EXUMA CAYS LAND & SEA PARK

EXUMA CAYS Land & Sea Park

EXUMA CAYS Land & Sea Park

PHILAUTIA PUBLISHING New Providence, The Bahamas

P R E S E N T E D B Y

Your ULTIMATE Gateway to the EXUMA CAYS LAND AND SEA Park

Marina Restaurant Luxury Cottages Beach Cabanas Excursions

highbournecaybahamas.com

About the Book While working on my newly published coffee table book, Exumas: The Kingdom of Blue, I soon realized that the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park deserved its own section, being the beating heart of the Exumas archipelago and of all of The Bahamas.

I decided to create a special insert within the book to pay homage to the Park through both images and stories, but I felt that still it wasn’t enough, and so I came up with a separate publication entirely about the Park. I contacted a handful of businesses whose operation is in the Exumas (or supports the Exumas) and proposed that they sponsor the project. They were all enthusiastic and the book took shape rapidly. I therefore wish to particularly thank Carolyn Cartwright of Highbourne Cay (Presenting Sponsor of the book), David Hocher of Makers Air and Staniel Cay Yacht Club, Ludovic Chechin-Laurans of Capital Union Bank in Nassau, and Nigel Bower of Powerboat Adventures, for making this book possible. I knew that capturing the beauty of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in a book would be close to an impossible mission, but I like impossible missions, so I embarked on the adventure and tried my best to depict the vast expanses and small corners I had the luck of exploring both by boat and by air. The book features several short stories, blurbs, and perspectives, both my own and those of scientists and different people I have encountered along my journey. Exploring the Park is not an easy task unless you have your own yacht or island or a friend who does! For everyone else, it requires a bit of knowledge of the right people, dynamics, places, and businesses. I’d like to share with you a handful of little tips on how to get there and how to get the most out of your visit. From Florida, you can fly Makers Air (scheduled or charter) into Staniel Cay. Then the Staniel Cay Yacht Club could be your base to explore, especially if you want to see the southern part of the park. If you come from Nassau, then chartering a speed boat with Powerboat Adventures would be your best option. To spend a few days in total relaxation, Highbourne Cay’s elegant and charming cottages are the place to stay. The beaches are gorgeous and you can dine and sip cocktails at their beautiful Xuma restaurant and explore the island on a bicycle or a golf cart. I believe it’s super important to preserve the pristine waters, land, and beaches in this unique ecological preserve and wildlife refuge. The fragility of our natural world and incomparable beauty of The Bahamas is a recurring theme in my photography. The complexity of life can be translated into an infinite multitude of crystallized moments. The selected images and vignettes presented here are part of my ongoing celebration of life in The Bahamas.

More of my images and coffee table books can be found at bahamasphotobooks.com and thelonesomephotographer.com It is my hope that this book will help add to the healthy enjoyment of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, and assist in safeguarding this irreplaceable marine habitat so that it may flourish long into the future.

Alessandro Sarno

National Parks of The Bahamas Environmental Guardians | 2.2 Million Acres Under Management

Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park To protect and preserve one of the most beautiful places on earth is to seek to do our best to protect a wellspring of wonder that nourishes us all. A group of forward-thinking conservationists from around the globe came together in 1958 to establish the 176 square mile area that would become the first land and sea park in the world. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is now a fully protected replenishment zone, a “no-take� reserve where all fishing is prohibited. The preserve safeguards the thriving underwater reefs teeming with bright schools of fish, a variety of corals, conch, grouper, and crawfish (Bahamian lobsters). On land, the terns, seabirds, white-tailed tropicbirds, and ospreys (sea hawks) find refuge and nest is the scrubby islet vegetation and trees.

Mangrove wetlands surrounding many cays buffer shorelines and keep coral reefs healthy, providing a vital nursery habitat for countless marine invertebrates, crabs, and fish populations. The elusive hutia, a small shy mammal native to The Bahamas, fruit bats, and endangered iguanas also call the park home. Warderick Wells is the site of the park’s office where moorings that protect the fragile ecosystem can be arranged in advance, as well as assistance from the professional guides or park officers. Permits and fees are required for film crews, researchers, and visiting boaters. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park won the Platinum Global Ocean Refuge Award (GLORES) in 2018. This top award honors high science-based standards for biodiversity protection and best Blue Park management practices. Hats off to those who work now (or over decades past as Bahamas National Trust staff or volunteers or fundraisers) to maintain these pristine waters and incredibly special places. Thank goodness for the visionary group of international environmental enthusiasts over 60 years ago who saw fit to establish boundaries and put systems in place to preserve this stunning marine environment, pivotal for the health of all the oceans on our planet. What will future generations say about how we responded in helping save this indispensable and enchanting blue-green world? Thank you for supporting this essential conservation mission in every way you can.

Flying Over the Cays The astronauts view of our planet miles up in space was something to behold. Many of them record there was one location that stood out above all others, the view of The Bahamas. I have been flying over this amazing archipelago for near forty years as a commercial seaplane pilot based in Nassau. When taking my guests on a day’s flying adventure through the Exuma Cays I would jest that I would be sharing ‘my personal Van Gogh’! Below us lay a chain of three hundred and sixty five islands and cays, one for every day of the year, stretching some one hundred and twenty miles from Sail Rocks in the north to Hog Cay south of Great Exuma in the south! As with that famous painter, here lay swirls of iridescent turquoise, deep rich indigos and sparkling greens all braided with light cream coloured sand bars. Different colours indicating various depth or growth on the seabed. Set against the powder blue skies of our beautiful islands the scene becomes very surreal. Photographs we record are often critiqued as being digitally enhanced, admirers say often “it can’t be that blue!” Yet it is.

Every time I saw the Exuma Cays coming closer into view there was an internal exhilaration knowing all onboard my seaplane were about to experience a view that stays with you for a lifetime. Even after forty years cruising at various altitudes above those waters, there has never been a flight not leaving me near breathless, it is that beautiful. I have been recording these islands from above for years, guilty of shooting the very same aerial frames over and over again, hoping this time I may have taken something even more special than the last! A very special highlight is entering the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, starting at Wax Cay Cut in the north to end at Conch Cut some twenty two miles to the south. These ‘cuts’ are deep bodies of water worn to near forty feet by the racing tides that flow from the deep ocean on the east side of the cays to the shallow banks on the west; shallow indeed that we can walk along some at low tide!

It is this magic phenomena that creates swirls of colour, words inadequate to describe a majesty as seen from the air everyone should experience at least once!

Paul Harding

“I defy any painter to capture those shades of blue.

I was just lucky this place found me.

Nobody is going to ever ruin the Land and Sea Park.

It’s like a rare gem, a diamond.

I look forward to my kids growing up on the island, spending months out of the year here... learning about sea life and how to protect sea life... and their kids growing up here, and so on.”

Johnny Depp

Private islands and private sanctuaries of celebrity homes within the Exumas are just that: private. Please respect boundaries. A sign of true fandom is knowing how to chill.

A Day in the Life of a Park Administrator Dawn at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP)—to the east the sun peering over the hillside, the winds are light out of the southeast and a brand new day begins! I check our AIS for vessel traffic and see there are over 100 vessels throughout the park. A quick check of the weather and these favorable morning conditions are only to last through the day and then switch to a South Westerly in front of an impending Northerly blow. It is that time of the year with very active vessel traffic and ever changing weather, with summer conditions in the morning and brisk winter winds in the afternoon! Thanks to advanced technology and tools, a predictable January day in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

This morning we are heading to the northernmost boundaries of the park—Shroud Cay. We depart at 0800 and upon our arrival at 0835 we encounter 52 vessels in our anchorages and mooring fields—what will make a very busy day of collecting user fees and much needed revenue—the backbone of funding the expenses of the parks operations.

We go boat by boat greeting and collecting fees for the vessels usage of our National Park. We check the area for vessel operations and safety reasons. During the check we encounter a jet ski up in the creek, which is against the law and this time around we issue a stern warning as to why it is not allowed and escort them out of the creek. Despite the signage informing of the rules and regulations, users still have to be reminded; this is an ongoing enforcement operation. On our return there is a brisk 15 knot SW breeze kicking up now and we overhear a USCG helicopter in a rescue mission to the west of Cistern Cay—a vessel was stranded and while trying to push the vessel off the sand bar a male occupant cut his leg badly. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter did deploy a man to assist but could not land to retrieve the victim and it was too windy to lower a basket. We assisted by retrieving the disabled victim and the USCG Marine, and ran the two of them to Normans Cay where the Helo was landing awaiting our arrival to transfer the victim to Nassau hospital.

Heading back to Warderick Wells and upon our arrival found that the North entrance a 52’ sailboat was hard aground.

We communicated with the owner and hooked up a tow line to pull him off. We successfully pulled him off and escorted the vessel to a mooring for the evening. Another day ends and we are hopeful all is well throughout the night as we are on call 24/7/365 to protect the environment and assist all who are in our park, whatever may come our way.

Captain Joseph Ierna Park Administrator (Jan 2018 - May 2020) Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park

Captain Kevin Cartwright I experienced the Exuma Cays in my youth and never left it behind. Fishing, diving, and beaching in waters clear as gin. Breathtaking sunrises, sunsets, and starry nights. From my residence here in the Exuma Cays, I treasure being surrounded by the sea, the tropical vegetation, and so many species of birds every day. This natural spectacle over the years has driven me towards being a conservation steward, from the time I was young, and more so now. As my awareness of the human abuse of our oceans rises, it’s heartbreaking. Waste has its own place, but not in our waters or shorelines—overfishing of our marine resources has no place either.

We can all do our own small part in recycling, protecting our oceans, minimizing plastics … that’s just a start, but a significant help and stride forward in keeping our beaches and oceans clean and plentiful, which in turn boosts our Bahamian tourism product.

I’m an avid supporter of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park… a proud Bahamian and descendant of Exuma, where my grandfather was born in Simons Point, George Town.

Captain Kevin Cartwright

discover the gems of the park with captain nigel bower Private charter a speed boat and spend a fantastic day—or days—in the Exuma Cays.

Enjoy absolutely amazing corners of the park where Captain Bower guides you to spectacular spots to see or feed stingrays, sharks, iguanas, and more. Hop on a secluded beach for an unforgettable picnic or stroll along surreal sandbars.

powerboatadventures.com

Protecting the Sharks The Bahamas are a shark sanctuary since 2011. The sharks are free to roam and interact with the different ecosystems to guarantee their health and balance. This country is home to over forty different species of sharks, including some of the most majestic ones, such as tigers, bulls, great hammerheads, and oceanic white tip. Fishing is a big industry for The Bahamas, but longlining and drift nets are not permitted. These fishing-practice bans have allowed the shark population to thrive, creating healthy habitats for all the organisms necessary for the balance of our oceans. One of the critical factors is that sharks provide a stable income to the local communities through shark tourism. People travel to The Bahamas to dive, snorkel, and share the ocean with these fascinating creatures, and one live shark provides an income between $350,000 and $425,000 in a twenty year life span. Bahamians fear and respect sharks. They understand and accept that the ocean is their world and that we are merely visiting guests; they know when it’s safe to be in the water with them and appreciate that they are the keepers of their health. Without healthy oceans, we will not have a healthy planet. Without sharks, we will not have healthy oceans. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park does vital work in protecting sharks and the wellness of the beautiful reefs and clean clear ocean waters they depend on, along with a wide variety of abundant marine life.

Cristina Zenato Shark Expert and Founder People of the Water

A Scientific Perspective of the Park The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is not just a place of breathtaking beauty, it harbors a vibrant marine ecosystem, largely due to its protection as a National Park. Because the park has prohibited the extraction of all marine life for over three decades, fish and invertebrate populations in the park have flourished. For example, critically endangered Nassau grouper populations are one and a half times greater in the park, on average, than in the rest of The Bahamas. Similarly, populations of queen conch, Caribbean spiny lobster and other fish species have also benefitted from protection with greater abundances and biomass in the park than areas outside it.

The park doesn’t just benefit these fishery species, however. By protecting key species from exploitation and increasing their populations, ecosystems remain intact and able to function under more natural conditions. Thus, when the system is affected by natural events like hurricanes, or various human threats, it has a greater ability to recover than areas where ecosystem function has been compromised by exploitation. Because the park also limits other human impacts, such as development on many of the islands and cays, it reduces threats to coral reefs and other ecosystems. The combination of reducing threats and improved ecosystem resilience has made the coral reefs of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park among the healthiest in all of The Bahamas, with more coral covering the reef, healthier coral colonies, and greater populations of fish and invertebrates.

These healthy populations in the park also serve as a breeding ground to replenish marine life in other parts of the central Bahamas. The park is not without threat from the outside, however. Nassau grouper leave the park to spawn and are subject to illegal fishing even though there is a closed season, and conch populations in the park seem to be getting older with little input of juveniles from surrounding fished areas. This highlights the need for more protected areas modelled after the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park that can replenish each other and fished areas alike.

Craig Dahlgren Executive Director Perry Institute for Marine Science

Welcoming guests since 1956, the Staniel Cay Yacht Club offers the perfect getaway for anyone seeking a comfortable, casual, experience on a remote, tranquil island.

A boutique resort with 13 intimate bungalows, one beautiful villa, and a full-service marina, SCYC is set on Staniel Cay, a charming small island surrounded by the most incredible waters you will ever experience.

Take your own boat, find your own beach, make your own path. It really is like no other place on Earth.

stanielcay.com

The ideal place to call home while exploring the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Sailing the Exumas The thing I love most about being a captain onboard a yacht in The Bahamas is the never ending eagerness to want to go back to the Exumas. Every chance I get to take the owners out and do charters through to the end of June, I’ll take. The next best thing is being so close to the wide ocean. Anchoring on the sand bar at the edge of an underwater cliff that drops several thousand feet, “perching you at the top of a mountain� with hundreds of Islands to visit along the ridge. Stop me if I get too nautical. The islands have self-organized over time to allow the tides to ebb and flow, creating streams of water that can be found deep and very shallow at different times of the day. Mastering that is my thing. I have visited the Exumas many times aboard a yacht and have seen so many epic days and nights that I truly am very grateful for. To me, with 25 years as a captain, the Exumas are the most beautiful of all. What makes it so much better? Bahamians.

Captain Warren East

Mr Cox Steven Cox was born 87 years ago in Acklins island and moved at a young age to Nassau with his family. He was working in the capital, in the little-appreciated role as a garbage collector, when the opportunity came up to help work on landscaping and maintaining a seven-acre property in the Exumas Cays. He did not think twice, and accepted the job right away, moving to the Exumas. That was 70 years ago.

Since then, he has never left the island except for sporadic trips to Nassau to see his children and grandchildren (12 in total). Nowadays, he spends his time growing vegetables and picking papayas in his little garden on the private cay within the boundaries of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, where he still lives. He is the only living person to hold a license to fish in the park for meals only, even if he isn’t using it much these days.

A Personal Sanctuary Little Pigeon Cay, securely nestled in the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, has been a sanctuary for myself, my husband, our children, and The Sands Family for generations. As fiercely proud Bahamians, living on a humble island in the cays is our dearest privilege. We are grateful for its refuge and hold it in the highest regard.

It is impossible not to be inspired by the purest beauty of this landscape. What the eyes cannot comprehend, the camera lens captures.

Every shade of blue imaginable, glistening on the surface. Sunwashed driftwoods and seaglass undulated by the tides. The Exuma Cays is the iridescent crowning jewel of The Bahamas.

Clare Sands

W E F LY Y O U T O P A R A D I S E

Regular daily flights to and from The Bahamas Out Islands.

The best way to get to the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park.

BOOK YOUR FLIGHT AT MAKERSAIR.COM

Support the Park Want to do your part to help maintain, preserve, and protect the natural beauty and richness of The Bahamas for yourselves and future generations? Now is the time to join The Bahamas National Trust and contribute to the hugely important work they are doing for all. Their mission is key to sustaining the magnificent environment in Exumas and throughout The Bahamas. Marine habitat wellness and biodiversity in this part of the world has a direct impact on ocean health around the globe. Your donation will make a difference in safeguarding this irreplaceable environment long into the future. To donate online, please go to bnt.bs.

About the Author Alessandro Sarno is a photographer born and raised in Italy. Twelve years ago he made his first trip to The Bahamas, and it was a trip that changed his life. Mesmerized by the incredible blue waters, he was compelled to buy his first camera. What started out as a short vacation transformed into a deep love for both photography and for the The Bahamas, where he still feels most inspired to capture everyday moments of life. Sarno has published five coffee table books portraying life in the islands: Exumas: The Kingdom of Blue, Eleuthera: The Garden of Freedom, Junkanoo: The Spirit of a People, Catch Da Cat, and Blue and Beyond. Sarno’s work has been featured in many group shows in The Bahamas and the United States, including Art Ft. Lauderdale’s January 2020 Art Fair on the Water. A special exhibit of Sarno’s Bahamian portraits is planned at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach this Fall. Sarno’s photography focuses on the details and crossroads of daily life: community gatherings, worship services, wildlife, vistas of solitude, rhythms of connection, a forgotten corner, an unexpected treasure, small details illuminating humanity’s vastness. His personal notes and thoughts on exploring and finding the people and places that make for a more memorable and deeper visitor experience (beyond the usual routes) are found in his unique curated photographic book, White Bull on the Highway in Eleuthera. His Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park book explores the best ways to see and enjoy this remarkable marine sanctuary. A passion for travel and being in the moment opens Sarno up to fully experiencing the places and people he meets along the way. “I believe that once a scene or portrait is captured and framed into a photograph, it is elevated to a higher dimension, to a limbo between reality and imagination. It becomes visual poetry, where words are replaced by shapes, spaces, colors, lines, light, and shadows.” Enjoying the distinctive energy of each new person or landscape he encounters, Sarno considers photography his ongoing travel companion. His artistic name, “The Lonesome Photographer” draws inspiration from the classic road-less-traveled book, Lonesome Traveler, by novelist and poet, Jack Kerouac.

Prints of Alessandro Sarno’s photography are found in the homes and offices of private collectors in Canada, Europe, United States and The Bahamas.

For information on exhibitions, book signings and prints purchase please visit thelonesomephotographer.com or bahamasphotobooks.com.

EXUMAS: The Kingdom of Blue book is also available at these sites for a more complete Exumas view.

Published by Philautia Publishing New Providence, The Bahamas © 2020 Philautia Publishing - philautiaeleuthera.com Book Design and Concept Alessandro Sarno Poem “Waters of Exuma” by Obediah Michael Smith © 2020

Cover Image Mixed media art by Paula Boyd Farrington © 2020 theartistpaula.com Photography Alessandro Sarno © 2020 thelonesomephotographer.com Copy Editor Paula Boyd Farrington

Printed In Italy in September 2020 By L.E.G.O. S.p.A. - ISBN 978-0-578-75312-6 This book respects the environment, the paper used was produced using wood from forests managed to strict environmental standards.

No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Johnny Depp’s quotes were taken from an article/interview published in Vanity Fair magazine, June 2009, written by Douglas Brinkley

HORN CAY

LITTLE WAX CAY

map of the park

SHROUD CAY LITTLE PIGEON CAY

HAWKSBILL CAY

LITTLE CISTERN CAY

LITTLE HAWKSBILL CAY

CISTERN CAY

WEST SHROUD CAY WARDERICK WELLS CAY

EXUMA CAYS LAND & SEA PARK VISITOR CENTER

HALLS POND CAY

RIDGE CAY

LITTLE HALLS POND CAY

SOLDIER CAY O’BRIENS CAY

PASTURE CAY BELLS CAY

LITTLE BELLS CAY

Waters of Exuma © Obediah Michael Smith, 2020

is this The Bahamas in which I reside this reality and my reality seem worlds apart is this dream-world my world aquamarine waters, white sandy beaches other side of the coinwhen you turn the page as near as dreaming is to waking up line that’s drawn that’s etched between what and what are not allowed to touch what is allowed to remain pristine and what is not best spots upon the planet, creator’s fingerprints alone upon them Leonardo da Vinci’s fingerprints, similarly, along the edges of the art he has left us

“I don’t think I’d ever seen any place so pure and beautiful.

You can feel your pulse rate drop about 20 beats.

It’s instant freedom.

And that rare beast-simplicity can be had.”

$35.00 ISBN 978-0-578-75312-6

53500>

9 780578 753126