K Words

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is a sizable chunk of the Exumas. The whole area is a 'no take' zone - no fishing, conching, shelling, lobstering, whatever. There is a lot to see both above and below the water in this protected area. I'm sure I only saw a fraction of what was on offer, but it was still pretty cool. Let's start with a few animal pics.

Here we have the ever-present curly-tailed lizard. These guys are all over the place here, just like Key West and Cuba. Although I imagine it's technically a different species, I can't tell the difference.

The top photo is a fairly young Nassau Grouper. They are protected at GTMO and (I believe) in the Florida Keys, but they are fair game for fishing and spearfishing in the Bahamas. Just not during spawning season. It's currently spawning season. Below that is a mutton snapper. A big mutton snapper.

At the park office at Warderick Wells, they had a bird feeder out in front. (We can't feed the animals, but the rangers do? What kind of example is that to set?) I actually had one land on my outstretched finger for 15 seconds or so. This shot is just perfect, though. I always think of the Bob Marley song, "Three Little Birds". Yes, Bob. Every little thing is gonna be alright.

This is the skull of a sperm whale that was killed by a 6-pack ring somebody didn't snip. No wait. That's not it. But there was something about human action resulting in the whale's death. I think. Or maybe it just washed ashore, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't get it off the shore again.

Next up, some photos of landscape and such. First, there is a blowhole in this next photo. It's not the big crashing wave, but it's just in front of the big crashing wave. This blowhole was good for a photo, but the one a little north of here was way up on a cliff, and only air came out. You'd stick your head over the hole, and it would blow the hat off your head, and the salt water spray would sting you skin until you had to turn away.

The previous 3 photos were taken at Hawksbill Cay, where there were some pleasant walking trails (please stay on the trail), and a nice little beach on the western side. The next two pictures are of Warderick Wells Cay, which had more, longer walking trails to enjoy. All of the trails ranged over various terrain, from near-shore sandy paths through scrub brush, to palmetto forests, to craggy, withered limestone hill paths of loose, sharp rocks.