Bahamas - Exumas, Staniel Cay, Pigs Beach & Thunderball Grotto

We arrived at Staniel Cay and took Penny and Mike around the village to see the sights.

 Beautiful flowers everywhere

View whilst walking we noticed a Nurse Shark trying to get something off this shallow reef to eat

Pretty vistas

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

The DockMaster bangs on a the fishing table and the Nurse Sharks congregate at the bottom of the stairs. They must obviously be used to be being fed fish off cuts

A bit of shopping for Meshugga

Fresh made Cinnamon Buns made by Olivia of Staniel Bakehouse. Yum

Our next stop is Pigs Beach on Big Majors Cay

As we arrived, we had 2 Nurse Sharks swim past the dinghy

Soon after we beached, this pig came to inspect us for food

Still just interesting

Next thing the pig sniffs out our cinnamon buns and peppers in my shopping bag on the floor in the dinghy and starts climbing aboard

I grabbed the bag and moved to the back of the dinghy and Nicholas shoo’ed the pig away.

We moved the dinghy into the water, floating, and the pig followed us in swimming around the dinghy in hope of getting fed. 

I was surprised how large and agile the pig was.

Fun looking mode of transport to come see the pigs

Swimming pigs

In the afternoon, and low tide, we dinghied over to Thunderball Grotto, made famous in the James Bond film of the same name.

Penny and Nicholas in the water, with other dinghies also going for a look

Mike

Lots of fish inside the Grotto

Jenny taking a break on the rocks

This is one of the iconic shots in the movie. The Grotto is open on both sides so it’s a stunning swim through

A wonderful day, ending with sundowners on a Big Majors Cay beach

Charter Yacht all lit up for their Guests

Bahamas - Great Inagua, Matthew Town, Waiting out a Big Blow

We are tucked up in Matthew Town Bay, just south of Devils Point for the blow today and tomorrow.

Strong winds but flat waters with just a slight sway with the swell.

We’ve had 3 dolphins playing and diving and fishing around Meshugga for about 3 hours. They are always just too far away for a good photo, and when the do come close, ie right up to the back steps, we don’t have a camera ready.

This beautiful 3 masted schooner came sailing gracefully past us

Karen took this amazing looking photo of Meshugga, with the skies threateningly purple, and the turquoise Bahamas water. Stunning!

With horrible weather, we invited Duane and Karen to come to Meshugga for an afternoon of Games, we played Mexican Trains…

And dinner of Pizza. I made vegetarian for Jenny and Karen, and Duane, Nicholas and I had meaty ham and toppings 

Always fun to have Karen and Duane for company

 

Bahamas - Ragged Islands, Raccoon Cay to Water Cay and onto Thompson Bay, Long Island

We left Raccoon Cay at 7am, Sojourn was a white speck in the distance, she’d left around 6am

We expected some close hauled sailing so stuck one reef in the main and had the full Genoa out.

The day was lovely with sunshine and the Bahamas Blue sea did not fail to delight.

We had a pod of dolphins on our bow for about 15 minutes

We are sailing north along the chain of Ragged Islands, and we bypass islands and rocks constantly

Eventually we caught up with and overtook Sojourn. As we have a longer water-line length, in most conditions we’ll be the faster yacht

Beautiful if slightly windy conditions

Jenny reading

Nicholas on duty

Our evening stop is Water Cay, and we took the southern entrance over a bar with 1.9m of water over the bar. Sojourn went around, both arriving at the same time

Anchor down in Water Cay

Sojourn at anchor

Tuesday was another early day, and we upped anchor at 6.30am to do the run to Thompson Bay / Salt Pond on Long Island. The wind was predicted to be on the nose, and we only hoisted a 3 reefed main for stability

Once again, Sojourn had left earlier than us. Unfortunately they had a breakage of their Main Sheet, causing them to drop their Main, and do the dangerous job of trying to subdue a moving boom to attach ropes and tie it fast. We went past Sojourn with them under motor and hobby horsing in the wind on the nose conditions

Anchor down in Thompson Bay, Long Island. Tomorrow we’ll go ashore to get a repair done and organize a vehicle to sightsee Long Island.