Staniel Cay

Today, Sunday, is very windy; a good day to stay on the boat. Another of what seems like weekly winter cold fronts.  The cycle is several mild days with winds from the NE or E at 10 to 15 kts, then comes a cold front, with winds clocking to the S, SW, W and then from the NNW 20 to 25 gusting 30 kts.  The wind is howling and we’ve heard several boats having to move as their anchors were dragging. We chose to anchor just behind Thunderball Grotto, in anticipation of strong NNW winds. We’re fine – no anchor movement at all. Safe & sound. Boat's jiggling around a bit, but tolerable. I have made the marvelous discovery that we can pick up over the air network HD TV here --- Sunday football!  Luke is thrilled...


We’ve had a good time so far. We met up with a few boats that we are friends with, always fun. Friday we started the day early with a snorkel trip to Thunderball Grotto, an island right beside us that has a little opening into a sunlit “cave”, full of fishes. It was used as a setting in the James Bond movie, "Thunderball". The local nurse sharks that hang around the dock also frequent the grotto.

The water was a little cold for me, so I stayed with the dinghys while Ken & Heather & Bernie & Bruce & Luke snorkeled. Bernie & Bruce are from West VA, living here in Staniel 6 months of the year.

After the snorkel, we took both dinghys around the island to Big Majors Spot. OUR dinghy went fast, having only 2 aboard. The other 3;passenger tried their best to make Ken’s dinghy go faster…

Now, Big Majors looks like just another beautiful island in the sun, right?

Not quite – they have a little something extra --- swimming pigs!  No, you don't go walking on the island...

Not just swimming pigs, but BEGGING pigs! They take treats just like any other more graceful animal. Cute, but a little scary. These are big guys.

Lunch aboard Ken & Heather’s boat --- this is my kind of power lunch!

Luke & I did a little shopping that afternoon, picking up home made bread, a few groceries, and walking around town. The island has really spruced itself up since last year. A major litter clean up went on right before Christmas. I'm told they took all of the old golf carts, batteries, everything, tied them together, and dumped them in the sound to create an artifical reef to attract fish.  The initial clean up lead to many of the businesses and homes repainting. Little carved and painted street signs have been put up on each intersection.
Here is the all grades school. Think we’d have a little more success in the USA with our school problems if this was our moto?

This is the oldest house in town, also the local library. Never seen it open though…

Friday evening the local ladies hosted a cookout on the beach, a charity to raise money for the island’s New Year’s Day regatta. It’s a yearly event and they start early to raise the funds. This was really more of a church dinner, just on the beach. You got a big plate of rice, corn, mac cheese, slaw, and your choice of ribs, chicken, or fish, plus big options for home made deserts, all for $10. The beer was only $3. We were GLAD to help out! Most of the cruisers and some locals were there.

On Saturday the 3 guys went snorkeling on the Exuma Sound (it was an extrodinarily calm day). They reported a beautiful reef, with loads of all the requisite tropical reef fishes. Several giant eagle rays jumped 4 + feet out of the water -- why? The water is about 72 degrees. We three girls walked the beach and hung out at Bernie & Bruce’s house on the cliff overlooking the beach on the sound side. Very cute!

The house is on one of the hills on the island – behind it, you can look down on the runway.. That’s an airplane landing there, right in front of the BATELCO (phone) tower.

Then, joy of joys, our wind indicator replacement part came in from the States! All we need now is a calm day so Luke can climb the mast and install it. That shall come later, maybe on Tuesday.