From Hardcore Adventure Hiking in Wardwick Wells Cay to Wing-foiling in Bell Island
- sheri1943
- Jan 15
- 5 min read
The swim with the spotted eagle rays in the channel anchorage right near the ranger station is a treat. The easiest time is during slack tide when there is no major current and these beautiful creatures come gliding effortlessly past you, inviting you to follow. This school had thirteen members and four remoras hanging on waiting for a free meal.
Always the adrenaline junkies, Rob and I set out to "do a little hike" on the island of Wardwick Wells. We had hiked a few of the trails the day before including Booboo Hill, aptly named since I am sure some child has crashed and burned trying to walk on the hard iron shore rocks laden with deep sinkholes every few yards or so. We also did Hutia Highway, named after the small furry rodents that are reportedly endangered and hard to find, but Rob and I saw several in our two days of hiking. They are nocturnal...more about that later. Other trails on day one were Butterfly trail leading to Butterfly Beach.
Many of the trails led to very isolated beaches with gorgeous white sand. Others were pock-marked iron-shore rock with deep sinkholes and chunks of boulder that would slide or shift under your feet. Particularly unnerving was the hollow sound of some of the rock next to the sinkholes made when we stepped on them, leaving one to wonder if the next chunk was about to break off and fall in! These sections Rob and I were moving at less than 2 miles per hour, saying "careful" more than twice an hour.
Determined to hike all the southernmost trails as well, we realized that we were going to have to pick up the pace in order to get back before dark, since we did not have headlamps and the only maps we had were on Rob's phone which was down to 25% battery life. We jogged on the sandy beach sections and through some of the flat trails like "Sahara Dessert Trail". We had a few bushwhacks near Davis Ruins, where the trail dwindled and all that we could follow was a stone wall from a "plantation" likely from the 1700s. It is amazing that anyone would have tried to grow or farm anything on this soil.
It was getting very hard to see any trail markings at all as we watched another beautiful sunset from the top of one of the ridges about two miles from the ranger station. We did finally make it back after the sun had set, with darkness setting in. The hutia then came out in full force and we saw several near the private residence on the island, so it is likely that they feed them there.
Thank goodness I told our boat neighbors I would call them when we got back, just in case we had gotten lost or injured, etc. We realized our cell phones were useless on the island, so we should have brought the portable VHF radio with us. In fact, on future hikes of that degree of difficulty, best to set out in the morning with plenty of daylight, pack a headlamp or two, a phone charger, and make sure to have shared your hike plan with a neighbor so they can alert rescue efforts if you do not return. If either Rob or I had fallen and sprained an ankle or sustained any major injury, we may not have been able to make it back along those treacherous paths. You live and you learn, but preferably not the hard way...this was too close for comfort!
Next day, we set sail for Bell Island, right behind our new friends on "Freya" a 45 foot Balance catamaran with Andrew, Christine and their three kids, age 6, 8, and 10 on board. They are from the UK and he is a General Practitioner and she owns a private duty home care company. They are in their mid-forties and raising their kids onboard, home-schooling. We have shared meals with them and wing-foil lessons and their kids are well-behaved and very active. I am delighted to see kids getting raised in this environment and surprised at how many "kid boats" there are cruising the Bahamas. It is a real community. No Ipads except for schoolwork, no cellphones, social media , or media at all, and plenty of sunshine and sports all day!
The trails on Cambridge were not nearly as many, as long, or as difficult, and the rewards were great. This shot is near a cave known as Max's Table Rock cave on the northeast side of the island. We hiked down the cliffs, carrying our fins and masks, looking for the cave and not finding it. We decided to jump in for a snorkel of the coastline and back down to Bell Rock. There was a paucity of reef fish, but we did spot two nice (protected) lobsters on the second reef line, in about 30 feet of water. All of the recent islands are part of Exumas Land and Sea Park, so no hunting or fishing is allowed. Thank goodness we have leftover lobster, conch and venison from prior hunting expeditions!
When we came back from the snorkel and climbed up the rocky shore, I nearly was swept away by a wave but both my fins were just out of my reach, so Rob grabbed them and threw them up on the shore. Unscathed again! We walked back up to our gear and realized we were right beside Max's Table Rock Cave!
When we dropped anchor at Wardwick Wells Cay, this big nurse shark came and frolicked around the boat for well over an hour, waiting for hand-outs. I did reach in and stroke his course dorsal fin. We did not feed him, knowing that sharks will be more likely to harass snorkelers and divers if they get used to being fed by people. That is one of our rules of spear-fishing, if a shark charges you to try to take the fish you just speared, stand your ground...with your spear in hand and preferably a "shark-shield" on as well. We just saw a video of someone that had a shark going after his fish and he poked the shark with the tip of his spear and it turned around, charged him and bit him in the leg before he even knew what hit him. Sharks deserve respect...so do rocky trails...and caves...and kite-boards! More respect-building adventures to come!
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