Farmers Cay to Big Majors Spot - Dolphins, Sharks, and swimming pigs

24:10.88N 76:27.76W

13th March 2015

7182 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

            Sailing along the Cays you have two choices, you can go out into the ocean which has great depth, clear winds and uncomfortable swell or stay on the banks which has crystal clear flat water, good winds and virtually no depth at all. As it turned out we didn’t have enough depth of water to get around the back of Farmers Cay and so we had to reverse our course and go back out of Farmers Cut into the ocean swell. After a bumpy 7-8 miles in 20 knot winds we turned back in again and virtually surfed through Dotham Cut in order to get back onto the Bahamas bank.

Dotham Cut

The water immediately smoothed, turned a brilliant light blue colour and the depth dropped to around 3 meters under the keel. For the next 9 miles up to Big Majors Spot the depth hardly deviated at all staying between 2.9 and 3.1 meters below our keel the whole way in.

A sea plane flies over in the clear blue sky

Half way through the trip our VHF crackled into life and Mike reported that they had been joined by a dolphin. That broke us out of our lethargic state, it was cameras out and on deck looking for the tell tale fins in the water. We were soon rewarded by the sight of a mother and large calf swimming towards us, they were the proper big bottle nose dolphins (flipper types) and stayed to play for at least 15 minutes. During this time Norma used up all of the memory on her phone taking streams of pictures as the mother in particular crossed our bows repeatedly, unfortunately due to the sun on the water most of the pictures didn’t show anything but here’s a couple that worked.

Flipper and Flipper junior come out to play

Babe re-joins mum with a quick kiss

After anchoring for the night, which was calm and settled for a change, we headed over to pig beach early the following morning. The pigs on Big Majors Spot are semi feral and wander freely through the scrub behind the beach, over the years they have learnt a special trick for getting themselves tasty snacks from passing yachts. When you approach the beach in your dinghy they appear out of the scrub and stand watching you closely, if you drop your dinghy anchor and rattle a bag they will swim out to the dinghy in order to get fed. It is a bit of a surreal experience to have a large pig with exceptionally large teeth swimming around you begging for food but honestly what a great way to start a day.

A big fellow hears the bag of food rattling while his friends sleep on

Now there is a face only a mother could love

Actually he is a bit of a handsome boy

Coming in for the first course

Potato peel and wooden oar, it is a taste sensation  in the swimming pig world

Mike and Kate share a moment waiting for the pig to swim over Arrr aren’t they sweet

Bored with our offerings Mr Pig seeks better fare

            Once we had fed the pigs and watched the rays swimming under the dinghy for a while it was back to the boat to pick up the laptop and then a 1 mile dinghy ride around the headland to the small marina at Staniel Cay to try and find that ever elusive internet connection. The dinghy ride was very bumpy and very wet in our little rib which makes hard work of the choppy seas, Mike and Kate on the other hand shot ahead of us in their much larger dinghy bone dry riding atop the swell as they planed along, I am sure I detected a hint of a smug _expression_ on the back of their heads as they disappeared into the distance. A very wet and bedraggled Norma and Paul were soon reunited with a very dry and presentable Mike and Kate on the beach next to the marina and after tying the dinghies to a tree we headed into the marina proper. Internet was for sale at $10 per device per day which was a bit cheeky and so we declined the offer and didn’t stop at the bar for a coffee either. It really should be a standard service nowadays, if you want the cruising community to spend money in your establishment provide free internet and they will flock in. We have seen it time and time again on our travels the restaurants and bars that have free internet are packed, the ones without or who want to charge you for it are empty, you would think they would get the message wouldn’t you. Rant over, we went for a walk along the sea front to see if there was anything else in the area and soon spotted an American couple sitting on a bench under a tree tapping away on a laptop. After a quick introduction we all had internet access and settled down to connect to the outside world. It was being transmitted from a small café across the road that was closed until lunchtime but had left the router on, that’s the way to do it.

            After another bit of a walk about and a trip to the local store we were heading back to the dinghy when Norma’s phone rang, it was Tony our son who by sheer luck has called us on viber at the first time in days that we were within range of a wireless hub what a spooky bit of good luck. While we were waiting for Norma to finish her call we wandered down to the waters edge and spotted a 4 ft sand shark swimming by in about 2 foot of water which was a bit of a shocker. Sand sharks are reportedly safe to swim with, attacks or incidents extremely rare, but who wants to be a statistic I say even if it is a small one! A couple of weeks ago the fuel fitting for the large external tank on our outboard was broken by the anchor chain and so we have been using the outboards small internal tank. I am sure from the previous sentence you know what’s coming next; On the way back to Spectra, to my eternal shame and Kate’s great amusement, we ran out of petrol and had to be towed. I am sure a very full account of this minor and frankly quite boring incident will be relayed in Right Turns blog so I shall say no more here except for thanks the tow.

Our saviours Mike and Kate aboard international rescues Thunderbird six

            Now here is a chance in a million encounter, that evening we went over to Right Turn at sun down for a drink or three and were joined by a British couple, Andrew and Steph from Ipswich plus their American crew, Chris who were anchored between Spectra and Right Turn on their Amel Maramu, Carousel. As the conversation flowed I commented that we had very nearly put an offer in on an Amel Maramu in Spain but had then seen Spectra for sale and gone for her instead, Andrew said how strange because likewise he had put an unsuccessful offer in on a Vagabond like ours that was for sale in Eastbourne a few years back, but in the end had gone for the Amel. What a very small world, he hadn’t recognised Spectra as the same boat because we have changed her colour scheme from white and blue to white and green since he had viewed her. It was interesting to hear the story of the sale from the other side and piece together the games that the broker had been up to playing us off against each other. Anyway Andrew and Steph are now the proud owners of Carousel and we are very happy with Spectra, so all’s well that ends well.

            Next time we say goodbye to Mike and Kate for a while and head of to Nassau for our Visa interviews at the American embassy.

PS: we are still looking for some extra crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June. Three legs of about 2 weeks each, Norfolk Virginia to Bermuda, Bermuda to the Azores, Azores to Cork….anyone interested in all or part? Please drop us a line.

Spectra {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

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Paul {DOT} russell732 {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} co {DOT} uk and I will pick it up when I am on WiFi