Thursday, May 3, 2007

Left Emerald Rock, Waderick Wells and motor sailed to Staniel Cay (trip 19.4 nm)

We go ashore to check out the area. Staniel Cay is a mixture of Bahamians and foreigners with second homes on the island. It is known as the cruising headquarters for the central Exumas and is welcoming and helpful to the yachting community. There are a lot of mega yachts in the area. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club is the central attraction.

Much sea life can be seen at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks - large nurse sharks, several stingrays, variety of fish and fish skeletons.

Stingrays

7 ft nurse shark. One of the larger ones. There are several.

Friday, May 4, 2007

We heard our friend Captain Randy on the VHF radio. He and his friend, Marlee were up from Georgetown after the family regatta taking a few days of leisure until the next race. Randy is the captain of Nomad which is the towing boat for the Bahamian racing sailboat, Abaco Rage. We became friends with Randy in Abaco. He anchored Nomad next to us at the Thunderball Cave.


Saturday, May 5, 2007

Randy and Marlee ask us to join them on a skiff tour through Pipe Creek Cay. No questions asked we hop aboard. It was a beautiful sunny day with spectacular waters. Randy weaved us through the coral heads and sand bars.

Captain Randy & Marlee

First stop - Sampson Cay where we visit Randy’s friends to return some snorkel gear they borrowed. Marlee needs a souvenir for the dog sitter so David sends her over to Graham who lives in a petite cottage across the bay. He carves buttonwood. Interesting guy and a recluse!!

Second stop - Little Pipe Creek sand bar. We drift the skiff to the sand bar where out of the sand awaits an anchor line to hook up to. Secured to the line we pop a cold one to quench our thirsts. Absolutely awesome!

Little Pipe Cay beacon


Marlee relaxes with a cold one on the sand bar.

Weaving through the sand bars, rock and coral heads once again, we arrive at our third

stop - Compass Cay Marina. Tied up to the dock, we treat our thirst to another cold one from the marina store. We met Micah and Andrea who are running the marina and cottages. Very quiet cay but very quaint!! They even have pet nurse sharks that they have named. The other island entertainment are the NAS-CRAB races.

Tom & Micah at the Compass Cay Marina gathering spot.

Meet the pet sharks at Compass Cay Marina

NAS CRAB Raceway and the rib of a 45 ft sperm whale

We return back to our boats and gussied up for the Cinco de Mayo festivities at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Homemade sangria, margaritas, and Corona beers are the specials. A Mexican buffet is dinner at the ringing of the dinner bell at 7pm. We didn’t stay for the buffet as we were all tired from being tourists for the day. Life sure is good!!

Captain Randy & Babette celebrating Cinco de Mayo
at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

We leave the Thunderball mooring with a slack tide due to the strong current that flows with the tides to head to Big Majors Spot, an island just around the corner (2.1 nm) After getting a good anchor set, Tom notices the autopilot isn’t working right and needs to be reset. So after breakfast we haul anchor and take advantage of the calm conditions needed to reset it. After numerous circles made trying to reset it, it just won’t set so we give up and re-anchor, just a little frustrated.

We regroup and head out for the next attraction of Big Majors Spot…..Pig Beach. Wild pigs swim out to greet the incoming dinghies looking for any table scraps they might bring to share with them. We meet 5 of the pigs but we didn’t get to meet the piglets. It’s quite something to say the least!

We’re spotted….

then checked out…he begged…

And he got what he wanted.

We only saw 5 of the pigs - 2 males, 3 females.
There were piglets but they didn’t come to visit.

Back at the boat, we notice it’s slack low tide and it would be a good time to snorkel the Thunderball Cave. This is where they filmed the James Bond movie “Thunderball” with Sean Connery as well as “Splash” with Tom Hanks. Once inside the entrance it opens up to a skylit cavern filled with colorful coral and abundant fish. Tom was amazed he was able to get Babette inside the cave seeing she is a reluctant and anxious snorkeler, BUT…….she did it!!

Thunderball Cave entrance.

At the days end we enjoyed a BBQ steak dinner aboard Escape. Quite a few full days.