The bay
behind the marina and a close up of the Club Thunderball
Thunderball
Cay
Sun out so hot, we
took Baby Beez for a spuddle. Just across the bay from the marina is Thunderball
Cay, made famous for its brief entry in the the James Bond movie of the same
name. Forty five minutes into the now very tired film, but always nice to stare
at the fit and firm frame of Sean Connery. There are no big turtles here, in
fact zero because there is not enough fodder for them, so when we see the latest
squeeze being towed along by one, perhaps a little poetic license to thrill and
Bear's red starfish was actually bigger than hers. The thing I did love about
the film was the opening number by Tom - get your knickers ready to toss, ladies
- Jones. The original main title theme to Thunderball was entitled "Mr. Kiss
Kiss, Bang Bang," (yuk) which was written by John Barry and Leslie
Bricusse. The title was taken
from an Italian journalist who in
1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Barry had thought he couldn't
write a song about a vague "Thunderball" term or the story of the film, so his
song was a description of the character of James Bond. The song was
originally recorded by Shirley
Bassey, but was later
re-recorded by Dionne
Warwick. Both versions were
not released until the 1990's. The song was removed from the title credits after
United Artists requested that the theme song contain the title of the film in
its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with lyricist Don
Black and wrote
"Thunderball" in a rush.
Tom
Jones, who sang
the new theme song, fainted in the recording booth after singing the song's
final, high note. Jones
said of the final note, "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I
opened my eyes the room was spinning."
We circled the cay, looking at the
cave, seen in the film and then went to the little beach next to the
marina, I wanted to get up close and personal with the nurse sharks.
I left Bear near the
beach (gouty ankle) looking at huge hermit crabs and flippered toward the first
jetty in the marina. I cosied up to one shark and we
both seemed to get on well. However..............................
............. it called over one of its mates and I was not quite as sure
as when we had our intimate
moment....................................however....................................................................
............seven, I felt was too much of a crowd and it
was time to exit stage left.
The nurse shark or
Ginglymostoma cirratum,
actually
the name is a mix of Greek and Latin and means "curled, hinged mouth" to
describe this shark's somewhat puckered appearance. The origin of the
name "nurse shark" is unclear. It may come from the sucking sound they make when
hunting for prey in the sand, which vaguely resembles that of a nursing baby. Or
it may derive from an archaic word, nusse, meaning cat shark.
The most likely theory though is that the name comes from the Old English word
for sea-floor shark: hurse. Nurse sharks are
slow-moving bottom-dwellers and are, for the most part, harmless to humans.
However, they can be huge - up to 14 feet - and have very strong jaws filled
with thousands of tiny, serrated teeth, and will bite defensively if stepped on
or bothered by divers who assume they’re docile. They use their strong
jaws to crush and eat shellfish and even coral, but prefer to dine on fish,
shrimp, and squid. They are gray-brown and have distinctive tail fins that can
be up to one-fourth their total length. Unlike most other sharks, nurses are
smooth to the touch. Way to close, I'll take their word for it. Nurse sharks are
found in the warm, shallow waters of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific
oceans. They are abundant throughout their range and have no special
conservation status, although the closeness of their habit to human activities
is putting pressure on the species.
Type: Fish
Diet: Carnivore
Average life span in captivity: Up to 25 years
Size: 7.5 to 9.75 ft
Weight: 200 to 330 lbs
Group name: School or shoal
Fact: Nurse Sharks are nocturnal and will often rest on the sea floor
during the day in groups of up to forty sharks, sometimes piled on top of each
other. I had a surge in pulse with seven of them, I don't know the number but
any feeling of chilliness left me for a small hot flush, or hot flash as the
Americans say. I know my limits - but when I felt they were circling the wagons
- time for me to slip along - back to Big Bear and his happy crabs. I
must say in fact if there was an Olympic entry for speed snorkeling I would have
been a stiff contender in the semi finals. I haven't been that breathless
for a very long time. If I'm like this with a bunch of big friendly puppies,
what will I be like with ones chaps with big, mean teeth.
Quite comforted to see a stingray pass by
and didn't mind a chap on the attack
Bits and bobs in the water that was three
feet deep a long way from shore
What a star to come out to pose, his shell
weighed heavy
Loved this chap with his posh
sombrero
ALL IN ALL WHAT AN
EXPERIENCE
