Monday, May 30, 2016

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.

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

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Mike feeding a new found buddy

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Just hanging out with my new bud

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Sue under siege for her plantain

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"Babe" and Babe

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Tourists interacting with the pigs

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Mother and kids

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Looking up inside of Thunderball Cave

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Fish Feeding Frenzy

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Fan coral in the garden outside Thunderball

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

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