May 25-30 Big Major to Black Point Settlement

Waking up these last few days is an adventure.  Dead sleep suddenly interrupted by this brilliant light.  It takes a few seconds to remember its not an interrogation.  Tropical sun light can be intensely bright!

Speaking of tropical sunshine, we are getting brown out here.  Very tan.  But we're still pale compared to some of the people we've met who stay down here all year long.

By the way, here's a link to a bountiful cruising guide to the Bahamas if further details beckon to you.

The only thing I did this morning was take some old and failing veggies I found in the fridge over to Pig Beach to feed the pigs.  Only big old mother pig was right on the beach came rumbling out in the water to greet me.  She is bigger than our small dinghy  I took this morning.

I was able to get out of the dinghy without her knocking me out and starting feeding here celery and sweet potatoes.  She seemed quite enamored of the sweet potatoes uttering this very non-pig like bellow.  She would open her mouth and tilt it up waiting for me to drop in the food and if I wasn’t fast enough she’d bellow and walk forward, a few times knocking me backwards.

So I tried to hurry the pace.  I was feeding her a smaller slice of sweet potato when she crunched down it and almost my finger.  Ouch!

Once I was out of food I started to walk back to the dinghy but she followed at a trot.  So I picked up the pace.  And so did she.  It was like a race even in the deeper water where she was swimming.

I reached it and pulled it into deeper water up to my chest but the determined pig was swimming right along side me knocking into the dinghy. 

As I said she was bigger than the whole dinghy and I was thinking she could swamp the thing.  So I clamored in as quickly as I could start started the engine which seemed to dampen her enthusiasm a bit. 

And luckily another boat was just coming in which diverted her attention away from me making my escape a bit easier.

Whew!   

When I got back we just sat out on the sundeck watching all the big yachts come and go.  One, Awatea, is a beautiful boat.  If we ever charter something like this, that will be the one!   Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.

We headed over to Pirate Beach in the small dinghy in hopes of finding a cocktail party.  It's rumored to be an almost every night occurrence.  We took the small dinghy simply to avoid me yanking on the starter rope a dozen times.

 I’m hoping to get a picture of us in this thing.  It would be comical especially if there were any swells at all.  Together we're nearing its weight limit and it rides pretty low in the water.   Others have commented that we appear to be just gliding on the water since the dinghy isn't easily spotted.

We got there and pulled the dinghy up and much to our surprise we saw Stay Cation there (Rush and Beth).  They along with David, Richard, Linda and Lorie were also there with all sorts of munchies and alcohol.  What a delightful time!  Richard and Laurie are on a large Hatters and have been living aboard for almost 15 years.  David and Linda are on a catamaran anchored on the other side of Big Majors next to Staniel Cay.

We had great fun with them and plan on returning tomorrow. 

We ended up leaving only after a few hours and had dinner, and pretty much went to bed as the winds began to escalate.  The forecast was correct this time.  20-25 mph winds with gusts to 35. 

But with the winds came cooler air and it was good sleeping!

It was a lazy day today. I’m still waiting to hear back from Rose Point engineering about this chart plotter problem.  And the winds are maintaining a good 25 mph from the east which gives the anchorage a nice chop. 

We read and I, being the antsy one, swam out to check the anchor again just to be able to move around.  The anchor remains unchanged,  the heavy swells are moving the boat gently up and down but the anchor isn’t visible any longer because its buried so deeply in the sand.  And only about 50 feet of the chain along the bottom is moving with the boat.  To say we are fixed on the bottom is putting it mildly.

We were planning on heading over to the beach again tonight but its so bouncy we’re sort of hedging.  We’d have to take the large dinghy which means I have to pull start it which isn’t easy in these swells.   But a good party is hard to pass up.

As it turns out Mary didn’t want to go so I did.   And in the small dinghy and getting soaked in the process.  Another wonderful time with Richard, Laurie, David  and Linda.  And our budding friends, Rush and Beth from Stay-Cation.

We had an additional visitor who’s name I’ve forgotten.  But they are building a house on Staniel Cay and  have a large boat tied up to their dock.  From his description its quite a  refurbishing project made all the more interesting because of the Bahamian practice of un-frantic work.  More like sashaying with a saw and hammer.  In other words not much gets done quickly.   

I headed back after a while and we ate dinner and then headed off to bed

Next morning I put a call into Coastal Explorer about this odd chart plotter problem.   Our main navigation suite is Coastal Explorer.

I Talked with Aaron who was able to remotely connect to our ship computer through the BTC cell phone data connection.  He didn’t find anything a miss so we set up a logging function to record data which I will send them after we arrive at Black Point Settlement south of here.

I guess I didn’t mention we were heading there this morning.  Its only about 10 miles and provides a change of scenery.  Tantalizingly close, lies Farmers Cay where I wanted to spend some time but we have to be back in Florida in 3 weeks so we'll leave that visit for our return trip next year.  We’ll head  back toward Florida after a few days here and find a rendezvous point to hook up with Jeff and Judy along the way.

After  I talked with Coastal Explorer and Aaron the CE engineer, we pulled the anchor and head out.  The anchor was dug so deep it took some maneuvering to yank it up,  The chart plotter was doing its non-updating things again so I had it and my tablet running to be sure we were where we were supposed to be.

It was only a 10 mile journey.  The waves were on the beam which tends to roll us a bit but nothing bad. 

Pulling into Black Point Settlement Anchorage 

When we arrived, we noticed Sandpiper (David and Linda and Stay-Cation, Rush and Beth) and anchored between them.  The anchor hooked just fine but I went out and dove on it to be sure.  The water was its normal tepid 82 degrees.

We stayed aboard most of the afternoon and watched Sandpiper leave with their guests who had flown in to Black Point where David picked them up.  Soon after they pulled anchor and headed back to Big Major.

I should mention a number of the islands here have air strips.  Not airports in the traditional sense, but a runway where planes can land and take off.  And they seemed to be used regularly by mostly private planes, but also a commercial outfit that flies between the islands.

Later Rush and Beth buzzed by saying “”Cocktails on the beach”.  Mary was in the shower so we didn’t leave right away.

Mary, Rush and Bet in the foreground

The beach here is located across an expansive sand flat.  But it was high tide and I refused to yank on the big dinghy starter for such a short trip, so we  took the little dinghy.  And yes I suffered spousal abuse because a few little waves may have splashed us during the 1 mile journey across the sand flats.  It was high tide thankfully.

We met Rush and Beth there and another couple off a Krogen 52.  It’s a boat I lust after.  Unfortunately our finances preclude any hope of procuring one, but still, they are awe inspiring.    I picked the Krogen couples brain a bit about Korgens in general and soon after they left, leaving us with the admonition to try Scorpions for happy hour.  We’ll be here a few days so we will be dong that.

Rush, Mary and Beth

Rush, Beth, Mary and I had the beach to ourselves for a few hours and it was wonderful.  The wind had died down and the seas began to flatten.  And I tried one of Beth’s Margaritas.  Oh my  Very Good!  We will be making a point to see them when we visit Key West again this winter.

After a while Mary was getting antsy so we had to leave. They are planning on heading to Georgetown tomorrow so no more parties for us for a few days I guess.

Always a great sunset

Mussing about the Bahamas, I can say it’s wonderful over here.  Numerous islands, all with anchorages consisting predominantly sandy bottoms make visiting these little spots pretty easy.   Although some of these place can tax your nerve sometimes because of the shallow waters which are sometimes difficult to judge.  The water is so clear, 20 feet appears to be 2 feet.  It takes some practice to discern the differences.    But the island anchorages provide great protection from the prevailing trades winds so the anchorages are generally very calm.  Well, most of the time anyway.

The communities are comprised of maybe a few hundred residents. The stores are really homes with shelves.  The one bakery where we bought our first few loafs of bread was essentially someone’s kitchen, the back door was the entrance.  You had to know where to find it.

Two inter-island supply boats passing behind our neighbors boat

There is an exhilarating factor too in that there are no services here.  No tow boats, mechanics or 911.  It is quite desolate in that regard.

But on some of the islands there is construction,  albeit at the normal Bahamian pace which is glacial, but construction none the less.  In the majority of cases it’s private homes, and people who have bought an entire island and building lavish mansions.  As I've been told, these places are equipped with solar panels, wind generators, diesel generators and RO water makers so they can, and do exist off what minimal grid there is here.

The number of large, mega yachts cruising around between the islands is astounding to me.  They are, by far the dominate style of boats over here.  Our puny 46 foot boat is barely noticeable among all the Goliaths.

That little red wire was pretty much broken off.

On a high note I found the problem which was giving out navigation system fits.   CE was happy to hear it was corrected I think because I sent them almost 5 MB of log data. 

This morning we hung around the boat most of the morning reading and debating whether to use the small dinghy to go into town, or the big dinghy which I’m beginning to loath because the necessity of manually starting the darn thing.

We needed to go ashore to dispose of our trash and visit a food store.  We’ve run out of a few things, namely bread.

We loitered a bit too long because the supply boat came into the government dock.  The supply boats are little coastal freighter type vessels which deliver to each of the inhabited islands a few times each week.  And each island has a government dock which serves as the freighter commercial dock.  The dock also serves as a convenient place for us to tie dinghies so we can access the town.

But anyway we decided to take the big dinghy so I dutifully completed my 15 pulls on the starter rope and we headed into the dock where the island supply boat was still tied up.

Tied up where the mail boat was a few moments before

We circled a bit on each side of the dock and as we were coming around near the supply boat it began moving off the dock leaving a whole lot of room!  Yeah!  A place to tie up which we did right next to an access ladder.  These docks are fixed and wood.  And high.

But someone was yelling at me to get the red onions.  Red Onions?  Huh?

Turns out the supply boat forgot to drop off a bag of things including red onions and they were trying to ask me to drive out the few hundred yards to the supply boat and bring the onions back to the dock.  By the time I finally understood what they were saying one of the small inter-island ferries from Staniel left the dock and went to the supply boat and fetched the bag.

We had tied up by then so they tossed the bag to me up on the dock and I delivered to a guy who was the neighbor of the lady who was anxiously waiting for the red onions.

Mystery and intrigue here at Black Point Settlement

Taking our trash

Complete guide to Black Pont

We tossed our trash in the trash trailer, and left a few dollars in the metal donation box.  The town doesn’t charge for trash hauling but does ask for donations.  It’s not an unusual practice and I did find out the money does go to help the local school here.

We took in the information on the unusual sign by the road and headed up towards the shops and restaurants.

According to the cruising guides and people we talk with, Loraine's is another one of these must visit places to eat.   But first we stopped to checkout Adderley's Friendly Grocery store.  Its a typical Bahamian grocery store and pretty well stocked compared to some we've visited.  But it isn't surprising

Adderley's Friendly Grocery Store

considering Black Point Settlement is the second most populated island here behind Georgetown which is another 30 some miles south.

We decided to go eat lunch before getting groceries so we walked the long block to Lorraine's. Well I sensed it was about block but there are no real delineated blocks here, just a road.  But anyway, it was a short stroll.

Lorraine's

Lorraine's is a little house-like place with a smallish bar and tables inside.  We arrived and Mary bolted right in while I wandered a short distance looking for Mom's bread store/house.

Inside Lorraine's there is the little bar and long tables.  Tables are just that.  Tables where you sit if there's room.   If there isn't room you stand.

Inside Lorraine's

Lorraine herself

We had arrived just as a little tour group from Georgetown arrived too.  They arrived for a sort of cafeteria style lunch while we were here to have a beer and a sandwich.  It seems there were maybe 20 people, all from a go-fast type boat that originated in Georgetown.  The boat stops at various interesting islands and for lunch stops at Lorraine's.  I think part of the reason is that there is a dock behind the place.

By the time I walked in Mary was sitting drinking a beer and had already ordered a hamburger.  I wasn't all that hungry so she got up and ordered me a beer having been schooled in the proper procedure.

Mom's white house behind Lorraine's Restaurant 

While we waited we discovered that Moms Bread store was right behind Lorraine's.  For you really astute types you may have thought there might be a connection between  Mom's and Lorraine's.  Your Jeopardy championship material  if you did.

Mom is Lorraine's mother and they all live in the house behind the restaurant.  The house also serves as the bakery too.    I went over and asked an older man, (Who is this man? Lorraine's Father, Mom's husband) about bread and he pointed and said, "inside".  So we walked into their house.

Mom.  And her loaves of bread!

The kitchen is large and sure enough on the counter were a good dozen loafs of bread.  And mom.  Standing behind the counter.

We bought 2 loaves.  Its reported to be the best ever.  We'll see when we get back aboard.

What delightful people mom, and Lorraine are!

We walked back to the restaurant and after Mary took care of the hamburger  we strolled back to Adderleys for some grocery shopping.  I cant quite recall the name of the owner, and elderly lady who's the mother of ten children!  Very nice conversation with her as she related all kinds of information about all her kids.  Three of he boys are small inter island freighter captains,  while others scattered in the states as engineers or attending college.  Quite a diverse family.

When we walked in she was patiently explaining the harsh lesson of not enough money for all the candy they wanted.  They had  a a single dollar but the bill was $1.75.

So we paid the difference for them and stood there as she instructed the two little guys to say thank you.  Which they did between mouthfuls and gulps.  Pretty funny.

The currency used in the islands is mixed.  Bahamian dollars or us currency so when we get change its a true mix of currency.

Inside Scorpions

After picking up a few items we went back to the boat and then returned to Scorpion for happy hour.  No people,  loud music and no Captain Morgan.  It was rather disappointing.

So we had a beer and then returned to the boat, and made water.  Exciting!

We are trying to draw up a plan to get back to Florida.  Bad weather is forecast for later next week which is when we wanted to cross the Gulf Stream.  But now we thinking of heading at least to Cat Cay or Bimini before Thursday to take advantage of the weather to cross the North West Channel, a stretch of ocean about 30 miles wide between Nassau and the Bahamian Bank.

We again loitered around the boat this morning deciding to stay here at Black Point another day so we could go visit the blow hole and see the beach.  Tomorrow we head to Shroud Cay to anchor before making our way towards west end of Nassau to anchor.  Monday we cross the North West Channel and try to get to Cat Cay.  If we’re lucky we might cross over before the bad weather hits.  

That's us in the middle

We took the small dinghy into the dock and tied up next to our neighbors dinghy, a 15 foot Caribe similar to our big dinghy.  Only theirs was quite a bit bigger.  You could barley see our little dinghy thing tied to the dock.

Blow Hole Lane

Hiking up to the Blow Hole area

This is it!  The Blow Hole.  Impressive, isn't it?

We headed out to find the blow hole and sure enough there was a sign of sorts indicating where it was.  A craggy path led off towards the Sound side of the island.  After passing through a debris strewn rocky flat we were at the blow hole.

It’s rather tiny, maybe 3 feet in diameter but from all accounts, is as regular as old faithful.  Regular that is, when the tide is up which is wasn’t.  So all we could see were some little gurgles when a particularly high wave would wander in.

Sand flats near low tide

After a few minutes we left and continued up the road past the very flat sand flats which are completely exposed at low tide.  Just the other day we were sitting here with cocktail watching the sun go down.

There wasn’t much further up the road except for a house or two and a view north out towards the other islands.

On the way back we met a happy go lucky guy who was off to the reef at Dotham Point for some spear fishing.  That’s about 2 mile walk one way  But he was young.

I stooped and talked to Dave, an old sailor who lives on the island and is planning on moving to Tonga as soon as his wife retires.  He was brought up in the Keys and never experienced snow.  Ever.

We stopped in at Scorpions so Mary could have a beer and then headed back to the dinghy.  I brought it into a little beach by the dock so she could get in and we went back to the boat.

We decided to leave tomorrow for Shroud Cay and spend the night there before moving on to Nassau.  So with that plan in mind we rigged the big dinghy for hoisting, took the engine off the small dinghy and then went out on the bow for cocktails.

Before we grilled I started the generator and we hoisted the big dinghy up on the top deck and I secured it.   We have been keeping the small dinghy inflated and simply haul it into the sundeck. Its light enough and fits fine although I’m pretty sure I can lash it to the swim platform.  Just haven’t been motivated enough to try that yet.

After a late dinner we went to bed with the idea we’d leave around 9AM since its only a 40 mile journey.

May 20-24 Big Majors and Staniel Cay

Posted as we crossed the Northwest Channel between Nassau and the Great Bahama Bank.  

We raised the anchor around 8:30 and headed out between Little Pigeon and Elbow Cays to the Hawksbill Bore Waypoint. 

We have explorer charts, both printed and electronic.  The charts have many named way points like Hawksbill Bore, which provide safe navigation points between the various islands. 

It was a bit bouncy as we made our way the 30 miles south.  The biggest headache was the darn chart plotter not updating.  I made a few unnecessary detours simply because the chart plotter was showing us in a place that we weren't so I was trying to avoid the numerous shallows around here thinking we were near them when in fact we were miles away.  We just ended up using one of our tablets with Bahamas charts and being cautious as we neared any reefs.

Google map image of where we are anchored off of Pig Beach.  Staniel Cay is on the right

We came into Big Majors around 2:30 and the somewhat rough swells we had encountered early on pretty much disappeared.  We found a nice spot off Pig Beach and the anchor set the first time.  We let out about 75 and were stuck fast to the sand bottom.

One of our neighbors with a nice sun shade on the sundeck.  

Coming into Big Major.  Pig Beach is in the distance

This is a large anchorage populated by a disproportional number of very large yachts.  It was almost like watching a cartoon as they  would suddenly disgorge a swarm of little jet skis or other types of personal watercraft.

The water here is so clear and clean it’s simply amazing.  We are anchored in around 10 feet and it looks as tough we could easily walk on the bottom.

Of course we had to get the big dinghy down and see if I could get it started.  It took 8 pulls until it finally fired up.

Dream Maker, TJ and Diana's boat

We made our over to see Dream Maker (TJ and Diana) who had arrived a day before us from Shroud Cay.  Then, after stopping at our boat for a few minutes to collect food for the pigs, went in to Pig Beach.

Pig Beach and the pigs getting fed

Pig Beach, is one of a couple of beaches here, and at Staniel Cay where wild pigs coming trotting down to the water and swim over to get fed.  They seem live right off the beach in the mangroves.

The pigs aren't petite and although gentle and almost tame, are bulky and can shove you aside easily.  They have been known to climb into dinghies if the handout isn't of sufficient quantity or quality.

All we had were carrots and some old celery and parsnips.  They ate everything but the parsnips, snorting disapproval when we repeatedly begged them to eat the darn things since we really didn't want them back.

Feeding them celery 

More food

Annoyed because all I had left were parsnips

We talked with another couple who were in the Staniel Cay Yacht Club on a boat, Piggy Bank.  They had come over to feed the pigs as well but they had fruit.  The pigs, noting the better food offerings, immediately abandoned us and swam/walked over to them. 

Here I thought parsnips would be a delightful change from all the fruit they eat.  Guess not.  

I talked with the owner of Piggy Bank while Mary strolled the beach.  After a time we decided to leave so once again I yanked and pulled on the manual start cord and got the outboard running again.    We took off around Big Majors over to Staniel Cay for a look around.  It’s less than a 2 mile dinghy ride.

There is only one marina here now, Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  It is another one of those must see places.  They don’t have many docks available for transients but we saw three, 100’ yachts tied to the piers.  They also have fuel which can be hard to come by down here.

After a short spin around there we headed over to the famous Thunderball Grotto where the James Bond Thunderball movie was filmed.  Well, only a very small portion of it but still, its a famous place.  There were several dinghies and small runabouts anchored at the entrance presumably there to explore the grotto.  That’s what we’ll be doing in a day or two.

We returned to wallow in a usable internet connection through our Bahamas phone.  It's been several days that we've been off line.   After a few hours we took a break for cocktails and dinner.

I took some time to hang outside and star gaze. They are spectacular.  The only issue was the mega yachts.  They, just like at Shroud Cay, were all lit up like a city.  Pretty,  multi-colored lights along the decks.  And the underwater lights were also colorful.  Some would even slowly change colors.  

It was almost like a light show.  Not wanting to feel left out I turned on our two tiny and muted blue deck lights.  Mary cringed in embarrassment.  

We started the dinghy up this morning so we could get to the Staniel Cay yacht club.  It took me 9 pulls this morning.  It’s like lifting weights.

Dinghy parking at the Yacht Club

The yacht club has a little dinghy enclosure, really just a curving rock wall enclosing a little beach.  It’s tight even for a dinghy.  And the larger ones are all anchored off the little beach because the tide range here is several feet and, from personal and painful experience,  I know trying to slide a several hundred pound boat down a beach to deeper water is not easy or even possible in some cases.

We brought our garbage in and left it by the place where you leave garbage.  Since we were here anyway and it was noon, we decided to just eat lunch there.

We sat at a table up in a little gazebo overlooking the water and the fish cleaning station.  And as luck would have it, 2 fishing charter boats had just docked and the charterees were all standing around holding their catches up for pictures.  Dorado, barracuda and it looked like some smallish tuna all caught just trolling out on the Exuma Sound.

Once pictures were complete the yacht club guys began cleaning the fish and tossing the scraps out in the water.  I had always read about the friendly nurse sharks that hang around this marina near the fish cleaning station.  Well, they weren't kidding.  20 or so nurse sharks with a scattering of rays were all circling around waiting for a scrap or two.  And when a scrap was tossed, there was swift and uncompromising dash to snatch it.  It was quite the sight.

Some kids on the steps petting the nurse sharks.  Cleaning station is right above them

Near the cleaning station were a series of steps leading to the water.  From here its possible to pet the sharks.  Best time is several hours after any fish cleaning has taken place when they are calmer.   People do squat down on the last step and as the sharks swim by, they pet them.  

 

I should also mention these were smaller than the nurse shark I had an encounter with a few days ago.  Well, at least my opinion.

We lingered over a beer and club sandwich watching all the activity on the dock. 

It started to get crowded after a while so we paid up and walked into town to check out the stores.

There isn't a town in the classic sense.  Really just a collection of buildings.

There are two grocery stores and a yellow house where you can buy bread.  The blue grocery, Burkes, was the nicer of the two and they had just received a shipment from the island ferry which had docked a few hours ago.  The two stores are almost right next to each other.

The road to Burkes Grocery

On the way back to the marina (it was maybe a ½ mile one way) I stopped at the laundry/liquor store to buy rum.   A lady just opened this last November and its pretty nice but doesn't have a large inventory.  None the less, most people go here to help her out.

Our dinghy was in the enclosure with a bunch of others so we had to jockey around so I could get the motor down in the water and then take a few minutes to yank the manual starter rope while making sure the dinghy didn't float into shallow water or run into another boat.

But it started right up again (3 pulls) however it started making that odd noise again.  Only this time the starter was removed so its something else I fear.  I’d guess it’s probably the impeller which I don’t have a spare for and I’d have a hard time yanking the lower unit off up anyway.  Mary thought that it made that noise because the engine was titled slightly up out of the water.  Who knows.  That could be it.

Small dinghy and the big honker.  We barely fit in the small one

We returned and I then I got my mask and fins and went in the water to scrub the water line on the boat.  That took about an hour.  Then, bowing to a possibly unusable big dinghy I put the small 2.5 hp Nissan motor on the small dinghy. 

It was only mid afternoon so we took the small dinghy over to  Pirate Beach where there are, sometimes, cruiser parties.  Not tonight but we did meet the crew of a mega yacht here who told us places to go etc.  Happy Peoples grocery store for one, and they have a marine store.  Also Chub, the local mechanic hangs out there too.

Randy and Vickie on Barefoot'n

On the way back we slowly went by a familiar looking boat.  Bare Foot'n with Randy and Vicki.  We last ran into them at Cayo Casta state park near Fort Meyers.  We stopped for a chat and made plans for tomorrow. They had to go see some people in the anchored near by who also had a Novatec boat.  As it turns out it was TJ and Diana’s boat.  Who knew!

So tomorrow we go see Thunderball cave, and have lunch with the Randy and Vicki.  Hopefully the dinghy will work ok.

It was an early night for us.  And a hot one so I kept a fan running most of the night to provide some relief.  I could run the generator all night to keep the A/C units running but its not that bad yet and I hate to add the hours on the generator.

I started the dinghy (9 pulls) this morning and it was fine.  Before Mary got on board I zipped across the anchorage to see if Randy and Vickie were ready to go for lunch at the yacht club. Yup, we are going to the Yacht Club for lunch and conversation.

I headed back to our boat and they followed a short time later.  We headed over to Staniel Cay which is maybe  2 mile jaunt.

We had lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  Great conversation.  It was wonderful to see them again..

We returned to out bat and before starting the dinghy outboard again and heading first to see Diana and TJ.  They decided to join us at the Thunderball.

Entrance to the grotto.  Its really just a slit in the rock wall.  There is an over head rope to help get in against the current

Dinghy raft-up.  That's TJ's with the bimini

We then headed over to Randy and Vickie’s boat and while they were getting ready TJ and Diana came over.  We all left in a little dinghy parade to Thunderball grotto.  No balls available so I put out mini Bruce anchor and then everyone rafted up to us.  We tossed out TJ’s mini fortress anchor too so we wouldn't drift too badly.

But the bottom here is all scoured out with very little sand so I ended up diving on both anchors and securing them behind some old rocks. 

Grotto was cool.  There was some current so it necessitated some exertion to overcome, but with flippers its pretty easy.

You essentially swim under a slit in the rock wall of a little island.  Once through the slit which, at low tide, clears the rock by a few feet, the place opens up into a cavern.  Pictures below are mine but there are far better ones of the same thing out on the web.

One of the smaller underwater entrances

Another side entrance

In the grotto

Grotto ceiling has several large holes 

It’s not dark but surprisingly well lit.  There are holes in the roof which let in light and there are also a few other entrances which are close to the surface supplying reflected light off the sandbars. 

The sides are all rock, some with little ledges you can sit on.  The middle is deep and all sand.   And the water was in the mid 80's and so, so clear.

And there are many small colorful fish swimming around all expecting a little treat which most visitors are happy to provide.  The fish will come right up and nudge your mask when the food isn't flowing fast enough.

While we were there a few kids had climbed up to the roof of the grotto and jumped in through the holes.  Quite a surprise when that happens.  Its about a 15 foot jump.

After exploring the grotto I swam out the other end and then circled the island which is like a reef with all the standard reef creatures swimming around.

We all finally made it back to our respective dinghies and then drove back to the anchorage where, after showering and putting dry clothes on, we went over to Randy and Vickie’s boat for cocktails. 

Annoying Mary I didn't want to have to yank the starter rope on the big dinghy again so we took the little dinghy over. 

(Sorry for the poor Quality) TJ, Diana, Vickie, Heidi the wonder dog and Randy

It was a wonderful time as usual.  But we had to drive the little dinghy back in the dark.  We don’t have lights for the little one.  And I’d forgotten to turn on the big boat anchor light so all we had to look for were the 2 dim fore and aft solar powered garden lights.

These little lights are quite visible to me.  Not to Mary, but I was driving.   I get them at Wal-Mart for $0.97 each and they last about 10 months before needing replacement.  Great things to have since they are photo sensing and turn on after the sun goes down and then turn off and recharge in the sunlight.

But we still ran the generator until 11 PM to top off the batteries.

I was abruptly woken up at 1 AM by this damn sport fishing boat blasting its stereo flooding the anchorage with Latin music.  But thankfully the idiots in the sport fisher turned down the volume after a few minutes.

Another morning!  Later, after we loitered around the boat for a few hours, we took a dinghy ride to Staniel cay around the back side of Big Major.  You have to go between Big Major and Fowl Cay.  I was having trouble getting my bearings but we ended up right where we were supposed to be and continued on past Thunderball towards Staniel Yacht club.

Between the Major(s) looking towards Staniel Cay

On our return trip we swung around the anchorage and gawked at all the mega yachts.  Oh my, some people do live well..

As we were sitting on the sundeck another obnoxious boat blaring Latin music came in  to the anchorage and thankfully passed by us.  

Sta-Cation (Rush and Beth)

Later I went over to see Rush and Beth boat Stay Cation to help him with a windlass issue.  We didn't solve it but at least he had some direction to find a solution, namely borrowing a star shaped winch from a sail boat.  Sail boats have plenty of winches and need winch handles which is what Rush needs to use on his windlass to tighten down the gypsy to the winch clutch plate which will eliminate the skipping he's been experiencing.

Our very own bad karaoke singers 

Yet another boat came in this evening and anchored blaring music and then, bad karaoke .  My god, the whole anchorage was bathed in a blanket of out of tune singing to accordion backed Latin music.  Rum anyone?

Thankfully they karaoke barrage ceased sometime after sunset and they disappeared before we we up the next morning.

But we woke up rather early rocking to some increased winds.

Randy stopped over to say they were heading south to Blackburn Point, about 5 miles from here.  Later when they were hauling up their anchor I had just finished filling the gas tank with oil/gas for the 2-cycle engine on the small dinghy.  We ran out to meet them as they motored out of the anchorage … a sort of  a send off.

Air tank, hoe and mask/regulator

When we returned I hauled out all the hookah gear.  Well, its only a couple of 50 foot air lines and some regulators. I figured it would be easier to try out the weight belts first and get those set so we had a slight negative buoyancy. 

Mary tried but hurt her side so discontinued any further effort.

Always swimming with critter it seems

It all works including the underwater camera

I used the tank and was able to clean most of the bottom of the boat.  The regulators work fine although they aren't the best.  The tank and hose are great allowing access to the whole boat.  We don’t have quick connect fittings though so I need a wrench.

Only went down about 10 feet this first time.

Later we had a succession of showers and the air became less humid.  We didn't get off the boat.

Cocktails on the bow and burgers for dinner

I was up early again, the beneficiary of brilliant sun on my face. I usually sit out n the sundeck and just relax but this morning I was distracted by the nude couple next to us on a catamaran.  They were taking an early morning swim and then bathing on their swim platform.

My.  The French are striking individuals.  Its was initially a little unnerving to suddenly be the recipient of friendly waves from our naked next door neighbors.

Later I got all the hookah gear out on the swim platform.  I went in and cleaned out the rest of the starboard side until our resident nurse shark starting getting inquisitive so I reluctantly got out.

Mary hooked up to the hookah

I didn't make use of the weight belts we have.  I’d just dive under the boat and as I float up I’d gently nudge the bottom with my head which kept me in place.  Its’ kinds a fun swimming upside down and scrubbing this brown sort of fuzzy gel off the boats bottom.

Later, Mary took a turn paddling around and using the regulator for breathing so she could get used to it.  The shark returned as she was in the water but didn't pay her as much attention as it did to me so she just kept paddling around.

Once she was done I went in and finished up the port side bottom and then washed out all the dive gear and lugged it back up on the sundeck.

After a while lounging around the boat we gathered all our garbage and I took 12 yanks on the starter to get the big outboard running.  We loaded up the dinghy and took a wet ride into Staniel Cay Yacht club.  Deposited he garbage, had lunch (chef salad for me, onion rings for Mary).    We had a nice chat with an older couple off a Sea Ray all the way from Indiana. 

I hadn't been able to take a decent walk for a while so head out towards the Staniel  airport while Mary stayed behind and scrutinized the Staniel Cay Yacht Club gift shop for anything she may have missed.

A colossus of a private residence over looking the landing strip

The airport such as it is

It was a good mile to and from the airport.  Well, I should correct the  impression of an airport.  Its just a landing strip with a wind sock and a little gazebo thing near the single squat hanger.

I did pass the bridge to south Staniel though which is where we may walk tomorrow.

The bread store

I found out from a local that Burkes store was open so I went back and got Mary.  We walked back to Burkes and while Mary bought bread at the little yellow house I started plucking a few things off the shelf for us. 

The young lady who was running the store when we were first there 2 days ago, was replaced by her grandmother if I heard all that correctly.

There is no cash register or adding machine.  She just jotted down what we bought and did some mental calculations arriving at a total.  They only take cash too.

We came back to the dingy dock at the yacht club where I had a nice chat with a guy off a Hatteress 58 LRC .  He was tinkering with his dinghy outboard, 50hp Yamaha.  He told me it had flipped over and almost sunk when both lifting straps broke sending the dinghy spiraling down 7 feet into the water form his upper deck.   I flashed back to our little dinghy hoisting malfunction in the Chesapeake last summer.

He found a shop manual on line somewhere and cleaned out everything and had just tweaked the ignition system.  He had it running and it sounded fine to me.  I just wonder where he found a shop manual on line.  I forgot to ask him.

We went through our usual starting routine and headed back to the anchorage.  I noticed Thunderball Grotto wasn't crowded at all.  Only one dinghy was anchored there. 

Ever since I drank that Chilean red wine I've had a hankering for red wine.  We have a few bottles on board so we tried one.  It was less than good.  In fact I couldn't drink more than a swallow.  Mary did better with one glass but we ended up just feeding it to our personal shark loitering under the dinghy.

We ran the generator and I ran the water maker and then we went to bed.  Exciting times here in the Exumas.  But tonight there's a cool breeze blowing through and all the loud boats have fled.  Going to be a nice night!