Staniel Cay/Biting Pigs!/The Grotto/Conching

     The stress of the wind rocked anchorages, mechanical problems with Lucky One, inability to book future spots for the boat, isolation from cell phone and internet service had all of us on edge and arguing amongst ourselves but with Beth's relentless drive ("We are going to Staniel Cay to see the pigs before turning around!"), we continued onward.  Kevin, our dockmaster in Nassau grew up in Staniel Cay and convinced us that we had to see "Thunderball Grotto" and "The swimming pigs" He also told us that , " The water was so clear you feel like you are looking down 100 feet and could pick something up from the ocean floor".  He spoke true. It was as he described and it lead to the best adventures of the whole trip.
     Staniel Cay is home to only 80 people during most of the year and about 30 more residents during the winter season. The quintessential Bahamas that Northerners dream about with brightly painted yellow, red, blue, green, and purple trimmed houses were surrounded by brightly colored blossomed flowers allowed to grow bushy thus giving the whole area a natural wild look.
                                                                                     

     The few stores weren't hard to find, "Just look for the yellow or purple house!" we were directed and easily found the laundry place, the bakery and the depleted of stock, marine store.
                                                                             

                                                                                   

                 Road signs we encountered during our golf cart ride around the island.
                            
     The school was a small house that had just 6 students who eagerly attended, showing up at 8:30 to wait for their teacher to arrive at 9:00.   Exploring the island with Linda and Huen interfered with returning when the teacher was present so Beth and I left a bag full of toys for them before we departed.
    Renting a boat we launched to see the "Swimming Pigs".   One of the sailboaters told us that "It's just a bunch of pigs on the beach.  Not worth the trip, really."  He was so wrong!  We sat a short distance from the shore and when the girls took out some carrots a big 500 lb sow swam out to the boat and opened her gaping mouth for the girls to throw in a few carrots.  Beaching the boat, the girls took the food ashore to feed the baby pigs.  It was fun and seemed safe enough, but as I was taking pictures I noticed a picture  with a warning of the same sow who swam out to the boat. She has a history of biting! Although I informed Beth, she assured me they seemed tame enough and growing up on a farm she could handle them......All went well until Beth ran out of carrots and decided to give momma pig something that is apparently more desirable then carrots...BREAD! The sow wanted more and pushed forward, Beth turned around......and the next thing I heard was OUCH!! as the pig bit her on the Ass!
                                                                                 

                                                                                      

                                                                                   

                                                                                  

                                                                                  

                                                                                      

                                                                                     

                                                                                  
                                                                                 

           Thank You Kathy and Mike! We enjoyed our celebratory Prosecco at Staniel Cay

   Needless to say the jokes started flying.
"I hope you don't get pigitis!" was the first, followed by occasional low volume growling grunts and curly tail jokes, but the best was the next morning during our coffee.  Beth caught me staring at her and asked, "What are you thinking? Why are you looking at my face?"
"Nothing." I responded fighting back a growing laugh
" Yes you are, You are trying not to laugh!"
" I was just checking to see if you were growing a snout" I busted out.  My arm is still sore from that punch!
     Thunderball Grotto was the scene in a James Bond movie, so we went there next. Warned that slack tide was the best time to go if you aren't a strong swimmer, I hesitated. We were told that you had to exit underwater in a different direction because of the strong current.  Linda went in first and came out the same entrance saying the current wasn't that strong, so I followed her, with Beth   trailing behind me.  Multi colored parrot fish, blue tangs, and snapper hung around the rocks and looking up  there was a beautiful arched dome pierced by 3 foot wide openings that streamed light into the grotto, highlighting the rock structures and the fish.  Circling around I came across a white statue of the Madonna someone had planted on the bottom.  The atmosphere was serene. With Beth's and Linda's help I conquered some of my fear of swimming and we all delighted in the beauty of the grotto.
                                                                                   

                                                                                         
     Next was Huen and Linda's attempt at conching!  It seemed crazy but assured by Huen that this was something he had done before, I watched as he knotted and looped up a line, attached it to the boat and told me to drive over the coral heads as he and Linda looked into the water through their snorkeling masks.  They trailed behind and when they spotted something, simply let go of the rope the momentum making it easy for them to dive to the bottom and pick up whatever they saw...no conch but they did come up with a couple of amazing star fish.  We placed it back in since Beth won't take anything live out of their environment.

                                                                                 

  
                                                                                   

     Having some video downloading issues with the internet here. Will post when back to the states.
    

    

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.

                                                                                         

                                                                                      

Shroud Cay/Hawksbill Cay/Saving the Dinghies!

Shroud Cay:
     Its been a while since we posted because we have been in isolated anchorages without access to phone or internet services. I will try and fill in the missing links but can't possibly detail everything.
     Looking for a strong mooring because of the impending winds we quickly moved Betsy to the moorings at Shroud Cay, only an hours ride south of Highbourne Cay.  A pleasant ride found us in an idyllic setting with azure blue water, proud white sandy beaches and backed by a few minor scruffy looking hills.  I picked the biggest mooring ball, knowing that within 24 hours it might get rough.
                                                                               

                                                              Shroud Cay Mooring Ball

                                                                                   

                                                                                   

                                                                                     

                                                                     Clarity of the water




      The beaches and water invited us to explore so Huen, Linda and Lucky picked us up in their dinghy and to the shore we went. Spencer, Sophie and Lucky were in heaven, jumping around like little kids, chasing one another barking loudly, rolling in the sand, running from the undulating waves on the beach, finally free from the confines of the boat.
                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                         

     Sophie was a relentless pursuer of curly tailed ghekos and Spencer actually seemed to like being carried out into the water so he could swim back to "Mommy".  Sophie eventually joined in and repeatedly tried to race Spencer back to shore.  Rolling around in the sand to dry off they both got sand deep into their fur, up their nose and in their eyes.  For once they seemed to enjoy their rinse off and bath, back in the boat cockpit.
                                                                                       

                                                                             

     Before long other boats joined us.  Little did we realize that the loss of Highbourne Cay Marina would put pressure on anchoring and mooring places south.  By dusk there were a total of 21 boats anchored and all the mooring balls taken, one by a 115 foot yacht on a mooring ball meant for a 65 foot boat. A serene scene at sunset soon turned into a very tumultuous scene that night.  All of the boats survived but mal de mer was the order of the night on Betsy.
                                                                                 

    The next day was beautiful. A leisurely ride up a slow moving shallow stream that lead us across Shroud Cay to a beautiful beach on the Ocean side was posted for only 3 mph, but rudely interrupted by two screaming jet skis from one of the charter yachts. We put put putted over the tidal stream looking for wildlife of any sort, finally rewarded by seeing two brown and white logger head turtles.  Amazed by how fast they darted out of the way of our slow moving inflatable we continued on to see several long tailed sea birds floating overhead but only scrub brush and sand flats on the banks. Finally we could smell the fresh salt water and turned a bend to see the white caps churning on a purple ocean.   Walking the ankle deep sand beach I spotted a coarse rock trail that ascended steeply to a look out that revealed a 360 deg view of the entire island.  Scrambling up the cliff, Huen was wishing for a lift to get back down the hill but we all made it with only a minor amount of slipping and no butt sliding.

                                                                                     

                                                                                        

                                                                                        

                                                                                   

                                                                                     

                                                                                           

                                                                                       

    We were able to ply our way around to come back to our original anchorage via another connecting stream when we saw another dinghy full of guys coming from a different direction. It was actually an area Beth had explored on her paddle board but had to return for lack of water depth because the tide was low.

 Hawksbill Cay:

     The next day we untied and took a 14 mile cruise south to Hawksbill Cay. I guess I suck at picking calm spots to anchor or maybe it was just that the winds were up but we spent another rolly night.
                                                                                

                                                                                    

                                                                                         

                                                                                        

                                                                                     

                                           A tough climb to put the top rock on a Cairn

Warderick Wells:

    We moved on to the beautiful Warderick Wells, more snorkeling and one of the worst nights we ever spent at anchor thanks to the wind whipping up to a dish closet clearing 20 to 25 knots, according to Beth.  Ha! HA! I slept through most of it thanks to Antivert swallowed with a Cubra Libra.
                                                                             
                                                                    Boo Boo Hill
                                                     Panoramic Views of the Exumas     

                                                                                     

                                                                                      

                                           Monuments created by Cruisers that have visited the islands.

Legend has it that it is haunted by those that have gone aground on the reefs. Cruisers leave an offering to King Neptune to be blessed with fair winds and smooth seas. Lucky One and Betsy left their offering. We can use all the help we can get.

                                                                                          

                                                                                         

                                                                                      

                                                                                          
  
     Since we had launched Lil Betsy to take the dogs to shore the dinghy was tied up behind Betsy in the same direction as the swim platform.  When the winds whipped the rollers up to 4 feet the slop from the back of the boat quickly started to fill up the dinghy.  Futile efforts to use a water cannon, then a large bucket to prevent the dinghy from sinking were abandoned when Huen and Linda showed up to tow Lil Betsy to shore.
     Thus, the "Dingy Episode" began!
                                                                                     

     As we approached the rocky shore before the sandy beach, Huen's dingy spun a prop...ie NO Pushy from motor!  Linda and I each picked up our respective plastic oars and pulled into the 3 foot chop with all of our strength.  We inched forward managing to keep the inflatable dingy from being punctured by the jagged rocks. I can only guess that the fear of the situation and of course my unbelievable newly found upper body strength were the cause of my oar snapping off the dinghy. Reacting quickl, Linda jumped overboard into chest high water, caught the nose of the dinghy and the three of us hauled both of the dinghies to shore.
     "Now what!" I exclaimed after we pulled the bottom plug and emptied the sea out of Lil Betsy.
     "We will just use your dinghy to pull mine back to our boat where I can repair my prop." Huen said in a calm voice.
                                                                                     

     "I have only a 2.5 hp motor. Do you think it will pull the 3 of us and your dinghy? It only carries about a gallon of fuel and we used it some yesterday, I mumbled to  myself.
      Seeing the look on my face Huen responded like a comment out of the movie "Captain Ron",  "If she can't do it we'll just use the oars and ROW!"
     So we turned the ropes around, put Linda in Lil Betsy with me and Huen in his dingy. It was my turn to save him.  Putting Lil Betsy's nose into the waves, she tugged on to the rope and valiently strained her way across the frothy rolling waves, inching toward Lucky one.  Fortunately, their boat was on the other side of my boat.  Why fortunate?  As we inched our way across the front of Betsy's anchor line the motor on Lil Betsy burped once, and quit. Immediately the waves pushed us toward Betsy.
                                                                                 

     "Huen, grab the anchor line!" Linda and I screamed in unison while frantically waving our arms since we knew Huen couldn't hear a thing without his hearing aids.
      We threw Beth a line from Lil Betsy to pull us up to the swim platform then she ran and got what was left of the gasoline. Bouncing around we shloshed  fuel into the tiny tank on top of the motor. After  many attempts by all of us, Lil Betsy's motor kicked over and with an extra load of sea water in the dinghy we managed to get Huen, Linda and the dinghies back to their respective boats.
      When I got back to Betsy, Beth looked pale,was nauseated and headed for a beer and bed.  It was probably more stressful for her watching us flounder in the white water knowing that I am a poor swimmer than for us who were totally focused on the task at hand.
     "Enough with the excitement," I thought. "This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. However, as the unflappable Bob Bitchin of Lattitudes and Attitudes fame once stated. "The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude!"  Ya! Ya!  Well I think I'm running out of attitude!
     The 3 foot rollers and 2 foot seas the next day seemed tame as we cruised toward Staniel Cay. Maybe in retrospect, Bob is right.  It's the tough times that make the less tough times, feel a whole lot easier.