We’ve been working our way south through a very special part of the Exumas, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It’s 22 miles long, covering 15 cays and many smaller ones, and extends 4 nautical miles to either side of them. This national park enforces a “No Take” rule — no fishing, conching, lobstering, hunting, or foraging, and no leaving trash either (including the usual practice here of dumping organic garbage overboard). The intent is to provide a safe haven for native species, and as a result it’s one of the best places in the Bahamas to swim, snorkle or scuba. One of their mottoes is “Take only photographs, leave only bubbles.”

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

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I’ve heard that the secret to success in the restaurant business is “location, location, location”. This advice appears not to have reached Flo Darville, who started Flo’s Conch Bar on the southern end of Little Harbour Cay (pronounced “key”) in the Berry Islands, a less-visited island chain in the Bahamas. Flo passed away recently and the establishment is now run by her son, Chester Darville who, along with his helper, Lovely, and cook, Edna, make up the entire population of Little Harbour Cay. Since we were coming south through the Berries, we felt compelled to stop and eat here and we’re glad we did.

Chester Darville Portrait

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Elsa is becoming such an old salt. This morning she complained that she hadn’t slept last night because we were tied up at a marina, rather than at anchor. “It’s so still here,” she said, rubbing her face and yawning.

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So: We’re in the Berry Islands! Grand Bahama was fun, but now we’re in an area that’s truly like what the brochures advertise: tiny, low islands with superfine white sand beaches and shockingly clear water, whose colors go from deep blue to a pale aquamarine. You can see the bottom distinctly through more than twenty feet of water. It’s unbelievable.

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We’ve been holed up in Lucaya for almost a week, waiting for better weather in order to sail south towards the Berry Islands. (It feels like the Gulf Stream crossing all over again.) Every local we’ve chatted with says this has been a weird winter, with more storms and unsettled weather than usual. Most of them assume it has something to do with El Niño.

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