Up close and personal with the sharks at Compass Cay,

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Wed 19 Dec 2012 15:39
From swimming pigs to tame nurse sharks - whatever next!  Compass Cay is a small privately owned island about 6 miles north of Staniel Cay.  For our trip out today, we decided to go there for lunch, having spent the morning doing a few boat jobs and sending some emails etc.  
John had photocopied a section of the chart and off we went in our dinghies.  We seemed to have been travelling for ages, and then we reached the southern border of the Exuma Cays Sea Park and realised we had gone way too far!  There was one powerboat in the anchorage, so we headed over to try and find out exactly where we were, but as we got closer he hauled anchor and left!   Rather embarrassingly, we had to ask a guy on a jet-ski where we were, to find that we had gone straight past the island, never mind the marina we were trying to find!  Now we have decided that we should always take a radio, compass and a better chart when we go on longer dinghy trips, nothing like hindsight!
Anyway we arrived, found the marina, and the bar, only to find out that the restaurant was closed due to the fact that they had no food!  They were waiting for a delivery on the next mailboat.  All these islands are so small they rely on the weekly mailboat for everything, there are some islands so small that they only get a boat every two weeks!  You have to be careful if you try and get your propane tank filled here, sometimes they go on the mailboat to Nassau, and if you are on an island where the boat goes every two weeks......
Anyway, back to the sharks - they have loads of tame nurse sharks here to play with - they are amazing! Their skin is dry and feels scaly.  I have never seen so many sharks ever in one area, also there are huge rays, barracudas, and other large fish in all the anchorages.  We had a bit of fun with the sharks, a cold beer and then headed back to Staniel Cay Yacht Club, for a very late lunch, almost an early dinner!

 The marina entrance

 Arriving at the bar

  The bar was decorated with signs on driftwood displaying visiting boat names

  Me with a shark

 A nurse shark basking in the sun

 John and shark

 They are quite big!

 Have you ever seen this many sharks in 1 place?