Cambridge Cay
Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

As we continued to make our way southward we next anchored in the lee of Cambridge Cay. Here we had one of our best snorkelling experiences ever.
Our first location to snorkel during the day was an area shown on our chart as "sea aquarium - coral garden". We were delighted to see the great number of brightly coloured reef fish and corals we found there.
We next moved along to Conch Channel at the south end of Cambridge Cay. Here our chart showed the many shallow coral heads in the area. With my swim mask on, I popped my head below the water to look at the coral, before getting out of our dingy and came face to face with a 6' nurse shark. Bit surprising, for sure!
Both of these locations are within the boundaries of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It covers l76 square miles, beginning at Wax Cay Cut and stretching along 32 miles to Conch Cut. The Park extends out 4 nautical miles on both sides of the Cays.
The Park offered several mooring balls at a cost of $l5.00 per night. These were scattered at different locations along the park's 22 mile boundary. The monitoring and collecting of fees was done by the "friends of the park" support fleet. Some of these dedicated volunteers spent many weeks selflessly working on the parks behalf as well as offering information and assistance to cruisers that took refuge in their areas.
A short hike across Cambridge Cay gave us a look at the hole in the Bell rock which was just offshore.