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 - Staniel Cay

Tuesday morning we left with a good breeze blowing, and we rounded the North of Bimini to Cross the Bahamas Bank. Making good progress.

Nicholas put his large line out and a couple of hours later we heard the reel go

Nicely caught but unfortunately a Barracuda, so it went back into the sea

The Mackie Shoal Light. It was almost dusk and we could not see any light. Last year it was not working so assume it’s still Out of Order.

We arrived mid morning to visit Staniel Cay, and anchored in the lee of Fowl Cay.

We dinghied to Big Majors Pigs Beach to see the swimming Pigs, but they were not interested in swimming out to us, and the onshore wind made landing our dinghy on their beach too risky with the chance of being swamped by a wave, so we just took photos of them on the beach,

We then continued onto Staniel, but the wind and choppy seas just resulted in Jenny and I getting quite soaked, and the Dinghy dock was no where to be seen. Again the small beach where a few dinghies were pulled up out of the surf, is not suitable for our big dinghy. She’s just too big and heavy to pull up or down the beach. So we admitted defeat and returned to Meshugga. Tomorrow is another day.

Next day, the wind had died considerably and Nicholas had found the Public Government dock, so we went to Staniel again.

At the Government Dock, we found 3 Nurse sharks hanging around in the shallows.

The painted sign at the Government Dock

Lindsay’s Boutique where we were able to buy a Courtesy Bahamian Flag, as I’ve not painted one yet this year, and last years Flag is wind torn and an insult to the Bahamians to fly.

We walked around the island, and these are some sights we saw

Beautiful beaches even in an onshore wind

Coconut trees galore, but remember that every tree on the island belongs to someone, so you can’t just go picking coconuts or any other fruit

We then found our way to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Gift Shop

Fuel Jetty

The main Club house Restuarant

The Yacht Club Accomodation Rooms

Jenny on the docks

The Bahamian Flag flying from the Flag Pole

The dingy beach area for yachts to come ashore to the club

We had a coffee on the patio so Jenny could smoke

On our walk back to the dinghy, we stopped at the Pink Pearl Super Market

Jenny blending into the Pink Pearl 

Map of Staniel Cay Village