Staniel Cay Swimming with Sharks/ Crashing Yachts

                                                                                       

                                                                                   

     A marina tiki bar was right at the end of the dock.  Well mixed drinks and Caribbean music played loud enough to obscure the usual bar room din was the order of the day, and a great place to catch the local mariners advise. The treat of the day, however, was the well appointed dining lounge behind the bar.  Reservations had to be made along with your order by 4:00pm for a 6:30 seating that was heralded by a ringing of the dinner bell. A well appointed dining room was enhanced by the sophistication of the food preparation. Freshly caught Mahi, blackened for Beth and seared for me
was brightly presented, moist and flavorful,so tasty we went back twice and my mouth is salivating just thinking  about the meal.

                                                                           

                                                                                     

                        
 
   In front of the tiki bar was a fish cleaning station below which hovered "pet sharks!"  They were advertised as pets so we watched as people swam with the sharks.  Being the brave one, Beth went in for the experience.
                                                                               

Crashing Yachts
     A very skilled captain backed in a large yacht in the slip next to us and next to another megayacht. We marveled at his skill and the skill of the crew to get the yacht in a space that was so close to the other yacht that they had to alternate the fenders because there wasn't enough room to place them next to each other.
                                                                                   

                                                                                         

                                                                                       

     Departing was a different story, however.  Their 25 foot assist boat was docked behind Lucky One, who was docked behind Betsy.  As the megayacht slowly inched out of the slip he had to turn and back down beside all of our boats because of the shallow ledge that existed along side of us.  Backing up he didn't go out far enough and the port corner of the yacht crashed into their own assist boat pushing it up onto Lucky One's inflatable dinghy than into the the wooden dock.  As the dock began to snap and crack and begin to twist, I turned to tell Beth to run... but she was already gone!
I was told she kind of looked like the cartoon character the Road Runner as her feet peeled her to a safe part of the dock. There was no damage to Lucky One thanks to the protection of the inflatable dinghy.
                                                                                       

                                       Mega Yacht Tender that landed on Lucky One's Dinghy




     Later it was our turn to be the marina threat! They wanted us on the inside of the long dock so that a 210 foot charter megayacht could come along side .  Huen was the first to back around.....His transmissions locked into gear and having to throttle up because of the current he propelled backward directly toward the sailboat on the opposite dock.. The sailboaters abandoned ship running away from their boat as Lucky One hurled toward them, Linda crouched in the cockpit braced for impact!  At the last second a belch of black diesel smoke spued forth and seconds before impact Lucky One dug in, halted then raced forward towards our dock!  Huen had managed to get the transmissions unlocked to avoid the collision and fortunately did it again before Lucky One struck our dock....How's that for an adventure?...Honestly, I would have less grey hair if I would just watch this stuff on T.V.
          We became surrounded by monsters.   No, not fish. Megayachts.  The last one 210 feet long blocked our view of the islands, anchorage and sunset. We decided to finish what we came to experience, the swimming pigs and the grotto snorkel  both of which would turn out to be the best adventure yet.