Staniel Cay

I’m falling a little behind with the posts lately.  An internet connection isn’t too hard to find, but one that lets me load pictures is.

We spent a few days anchored at Big Major’s Spot Staniel Cay.  There is room here for everyone from all the boats like us up to the huge megayachts.  We found a nice spot right off one of the beaches. 

 

A short dinghy ride took us to Staniel Cay Yacht club to tie up and a walk into town for provisions.  There isn’t a lot of choice in stores when it comes to provisions and you have to time your visit with the arrival of the mail boat.  We were lucky and the mail boat had just been the day before.  We loaded up mostly on fresh veggies and eggs.  You really miss them when they aren’t readily available.  While the prices here were better than Highbourne Cay they are still expensive, snack foods especially.  We are so glad we really stocked up in Florida.

The next morning we took a trip to the pig beach.  All the cruisers save their food scraps to feed to the pigs living here.  There were two of them there the day we went and as soon as they see you coming they swim out looking for handouts.  By the number of people we saw on the beach and the size of them, these are well fed pigs.  We started off with pieces off a less than fresh cauliflower which they wanted nothing to do with. 

 

 

 

 

 

They do like bread, but the big hit was a package of expired ham slices.  We learned not to get too close and to keep the outboard in gear.  At one point we had a pig with both hoofs and snuffling snout over the edge of the dinghy wanting to get in.  Big hoofs and an inflatable dinghy are not a good combination.  I don’t think insurance covers pig damage.  The food also attracted tons of fish.  We found that by holding scraps just below the water we had a feeding frenzy.

We got together with our friends on Majiks and Banyan for another wonderful dinner and like most cruisers, by 9pm we can barely keep our eyes open.  When there is no moon, once it’s dark, it’s really, really dark.  I pointed out to Brian the direction where I was certain our boat was anchored because the boat beside us had blue underwater lights and was easy to spot.  Once we got there I realized I had sent us totally in the wrong direction and didn’t have a clue where we were.  In an anchorage with a hundred boats in the dark they all look the same.  We did finally find our way home.

Brian took advantage of the clear water here to scrub the bottom of the boat and change the zinc on our prop.  We were given a great tip for extending the life of the zinc.  Our is held on with 3 bolts.  These bolt holes in the zinc are where they deteriorate the fastest so if you leave them too long they will just fall off.  We were told to coat the inside of the holes with nail polish before installing the zinc.  What a great idea!

While Brian was replacing the zinc on the prop I heard an awful lot of splashing as he raced up the ladder back onto the boat.  It seemed a shark had parked itself under the boat.  It was only a lemon shark about 6 feet long but I guess it startled him.   The set of allen keys were sitting on the bottom on the sand and the zinc only had 1 bolt in it.  We tried to convince the shark to move on with underwater firecrackers but he didn’t seem to get the hint. 

 

Staniel Cay Yacht Club was having a Superbowl buffet for game night.  Happy hour, then dinner and the game.  Not that we are big football fans it’s more of a social event.  During the day the wind and the waves started to build and we knew it was going to be a wet ride.  We dug out our rain gear to keep us dry on the trip over.  Brian offered me the rain pants which are a bright yellow extra large set.  Quite flattering!  When rolled up 4 times at the bottom they still came up to my armpits.  I would have worn them but thought they would keep him drier and I could wear my rain coat and a poncho.  We even kind of dressed up a little.

Once we arrived at the dinghy beach there were already a lots of boats there so we stopped in what I thought was about a foot of water.  As I stepped out into the water my foot sunk in the sand and the dinghy kept going.  I tried desperately to hang on but with my foot stuck and the momentum of the dinghy I ended up sitting chest deep in the water.  So graceful!  Ha ha!  A few handfuls of paper towels to dry off and I met the others at the bar.  I did however leave a wet butt print on everything I sat on.