You will have an incredible time exploring the 200 mostly uninhabited
islands with their many beautiful beaches in the northern Exumas. The Cat
Ppalu can take you to isolated beaches where you can sunbathe, explore, kayak,
snorkel and fish. Become bedazzled by the diversity of the Bahamas!
SCUBA DIVING
Certified divers can enjoy 3-4 dives per day. Dive the reefs, wrecks, walls, drifts, and the blue hole and even a thrilling shark dive! The Exuma Sound is
an abyss that runs the length of the eastern Exumas. The coral cover
and underwater geography is phenomenal, with swim thru-s, tongue and
groove coral heads, and prolific sea life. You’ll see large fish
and large quantities of fish! Pelagic sightings are a daily occurrence.
Sea turtles, eagle rays and sharks abound in this area of the Bahamas!
Charters can be tailored to meet the needs of scuba diving groups.
Not certified? No problem! Resort diving is available
to those that would like to experience diving on SCUBA! Our certified
instructor will lead you on an underwater adventure. Scuba gear is included
in the fee. See what everyone is raving about!
If you would like to take the Scuba certification course
while cruising on the Cat Ppalu, it can be arranged. Advanced arrangements
required.
You are never too young or too old to try snorkeling! Just take one look
below the surface and you’ll see that’s where all the action
is! Snorkeling is an easy and enjoyable activity for all passengers.
Our instructor is available to assist and instruct those who are unfamiliar
with snorkeling. All you need are mask, fins and snorkels. If you don’t
have your own, we have snorkel gear for rent. We provide snorkel vests.
The Cat Ppalu has a dinghy for transporting passengers to the remote
and pristine islands of the Exumas Cays where they can snorkel from
the beach in shallow waters. Make the most of your snorkeling adventure
by sharing it with the entire family!
Saddleback Cay – On most trips to this beach, we encounter
stingrays that venture close to snorkelers in the hopes of a hand
fed tidbit. There are also a number of small coral heads located
at one end of the beach with many juvenile fish to observe.
Warderick Wells Park Headquarters – There is a beautiful
beach right next to the park headquarters. While there aren’t
a lot of fish right off the beach, you can swim or wade around
to the headquarters’ dock where schools of grunts, jacks
and snapper swarm. A resident lemon shark also appears frequently.
Mangrove snorkels – Mangroves provide haven for marine nurseries
for the juveniles of many fish species including gray snapper,
barracuda and grunts. During a recent snorkel in the mangroves
on Ship’s Channel Cay, we saw over 100 small barracuda!
The creeks of Shroud Cay are another great area to snorkel among
the mangroves.
Close Mon Reef - This is a beautiful shallow reef with a depth that ranges from 2’ to 10’. There are large schools
of snapper and grunts to be seen here. You will also see trumpetfish,
puffers, filefish, angelfish, and butterflyfish.
Many of our scuba sites are also excellent for snorkeling. The wall dives that run along the Exuma Sound begin shallow and slope gently until
gradually falling over the edge. These sites are conducive to awesome
diving and snorkeling simultaneously! Sites like Parrotfish Reef
or Flat Rock Reef have a depth of 5’ to 10’ near the
islands.
The Cat Ppalu has four 2-man kayaks onboard. Everyone
will find them easy to use. Visit the many beautiful deserted beaches.
Explore the creeks of Shroud Cay or Ship’s Channel Cay. Visit
Pirate’s Lair where pirates hid 250 years ago to avoid capture.
Adventurers enjoy the many trails on the islands of the Exumas. The
islands are rich in terrestrial flora and fauna. While the islands are
not lush, they are distinctive, colorful, and varied.
Pirate's Lair is perfect for exploring the interior of the island. Hikers heading west can experience the most beautiful sunset from the shores of this deserted island. Booboo Hill is another great place to hike. The rugged shore line of this island has majestic views of the Exuma Sound.
There are several nature trails on Warderick Wells that
meander around the island. Maps are available at the park
headquarters. If you are lucky you might see a hutia, a
rare, local rodent. There are some ruins on the eastern
shore that date back to 1780. Be sure to climb Boo Boo Hill
to enjoy the spectacular view.
The Park is made up of 15 major cays encompassing 176 square
miles. The Park Headquarters is known as Warderick Wells.
Warden Ray Darville welcomes visitors to the Park and Headquarters
building. As you climb the steps of the Park Headquarters,
one of the first things you will notice is the view.
Don't forget your camera. In the office you will find
a reference library with many books on topics covering corals,
sea life, animals, plants and history. You can also pick
up trail maps for the over 4 miles of trails on Warderick
Wells. Just outside the office you'll be greeted by several
dozen Bananaquit. Put a little sugar in your hand and before
long you'll have several eating out of your hand.
Allan’s Cay is one of the last homes of the rare Bahamas rock iguanas. They
were once common on most Bahamian Islands, but early settlers nearly
hunted them into extinction. As you approach the beach, watch for iguanas
crawling out of the woods. They are looking for handouts of bread or
fruit from the guests to their island. You will get a kick out of these
indigenous iguanas on Allan’s Cay! Feed the iguanas and take lots
of pictures since you can only see them on two islands on Earth!
There are wonderful bird watching opportunities in the Bahamas. Some of the better locations are in the remote out-islands. Travel to the Exuma Islands, a chain of more than
mostly uninhabited islands, in late winter or early spring and
you will find a large variety of migrating, nesting and local
birds. On a trip this last spring we saw one Greater and a number
of Audubon's Shearwaters, 12 types of Warblers, a Peregrine Falcon,
a Merlin and an American Kestrel.
Each day we saw groups of White Tailed Tropicbirds circling near nesting sites. Among the local species we saw Bahamas Woodstars, Greater Antillean Pewee, Bahamas Mockingbird, Greater Antillean
Bullfinch, Bananaquits, Red Legged Thrush and Black Faced Grassquit.
We saw a total of 61 species over 5 days.
The Cat Ppalu is a schooner rigged sailing catamaran. While she only
draws 2.5 feet, the two center boards can be lowered to an eight feet
draft. Passengers are welcome to assist the crew if they wish. Sail
among the uninhabited islands under full sail, no noise, just the wind
in your face.
Anglers get thrills fishing the waters of the Bahamas. Captain Steve is an avid
fisherman who enjoys sharing his expertise with any passengers who show
an interest in fishing! Trolling from site to site, the catch of the
day is prepared for dinner.
Cat Ppalu actively participates in the Diadema antillarum Recovery Project. This project was spear headed by the University of Miami RSMAS team over 3 years ago. The long spiny sea urchin is a voracious eater of algae, the same network algae that is overtaking the reefs. Watch this movie clip by Reef News to learn more about it.
; "Snorkeling through the creeks of Shroud Cay.")
; "Snorkeling with southern stingray.")
; "Snorkeling off beach.")
; "A lemon shark swimming under the dock.")
; "Snorkeling through mangrove creeks.")
; "You will see many beautiful tropical fish while snorkeling the Exumas.")
; "Snorkeling with sharks.")
; "Kayaking through mangrove creeks.")
; "Kayaking into caves.")
; "Kayaking through Pirate's Lair.")
; "Hike the many nature trails at Warderick Wells.")
; "The beaches of the Exumas are great for exploring.")
; "Feed the rock iguanas at Allen's Cay.")
; "The many deserted beaches in the Exumas area great for beachcombing.")
; "Sunbathing on a deserted beach.")
; "The Exumas area breeding area for many endangered birds including Audubon shearwaters, white-tailed tropic birds, sooty terns, bridled terns, roseate terns and brown noddies.")
; "The Exumas have many of the Bahamas natives like Bahamas mockingbird, Bahamas woodstars, bananaquits & Antillean nighthawks.")
; "The schooner rigged Cat Ppalu sailing off the Exumas.")
; "You may fish anytime you are out of the Land & Sea Park.")
; "Spiny lobster are caught while free-diving.")
