Our position
is
24:10.53N 76:26.94W
The next day (Ted’s birthday) we moved the yacht round the corner
to Staniel Cay. Greg and Christina on Whisper, who we had chatted to on Pig
Beach the day before, immediately moved into the space we vacated, so we
obviously had made a good choice. Staniel Cay proved slightly more problematic
as there is a lot of shallow water and the paper charts did not entirely agree
with the chart plotter as to where it was.
Also there was a strong current flowing through from the Sound, which was
across the wind direction. We opted to aim down a tongue of deeper water on a
sand bank close to Thunderball
grotto but lining the boat up proved quite tricky and our first attempt
left us in a vulnerable spot in an opening between two small islets, While we
were pondering our next move Dennis and Donna from Texas stopped by to greet a
fellow Moody owner. They have a 44 and were anchored further in, so with their
encouragement we moved over and anchored beside them. We ended up a bit closer
than we really wanted but they seemed happy so we went ashore in search of some
lunch.
This proved easily located at the yacht club and was very tasty. We
also booked a table there for a birthday dinner for Ted in the evening. Then we
set off in search of shops (for re-provisioning), a laundry, the bakery, and the
airport (so Peter and Rosemary could confirm their flight for Sunday).The shops
proved amazingly elusive and in spite of being given instructions by many people
we still walked a lot further than was necessary before finding the one furthest
from where we started. We had been warned that the best time to shop was
immediately after the supply boat had come in (which it wasn’t) so we were
unsurprised by the relatively meagre selection but at least were able to buy
stamps for the postcards purchased on the previous island, and tonic and limes
for the essential sundowners. The
visit to the airport proved fruitless as the Flamingo Air office was unmanned,
apart from when flights are due; but on the walk back we finally located the
bakery and the blue and pink shops. Laundry seemed to be a case of someone doing
it in their own home and the lady in the blue shop offered her assistant’s
services in this respect so this may be the solution next week. We needed to
pick up a couple of cans of water back at the yacht club but this was easier
said than done. In the end we were helped by a guy from the dive shop who said
the yacht club was completely disorganised and he was having to pick up the
pieces. He also said that the mains water was generally only switched on for a couple of hour’s
morning and evening, presumably because the desalination plant was struggling to
cope with the demand. Then it was back to the boat to prepare for going ashore
for the birthday dinner, first helping to recover a stray (large) rib leaving
the dinghy harbour on its own. Its paid crew were both ungrateful and
ungracious, making us wish we hadn’t bothered.
When we returned to the Yacht Club, all eager anticipation, it was
only to have our hopes dashed. The Yacht Club was a seething mass of rowdy
Americans who seemed to have taken over the bar and our dinner booking had not
been taken properly so there was no dinner. What’s more they really didn’t seem
to care much. Because of the noise levels we weren’t 100% disappointed at this
and headed down the road in search of an alternative ending up at Taste of the
Sea, where Peter and Rosemary were able to experience conch before they went
home and we received excellent service from Karen – a pleasant contrast from our
earlier experience.
The next morning saw the baking of (belated) birthday chocolate
brownies and yet another fruitless trip to the airport and various other spots
in search of the elusive Samantha – the only one it seemed in a position to
confirm the flight – and then a light lunch before the highlight of the day
–snorkelling in Thunderball grotto. The cave is famous for being the one used in
the film Thunderball. I suspect in
the film it probably looked bigger than it actually is but swimming in it was an
amazing experience. Someone likened it to swimming in an aquarium, and if we’d
had something appropriate apparently the fish would have fed out of our hands.
Holes in the roof illuminate the water below and the shoals of brightly coloured
fish. We entered at low tide – recommended for children and weaker swimmers – as
the current is nil to minimal and there is a reasonable gap between the water
and the rock at the entrance. There was a slight fracas at the start when the
mooring warp of the buoy we had tied the dinghy up to, got round the prop of a
largish motor boat attempting to tie up to the adjoining buoy. This was freed by
someone from the (small) rubber dinghy sharing our buoy and we were able to get
swimming and photographing. When we’d had enough it was back to the boat for tea
and chocolate brownie – voted delicious in spite of being out of a packet – and
showers. We had managed to make another booking for dinner at the yacht club for
Peter and Rosemary’s last night on the boat. When we arrived both electricity
and water were suffering a cut but power soon came back on and this time proved rather more
successful than our previous attempt and we enjoyed a good meal in a much
quieter atmosphere.
The dinghy
harbour well protected from the
currents
The houses are colourful
The church seen
from the
sea
unusual arrangement for the bell
One option for
getting
about
the other option
Big ray by the
dock (somthings had its
tail)
nurse sharks attracted by fish gutting
Waiting to be
served at taste of the
sea.
Tea and home baked brownies after swimming
Entrance to
Thunderball cave seen from the
surface
and looking in from under the water
Looking out of the north
entrance
Kay swimming to the south entrance
Lots of pretty
fish and spectacular
lighting
back in the
dinghy after some brilliant snorkeling and a few bumps on the head
(you don't see the rock hanging down while snorkeling)
