Staniel Cay, Exumas

Today’s destination is a short hop away: Staniel Cay is a popular place to visit in this part of the Exumas. It has an airport (Michael leaves us tomorrow morning), an excellent resort and marina (Staniel Cay Club) and a couple of reasonable (for the islands) grocery stores to do some provisioning.

Our plan was to overnight at the Marina – that way we could have a farewell dinner with Mike at the Marina’s restaurant and it would be an easy, dinghy-free effort to get him to a pick-up place for his flight early tomorrow and for us to do some re-provisioning. Surprisingly, when we attempted to make a reservation yesterday, the marina told us they didn’t have a slip and put us on the waiting list (we were #2). When we checked this morning, they told us they could accommodate us by putting us up on the gas dock “after 4pm”. Better than nothing, so we took it. Armed with that info, we motored the mile or so over to Staniel and dropped the hook just off the marina so we could do our provisioning while we were waiting.

A short dinghy ride later, we were on the Island and off to the groceries to get some fresh provisions. On the way back, we checked again with the marina, which now had an empty slip for us. So we dinghied our provisions back to the boat, had a quick lunch, hauled the anchor and managed to get My Weigh into a slip, refueled, re-watered and on shore power just before a large squall came through. It rained for an hour or so, but then the sun came out and we took advantage of the Marina’s pool (and bar!) to spend a pleasant lounging afternoon in the sun.

Dinner was a very pleasant affair at the marina's Restaurant, among the better ones in the Exumas.

Michael leads the way to Burke’s Grocery

Everything is blooming this time of year

I love the white stars in the center

Dusk descending on the Marina

Off to Dinner

Ready for a night on the town

Who says you can't do a selfie with a DSLR?

Big Major Cay, Exumas

A short hop from our anchorage in Sampson Cay, our next stop is Big Major Cay, home of the feral pigs that come out to beg food. It is also just “around the corner” from Thunderball cave.

As always, the humans that came to feed the pigs are every bit as entertaining as the pigs themselves.

Thunderball, a cave made famous by the Bond movie with the same name, is like the Rocky Dundas: a cavern under an Island that you enter from the water. The access to Thunderball is less intimidating than the Rocky Dundas because one of the entrances is simply a hole in the side of the Island that you can swim through without having to dive down underwater. Also, unlike Dundas, there are fish inside the cavern that can be attracted by dropping breadcrumbs into the water, which many people do. Thunderball has a nice coral garden outside which adds to the snorkeling fun.

We all entered the cavern from the easy entrance and did a little fish feeding (actually, Susie gave her breadcrumbs to some people who were in there with us and who were doing this for the first time). We all tried exiting through an underwater entrance on the other side of the Island. However, when we came up, we found a moderate current running on that side of the Island and rather than have reprise of our experience at yesterday’s Coral Garden, we all opted to go back into the cavern (underwater) and exit the other side, where there was little current to interfere with our snorkeling.

Another beautiful boat arriving at Sampson Cay at the same time we did

Mike feeding a new found buddy

Just hanging out with my new bud

Sue under siege for her plantain

"Babe" and Babe

Tourists interacting with the pigs

Mother and kids

Looking up inside of Thunderball Cave

Fish Feeding Frenzy

Fan coral in the garden outside Thunderball

Celebrating the end of a great day at the Staniel Cay Club Bar

Sampson Cay, Exumas

Our next stop is Sampson Cay, a 1.5-hour motor down the Exumas – the first part of the trip involved some “video game” navigating through some shallow areas, but eventually we entered the deeper water on the banks and made our way to Sampson.

Like yesterday, we arrived late morning, had lunch and then set off on a snorkeling expedition – this time to a stag horn coral garden featured in the Exumas guide. The garden surrounded a rock islet in the middle of the cut between Overyonda and Sampson cay. Fortunately, we arrived at roughly slack tide, so there wasn’t much current. The garden was lovely, full of sponges, staghorn, brain and pipe coral as well as an abundance of small fish and ubiquitous black sea urchins. In relatively shallow water, it was beautifully lit by the sun and very pristine – a delight to hover over.

Unfortunately, the current started to build so we had to cut our visit short – indeed, Sue and Michael started back to the dinghy while I lingered a few moments behind. They both had to swim hard to get around the Island and back to the dinghy. By the time I started back, the current had built to a point where I couldn’t make it around the Islet against the current. The best I could do was swim to stand still in the water – rather than exhaust myself in an attempt to get back, I signaled for Sue and Mike to come over and pick me up, which they did.

We then dinghied up to Tamarind cay, looking for another site to snorkel but were unsuccessful in finding one. However, we did “check out” a nice anchorage between Tamarind and a group of rocks called “The Mice” that would be a good place to take the big boat next time we were in the area.

At the helm

Enjoying the ride

Looking great in the dinghy

A coral garden resident

The sea urchin is playing peekaboo!

Cambridge Cay, Exumas

Cambridge Cay was a short 10 mile hop from Warderwick Wells – we motor-sailed down Exumas Sound (the wind was on our nose and light) arriving in the late morning on an exquisite sunny day.
After lunch we set off on a snorkeling expedition; the first attraction was a wall in about 20’ of water on so-called Honeymoon beach on Cambridge Island. Sue saw a 4 foot or so Barracuda (Mike an I missed it). There were numerous small fish and big brain corals– the most unique item was a stand of relatively rare “Elk” coral – quite impressive and pretty.

The second stop was the Rocky Dundas, a cave inside the Island. You get in by swimming through an entrance hole in the side of the Island. Once inside you are in a circular room about 25 foot across that has a hole in the ceiling so you can see the sky. The room has stalactites and stalagmites, very unique and very impressive. The catch is that the entrance is underwater except at low tide.

We arrived at about half tide with the entrance underwater and were unsure of how dangerous it would be to swim in since it didn’t look very wide and you couldn’t quite make out the size of the room inside. . Fortunately, as we were hanging around “casing” the entrance, a group of snorkelers showed up led by an expert --- with a little coaching (and reassurance) from him, we all got in (and out) safely and were quite thrilled at being able to experience this unique formation.

Pointing out some of the sites at Cambridge

Elk Coral – sadly, this was the best shot I was able to get

Warderwick Wells, Exumas

Our luck with wind direction ran out this morning – it was coming from where we wanted to go Fortunately, the wind speed was lower than yesterday, enabling us to comfortably motor sail the 25 or so miles down to Warderwick Wells under partly sunny skies.

Warderwick and the surrounding islands form an underwater sea park where no fishing is allowed and coral heads are very well protected and nicely healthy.

We arrived around lunchtime, put ourselves on a mooring, had lunch and then set off to explore the Island. The park contains a number of hiking trails, one of which leads to a “haunted” hill (Boo-Boo hill) and nearby beach. The legend is that a ship sank off the eastern coast of Warderwick with all hands lost. The bodies of the unfortunates were never recovered and they are believed to haunt the island’s sand dunes and beaches -- if you listen carefully when the wind is howling and the surf is high, you should be able to hear them moaning.

We hiked up to the top of Boo-Boo hill and visited the nearby Boo-Boo beach – for the record we were unable to hear the lost souls. However we did leave a record of our visit on the top of Boo-Boo hill – see the picture below.

On the return trip, we visited some “blow holes” which are gaps in the seaside cliffs through which the surf explodes when the winds and seas are high – being a moderate wind and sea day, we’ll have to take their word for it.

Our excursion ended with a swim at a quiet and lovely beach that overlooked the anchorage.
Day two was devoted to snorkeling; highlights were a pair of huge rays, one of whose tails was at least 8-foot long; a pair of Nassau grouper just hanging around, waiting for lunch to float by and a giant lobster, deep in a hole in the reef, you could only see its legs and one eye.

The legend of Warderwick Wells

Whale skeleton found on the Island

Curly Tailed Lizards are making a comeback!

The record of our visit, duly recorded at the top of Boo-Boo hill

Mike and Sue enjoying the view from Boo-Boo hill

The seaward view from Boo-Boo hill

Sunset at Warderwick

The stripes are a Nassau Grouper

The lobster’s front legs, the rest is hidden under the ledge it's hiding under

Norman’s Cay, Exumas

We had a lovely sail from Allan’s to Norman’s cay – the wind was easterly, about 15-20 and the skies were sunny. We dropped the anchor off the old Norma’s Club cay, in front of my friend Bob’s boat.

Today's activities included exploring the Island, which is undergoing a massive transformation from an ex-drug trafficking hub to a playground for the rich. A consortium of corporations has constructed a new airstrip that will accept jets and have dug out a marina in the center of the Island. Rumor has it that the Bahamas Government has not yet issued a permit to connect the Marina to the banks, wanting an “under the table “fee” of perhaps 7-8M dollars to do so – baksheesh Bahamas style.

We also snorkeled the wreck of a drug plane that crashed in the harbor – some decent size fish including a couple of Nassau grouper – nice. Michael and I also snorkeled some heads outside the harbor where rays were the main attraction. Finally, we visited "Lone Palm" Island to snap a picture of Mike claiming it as his own.

Dinner was an on-board party with Bob and Maryann including lobster provided by Bob (fresh caught earlier that day) and sausage, peppers and onions donated by us.

Welcome to Norman’s Cay

 My Weigh and Aftermath (Bob’s boat) in the anchorage

Mike posing in front of Lone Palm Island, which he plans to claim for the Molda kingdom

Admiring the new airstrip

It’s hard to capture the scale of the airstrip in a picture

Equally hard to capture the scale of the "under-construction" marina

 But this shot gives you an idea of the stuff they cleared away to make both the airstrip and the marina

Two peas from the same genetic pod

Sue looks much better than the weather brewing in the background -- it never got to us!

Lone Palm Island, the newest addition to the Molda kingdom. Mike is standing next to the tree

Allan’s Cay, Exumas

Trip to Allan’s was uneventful – skies mostly clear, light easterly winds, were able to do 6 knots most of the way; even crossing the Yellow Bank, a minefield of coral heads, was straightforward with few heads in our direct path.

Got to Allan’s around 1, dropped the hook and set off on a snorkeling expedition: highlights were a large nurse shark (perhaps 6-8 foot), a small leopard ray and a number of larger ordinary rays. We followed what we thought was a turtle with the dinghy but it turned out to be nothing but a rock on the bottom – oh well.

We ended our excursion with a visit to the iguanas on Allan’s Cay – always entertaining, these guys are the last of their kind in the Bahamas.

The guys on the beach

Say hello to my little friend!

Actually, they aren't very friendly at all

The Preakness – Bahama Style

The best looking one on the beach!

Nassau, New Providence Island

Crossing the Northwest Channel was uneventful although, as usual, the wind was on our nose so the iron jib got us there. We plan to hang here for a couple of days –my nephew Michael joins us on Monday to spend a week or so with us.

This I a provisioning stop – there is an upscale market nearby with lots of good food choices. We’ll also do some boat chores and a little bit of touring while we are waiting for Michel to arrive.

Planning our arrival and where we’ll stay

 Hiding out from the cool breeze

The Cruise Ships are in tow

A Disney Cruise ship

Sayanora

Center of Government, the Parliament Building, in the background

Street scene