Day 269 Thursday, March 16, 2023
Staniel Cay anchorage between The Majors
It's still a bit windy at 8 am but not as bad. Predictions are that we will be stuck here until Sunday when the wind calms. It rained hard throughout the evening and into the night. Jerry got the dinghy going and we joined Sharon and Grant at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. "Yacht Club" is not really a true description for most places in the Bahamas. Most are actually a marina facility with a bar and restaurant. The same goes for Staniel Cay. They offer a bar/restaurant with pub food, open air seating, and a fun atmosphere with a pool table. They are known for their frozen drinks and happy hour. The happy hour is a mystery though with inconsistent times and days of the week. Even the bartender gets it wrong.
We met Colin and Wendy from Detour as were our friends from Donna Lynn, Phil-N-Wild and Anna Dee. The grocery boat had come in so all the boaters (and natives) were anxiously waiting for the shipment of fresh produce and supplies to be unloaded. There are 2 grocery stores, The Pink Pearl and The Blue Store, both were closed until 4pm when stock would be available.
Staniel Cay Yacht Club also has some nice rental units. We sat at the pool and enjoyed our "non-happy hour" beverages then dinner on their porch. The fish tacos and fish sandwich were yummy. S0 was the mudslide.
Another attraction at the marina -- the "pet" nurse sharks that you can feed and swim with. I was content to watch.
Day 270 Friday March 17, 2023
Happy St. Patty's Day!
Todays adventure was a big one for me. We visited Thunderbolt Grotto, featured in the James Bond movie "Thunderball", with Phil-N-Wild, Call Me Curly, Anna Dee and Donna Lynn. The grotto is best visited at low tide when the entrance is visible and you don't need to go under water to go in. Locals have rigged a rope line that you can hang on to to guide yourself in. Once in, you are in a cave that is filled with sunlight from a hole in the top of the grotto. You are treated to beautiful aqua colored water and snorkelers can see all kinds of fish swimming in the protected pool. Sorry -- no pics. This girl had all she could do to work up the courage to do it. The current is strong going into the grotto and I am not the most confident swimmer. Jerry was my hero. He went first to check it out and then encouraged me, staying behind me and guiding me all the way in. Once in I found a wall to lean against, regained my composure, and finally took a look around. I appreciated the fish from above the water (lots of Sargent Majors) and then worked up the courage to make my out. Again, Jerry lead the way.
Next adventure was trying to hoist ourselves back into the dinghy! Corbin had rigged a ladder and helped us get into his dinghy then brought us back to ours. My landing into each was far from graceful, more like comical!!
On to another adventure -- feeding the pigs! We dinghied back to Pig Bay and Pig Beach to check out the native pigs. They swim right to your boat hoping to be fed. I brought apples and threw them from the dinghy. The swine can be big and very aggressive.
Making bacon!!
Last 2 photos courtesy of Tommy
We regrouped on Call Me Curly and decided to enjoy the nearby beach (without pigs). Chairs, beverages, snacks were loaded into the dinghies; Sharon treated us with a blender full of Pina Coladas and freshly baked pizza!
We enjoyed the view, water, food and the company. We were even visited by a goat.
Goodbye beach!
Hamburgers on the boat. We had a rough night with lots of rolling.
Day 271 Saturday, March 18, 2023
Staniel Cay, Exumas
We had another uncomfortable night. We decided to dinghy to Staniel Cay Yacht Club with Call Me Curly to explore more of the island. We walked to the Isles General Store and the airport.
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| Cemetary |
Sharon inquired at the marina if they would have a slip for us. Everyone was quite tired of the rocking and sleepless nights. We went back to our boats and waited for the okay from the marina. The anchor alarm was going off when we got back to the boat.
Lots of mega yachts in the anchorage.
7am, VHS channel 68 discussion with the 3 boats leaving. It is raining and windy, with thunderstorms in the distance. They are still leaving despite the weather, hoping to make it to Highbourne Cay. Since the weather is crappy and we would pass by Warderick Wells (we already passed it once) we decided to stay put. Hopefully the marina will let us stay 1 more night.
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| This pic is for Sara |
The rain continued for a good share of the morning. Unfortunately, we hadn't raised the dinghy yesterday so it was rapidly filling with water. Rain gear on we lifted the dinghy part way, pulled the plug to drain then hoisted it the rest of the way.
Jerry checked several times with the marina to see if we could stay another night but it was contingent on another boat cancelling. Finally at 10:30, we pulled the trigger and decided to try for a mooring ball before they were all gone. The boat behind us (we were blocking their exit on the long dock) had the same idea and were anxious to leave.
Water and electric use are metered.
We caught our first mooring ball of the loop-- new skill for me. It wasn't as hard as I imagined because it had a long pennant that I could grab with a boat hook. It is difficult for Jerry to see the mooring ball from the helm as it ends up under the bow of the boat. I need to make sure I can tell him where it is so that we don't run over it. It was comforting to be tied to the mooring; the marina had actually been a bit rough. Call Me Curly ended up back at anchor in Pig Bay.
Pork loin on the grill for dinner. Even though we were a distance from the marina we were still able to connect to their Wi-Fi so we streamed TV and I worked on the blog.
2 comments:
Great photos as always; a beautiful area to explore. Good luck on your next leg of your journey. cj
Great time! Your post brought back memories when I went scuba diving in the Bahamas at Thunderbolt Grotto. I had a great time visiting the boat wreck used for James Bond movie Thunderball. Have a safe trip on your way back. -Randy.
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