WARDERICK WELLS

Shortly before 9:00am we arrived at the park headquarters to offer our services for the day. Judy introduced us to Kevin who, along with his wife, has lived on his boat anchored off Warderick Wells for the past three years. Like Vince, Kevin is one of those exceptional men with the ability to “fix anything” and who goes by the appropriate moniker of “McGiver.” Kevin arrived here from Florida a few years back and, after organizing the tools and spare parts which had been donated to the park by cruisers over the years, he built a small room in which to house them and then decided to stay on. Since that time, the workshop and its complement of supplies and equipment has steadily grown until now, almost anything can be accomplished here by knowledgeable people working with the tools on site.

After consulting a long “wish list” of jobs still needing to be done, Kevin put us to work building a long low table out of scrap lumber that had washed up on shore. After working diligently all day long hauling boards from the beach to the shop, removing rusty nails from the planks, sawing wood into appropriate lengths and nailing it all together, we were proud to present the park with a sturdy 12’ x 3’ table upon which pots of vegetables and pineapples could be placed to grow safely beyond the reach of the Bahamain “Hutias.”

Several years ago 20 of these small gopher-like rodents—thought to be extinct—were discovered elsewhere in the Exumas and brought to the park in hopes that they would re-establish themselves there. Now hundreds of these little herbivores roam the island at night munching on foliage. Because everything in the park is protected, the only way to control their forays into the vegetable garden is to elevate the plants well beyond their reach. Hopefully our table will do just that.

While building this structure we also had the pleasure of meeting “Larry” who, in his previous life, operated a medical laboratory somewhere in the American mid-west. Now he is resident gardener and a second park warden. Each morning he leaves Warderick Wells in a patrol boat accompanied by two armed members of the Bahamian Defence Force in search of poachers. And in the afternoon he tends to his plants. Like Kevin, Larry too remains here year round. But as warden, he has the privilege of living in a small one roomed dwelling located on the island itself.

Over the next few days we continued to return to the workshop each morning to complete assigned tasks. Vince wired in several lights, repaired a drill, and built a small storage box while I wound ropes and sorted/organized thousands of misplaced screws. During this time we often found ourselves working alongside another interesting character—Chris Calder—who was none other than the elder brother of world-reknown sailing author “Nigel Calder!” After selling off his successful dental practice in England, Chris and his wife Liz set sail for the Bahamas. The Exuma Park soon became a favourite haunt. And, after extensive explorations throughout this chain of islands, he decided to set his hook off Warderick Wells and live here on a semi-permanent basis. Like many of the others, Chris can be found most days working on projects in the shop while his long-suffering wife tries to keep busy reading, sewing etc. alone aboard the boat. They arrive early October and leave in May, returning home to England for Christmas and summer holidays.

At the end of four days, we decided to push on to explore another section of the park—the anchorage at Cambridge Cay. When Tom learned we were leaving, he invited us to become part of the parks “Support Fleet” while there. It was an honour to be asked, as several perks go with this position and it is a posting which is sought after by many cruisers in these waters. Of course we readily agreed! And so, for the next week at least, there will continue to be even more tangible things for us to do here.