on a position down low. Somewhere in the big mound is our offering from 2019. We took advantage of the elevation and were able to check our email and get phone service. We called my mom to check in and assure here we hadn't disappeared into Davy Jones' Locker. The view of the Sound to the southeast was nothing but flat water.

Mission accomplished we returned to Crossroads for lunch. The water was calling me. We dropped the paddle board in and I explored the shallows of the sandbar as the tide fell. A juvenile conch was easily spotted on the sandy bottom. The water was so clear and calm that I felt I was floating on air for a good 45 minutes. 

I returned to Crossroads just before low tide and slack current. We loaded the snorkel gear in the dinghy and headed to The Ranger's Garden, a nearby coral reef. We tied up to a yellow dinghy mooring and hopped in. There were fewer fish here than at the Cambridge Sea Aquarium, but there was more variety of species.

The coral was impressive, especially the flowing sea fans. 

After an hour chasing fish, we headed back to Crossroads. I caught the picture of the shark swimming along with us. We had just enough time for quick showers before meeting everyone back on the beach at 5:00 for appys.