Exuma Cays Land And Sea Park Explored By Mission Blue

Created in 1958, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park was the first of its kind in the world and is famous for it’s pristine beauty, outstanding anchorages and breathtaking marine environment. Established and maintained by the Bahamas National Trust, it was the first marine fishery reserve to be established in the Caribbean.

The limestone islands of Exuma have been created through a build-up of calcium carbonate from the rise and fall of sea levels, wind and deposits over thousands of years. The wind and rain that built up the islands over the years have eroded the limestone into pits that surprisingly allow plants to establish roots and thrive. This same erosion has created grottos and caves like Thunderball Grotto, made famous in Hollywood films including “Splash” and “Thunderball.” [Text continues after images.]

Photos courtesy of Kip F. Evans, Christine Guinness and Mission Blue.

Outside the grotto, the craggy cliffs are home to numerous Black Noddy with their silky white heads and sleek black bodies, eyeing the snorkelers as they pass by close to eye level. Combined with the healthy corals and sponges on the outside wall of the park, this little island is an example of the beauty of two environments. This is after all the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

Over the past two days, a system with rainy and windy weather has kept the team to shallow and sheltered areas for snorkeling and diving. The group snorkeled and dove several sites including the Aquarium, Jeep Reef and a drift dive at Conch Cut, where conch of all sizes could be found throughout the extensive sea grass bed.

Lisa Robertson, one of the expedition guests, has visited the park over the last 30 years. “The number of fish and colors has decreased over the years. There used to be hundreds of sea biscuits all over the place.”

One fish you do see an abundance of is the beautiful, but invasive, Lionfish. It is a voracious and indiscriminate consumer of larval and juvenile indigenous marine life of the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Dr. Earle explains the explosion to expedition participants, “We’ve set the table for them (lionfish). The reason they’ve survived here is because we’ve taken away the predators. Groupers eat lionfish but the groupers have been overfished. Invasive species can’t set up house until you’ve cleared a space and a healthy system wouldn’t have space.”

According to Eleanor Phillips of The Nature Conservancy, there is debate regarding how these Indo-specific fish entered the Atlantic seaboard and the insular Caribbean. Some scientists believe the lionfish may have been introduced the reef through an accidental release from an aquarium in the early 1990’s. Another possibility is a deliberate introduction by private aquarium owners or from foreign ship ballasts.

But it is not all lost. Robertson adds with a smile, “This is a magical place. We can already see what protection can do here at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, which was established in 1986. There is hope, but we have to act now to protect more of the ocean than we currently do.”

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(Source: The Huffington Post)

The Bahamas from below: Into the scuba blue for the first time on a Caribbean course.

Let’s see. Is it an oboe? A clarinet? A trumpet? Ah yes, a trumpet fish. He means a trumpet fish!

Seasoned divers mention several things when you tell them you are about to learn the art of scuba – the equalising, the buoyancy issues. But no-one ever talks about the charades. It is a silent world down there, so the first time someone mimes that they’ve spotted a trumpet fish, a little mental gymnastics is required. Lionel Blair and Una Stubbs would make the world’s best scuba divers.

Life below the surface: With warm waters and fine weather, the Bahamas is a great place to dive

But more of this later.

I had been eyeing up scuba diving from afar for some time. I had always loved snorkelling – but essentially for its punk-rock, anyone, anywhere, any time ethic. No fancy equipment or tuition. Just you, the water and a hollow pipe.

But then, everyone who ever scuba dives comes back with breathless tales of how magical it all is – and eventually these reports were just too hard to ignore.

My learning ground (OK, learning water) was to be the Bahamas – specifically the Sandals Emerald Bay resort on the island of Exuma. This was also to be a first for me. I had never stayed in an adults-only, all-inclusive resort before, imagining them to be slightly bland affairs with an aesthetic stuck firmly in the late 1980s, all neon trim and awful piped music.

Annoyingly, on arrival, my preconceptions are immediately dashed. What is all this? Stylish architecture? Sophisticated pool and social areas? A boisterous, boozy English pub complete with feisty landlady? This isn’t the khaki chino-clad vapid world I had been expecting. Damn you, sneakily-evolving holiday brand.

Blissful beaches: The Bahamas also does sun and sand for less active visitors

And yet, there proves to be little time for luxuriating in these surroundings.

The next morning, a wide-eyed group of learners is met by the estimably-named President, a sanguine chap with a dry sense of humour and scuba experience that seems to verge on pre-natal.

He takes us through the medical waivers and programme.

The first day is to be purely pool-based. After a short drive to the training facility, we sit in a classroom for theory lessons. Lots of what we learn seems like common sense – but given that forgetting your common sense could land you with a lungful of ocean, it is probably best to go over as much as possible.

After a short film, we are kitted out in scuba gear and set loose in the training pool. There are basic skills to learn, including neutral buoyancy underwater (so you can go in a straight line) and equalising (essentially making sure the air pressure in your head is equal to that of the water – usually by pinching your nose as you breath out against it).

Minor uncomfortable problems are also addressed: your mask filling with water being one – with a somewhat counter-intuitive blowing technique being revealed as the way to clear it (something that results in much spluttering at first).

Going under: Paul prepares for his first scuba foray (left), and quickly gets the hang of ‘playing charades’ (right)

We also learn the first of our mimes (OK, underwater signalling) – a set of instructions and responses likely to cover the situations that will come up on the first few dives. These include answering the dive leaders regarding oxygen levels, indicating problems, and telling them that everything is OK.

The next morning, out on the boat, we head for our first open-water dive. This is nothing too challenging, just the local reef - but enough to have a boatful of rookies excited.

We go again through everything we have learned the previous day, and one by one, flop ungracefully into the water, inching down the static line under the waves.

In a few minutes, we are standing in a circle on the seabed looking at each other, not sure what to do next. Like strangers at a party where no-one really knows anyone. There is silence, apart from the sound of my own breathing.

Standing on the ocean floor for the first time, with 50ft of water above me, feels surreal. For the first few minutes, my brain struggles with the idea that I am breathing normally where the fish are – and that this isn’t a natural state of affairs.

The instructors take over, taking us through our paces and making sure that we are buoyant. Then they lead us out along the reef, gesticulating all the time.

Two fingers to the mask, then a point, means ‘look at that’. A thumb down equals ‘let’s go deeper’.

Then comes… actually, I’m not exactly sure what that is. Hopefully they have just spotted a weird fish – but nothing too life threatening…

Swimming with the fishes: Paul found the experience of being under water a little unnerving at first

I had imagined that being underwater would be a tense situation. But such are the rigours of the safety procedures and the attention of the instructors that I soon feel at home. If my home had a sand- and coral-themed interior and no oxygen, obviously.

Over the next two days, we manage four open-water dives around the resort, each with different things to offer – including new chances to learn the sign language for various obscure tropical fish.

Confidence comes quickly, and before long, we are joking around, dancing on the seabed and doing actual charades with each other (“Jaws” being an obvious sub-aquatic favourite).

Heading back to shore after our final dive, I talk to Daryl and Kelly, a middle-aged couple from upstate New York. Confirmed Sandals repeat customers, they say they are amazed that the diving is still complimentary.

‘It’s one of the few places that still has it for free,’ says Daryl. ‘For keen divers, this takes a huge amount of expense out of any trip.’

The day before I head home, I am given the day off from underwater duties. A wise move, as you are not supposed to dive 24 hours before flying. This gives the nitrogen levels in your body time to calm down.

Instead, I take the 007 Thunderball tour - so called as the ultimate destination is a sea cave where one of the most memorable scenes from the Bond film in question was filmed. Along the way, there are idyllic sandbars, slices of rum cake, friendly sharks, seafood and swimming with pigs.

Bay of pigs: Paul had an unusual encounter with the local wildlife, hungry for bread rolls

Yes, you read that right. These perky porcine paddlers live wild on several islands in and around the Exuma Cays. So accustomed are they to visitors bearing treats (in our case, bread rolls) that they almost fall over themselves trying to swim up to the sides of the boats - and are more than happy for you to hang onto their backs and fulfill a dream that you never realised you had.

As for scuba diving and its underwater world of silence and signals, I leave keen to do more. The Bahamas is the perfect place for an introduction. Most of my friends say that they have earned their qualifications in quarries in rural England. I’m not so resilient. So I will wait for another try in tropical waters – this time armed with the all the sign language for tropical fish that I can muster.

Travel Facts

A seven-night stay at Sandals Emerald Bay, on an all-inclusive basis, costs from £2,090 per person – including return flights to the Bahamas with British Airways and resort transfers. Call 0800 742 742 or visit www.sandals.co.uk.

Excursions on the island are bookable through Island Routes Caribbean Adventure Tours (www.islandroutestours.co.uk). The full-day 007 Thunderball Luxury Tour costs from US$375 (£231) per person , and includes lunch.

For more information on the Bahamas, see the Bahamas Tourist Office website at www.bahamas.co.uk.