Staniel Cay, Exumas

Feb 14th – Feb 22nd

Staniel Cay is a mile marker for us since this is the most Southern port we visited in our 2006 trip to the Bahamas. Engine trouble made it impossible for us to continue that trip. Staniel has an awful lot of things to offer the visiting cruiser. From Swimming Pigs to Grottos to snorkel, there is always something to do.

This trip, our highlights were the good friends we met. We happened to arrive on the day of the Valentine’s Day festival which raises money for the library. Jennie was thick into the festival when she took over running the bingo. Ally aka “Lucky” struck again by winning the prized electric guitar.

During the festival, the girls made a new friend, Ella. She was visiting with her mom (Kathy) and Dad (Paul) from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The girls became inseparable from Ella, so we shared many adventures during our stay. Ella and her family were staying at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC). The SCYC is the center of activity in Staniel Cay. This is where the boats bring in their catch for cleaning.

Not only is the SCYC of interest to yachtsman, but sharks and stingrays swarm around the dock. Here are some pictures of Emma, Ally and Ella feeding the sharks.

Since it was Valentine’s Day, the Snead family decided to go out for a nice dinner at The Thunderball Club. Owners, Brian and Coral, were gracious hosts and we had a great meal.

One of the neatest features of Staniel Cay is the Thunderball Grotto. Many people will recognize this natural grotto from the 007 movie “Thunderball”. At low tide, you swim into a cave that opens into a large chamber with streaming sunlight and swarms of fish. We carried in stale crackers to feed the fish. They literally attack you and nibble at you when the food is released. Unfortunately, the first time our brand new digital underwater camera saw water, it got scared and blew a fuse, so we have limited pictures. If we get more from our Michigan friends, we will post them.

Next up, the swimming pigs. That’s right, swimming pigs! Right around the corner from Staniel Cay is Big Major’s Spot. This is the home of the swimming pigs. You dinghy up to the beach and all of the sudden pigs start lumbering down to the water looking for handouts. If you stand off the beach, they will go into the water and swim out to the dinghy for free food.

After several days of being anchored in front of Staniel Cay Yacht Club, we moved to a mooring to ride out a front passage. While paying the mooring fee at Club Thunderball, Brian met Chad and LeeAnn from “Cambyration”. They were on Staniel to get married. Only, they didn’t know where or when exactly. Brian asked if the Sneadfamily could come to the wedding and that the girls would love it. They promised to call us on the radio the next morning to tell us where the blessed event would occur.

Jennie could hardly believe that we were invited to the wedding, but sure enough, the next morning, “Cambyration” called with the location and time. The girls were to become the Junior Bridesmaid (Emma) and Flower Girl (Ally).

Before the time for the wedding, we had lunch plans with another visiting family on Staniel Cay. Brian had met them when he had taken the dinghy 3 islands away to get gas for the dinghy and generator. The family was from Montana and visits Staniel Cay every two years for vacation. After a most enjoyable lunch, the girls went out to play. They came across a neighbor that had a beautiful flower garden. She put together bouquets and provided loose petals for Ally and Emma to throw at the wedding.

The Snead’s were the first to arrive at the beach wedding. Next, Chad arrived and began to memorize his vowels. LeeAnn had written hers earlier, but Chad, being a guy, waited to the last moment. The funny thing was that at the service, Chad had his vowels, but LeeAnn had forgotten to bring hers. Oh well, the wedding was a great success.

Following the wedding, Chad and LeeAnn invited us to attend the reception at Club Thunderball. It was movie & pasta buffet night. If getting married on a tropic island with no fixed date, minister, location or guest list sounds strange, add to it that the first dance was between the groom and the Snead girls.

The next day, our good friends Kathy, Paul and Ella planned a beach day on Pirate Beach. The girls played and played. A fort has been constructed of all types of debris that has washed up from the Atlantic. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch under yet another flawless Bahamian sky.

The one thing you can say about Paul and Kathy is that they go at vacation 100%. From squirt gun battles, fashion shows to group wrestling, you never knew what was coming next. Every time we would dinghy up to get the girls, there would be this hysterical screaming and laughing coming from the waterfront villa. (Kathy, if you are reading this, Jennie still wants you to come visit!)

True to form, Paul was out exploring the island when he happened upon a beach at the end of the runway that was perfect for a cookout. Next, what shall we cook? Paul managed to get some lobsters (uncooked) out of the Staniel Cay Yacht Club kitchen. We still had some from our fishing in the Berries. With baked potatoes and salad, the meal was awesome. We talked a couple we met at dinner the night before to join us. They are a professional dance team from Russia. It is just amazing all the people you meet out here.

Leaving Staniel is hard for us. We have met so many warm wonderful people here. But, it is time to move on. Next stop – Black Point.

Normans Cay - Superbowl & Good Friends

"Welcome to Normans Cay" says it all. This is one of our favorite stops. Back in 2006, this was our last stop in the Exumas before heading back to Nassau and then the US.

On our last trip, we were very fortunate to arrive in Normans on the weekly potluck dinner on Friday night. Here we made some new friends "Steve, Juana and Conner(6)". Although MacDuffs was closed at the time, Stephan, Chris and Beth (the new business owners) made us feel welcome. Fast forward to 2009 and we accidently arrived on Superbowl Sunday, but once again, it turned out great. "The Beach Club at MacDuffs" is alive and well and was having a Superbowl party with all the residents of Normans Cay. This turned out to be a great time and we made lots of new friends.

Emma and Ally immediately caught up with Conner and made a new "Best" friend Leon. Isn't it funny how they couldn't remember Conner 5 minutes before they met him again, but then they were best friends for life 5 minutes later.

During the Superbowl party, the 4 kids started a "fresh coconut" company.

As fate would have it, the Satellite feed died with 53 seconds remaining in the game. So, we ended up not knowing who won until the following day. What an ending! We couldn't believe we missed it.

The following day, we moved around from MacDuffs to the Pond. This is protected from all directions and allowed us to ride out the upcoming fronts. From here, we had a front row seat watching the construction of our new friends Bruce and Kelly's new house. We ended up anchoring next to Doug and Debbie on the catamaran "Perigee". Jennie was in heaven to have the girls (Juana, Debbie and Kelly) to walk, run and bike with. Here is a picture of the "Girls" not looking too sweaty!

If you know Jennie, you know that she is an explorer at heart. Her daughters are a chip of the same block. So, they were determined to take the dinghy all the way to the South side of the island for lunch - the trip is an obstacle course of shallows. This turned into an episode right out of "Gilligans Island". The episode ended with a daring nightime rescue from almost all the resident men on the island. Bruce generously donated his boat and the nighttime rescue was underway. We found the wayward ladies exhausted and stuck in the sand somewhere behind "Boot Cay". Everyone was fine and now we have a great story to tell. My special thanks to Bruce, Steve and Jason for their heroic efforts.

During our time in Normans Cay, we ended up having a full moon. This turned out to be yet another excuse to get every single soul on the island together for a party. Our friends, Steve and Juana, have named their house "Full Moon", so how could we not have a celebration. The winds this night were pipping up close to 30 knots at "Full Moon", so the venue was moved to Bruce and Kelly's "The Nest". Here we were treated to pictures of the flight in Corky's plane earlier that day from Normans to Georgetown. Corky and Nancy visit Normans regularly from the states and doubled as an air taxi service while we were there. Here are pictures of Corky with the full moon and his awesome Piper Seneca.

During our stay, Ally fell in love with her passion of reading. Her new favorite books are Harry Potter. She consumes them. Emma is still diligently trying to document every detail of our trip in her journal. I think she is still writing about every animal in the Miami Zoo over a month ago.

While playing with Conner, Ally got the first injury on Normans. It was a good one. She fell off the stairs onto some rock below - breaking the fall with her chin.

Conner has upgraded his hiding spot to a 12 foot high tree house that OSHA would have a real problem with. The girls thought it was awesome.

Well, Normans Cay was definitely a highlight for the Sneadfamily! The island has a long and varied past with drug running from Columbia, failed developments, plane crashes. Now it is a warm and welcoming island.

Hi to all our friends. It was sad to leave.

Next stop, Warderwick Wells. . . .

Berry Islands - Devils - Hoffmans Cay

We were sad to leave our friends on Great Harbor Cay, but we can't stay in one piece of paradise for ever. Try explaining this to Emma and Ally. They never want to leave where we currently are. But, we entice them with what is to come at the next anchorage.

The passage down The Berry Islands to Devils Cay was great. We were back out in the Northwest Passage in deep water, so we threw the trolling lines in and the excitement began. We didn't have time to pull in the first fish before the next hit the line. In all, we caught 2 Gray Snappers, 1 Grouper and 1 King Mackerel. We released the Mackerel, but kept the others. Don't think that this was an easy job. At first, we had no idea what type of fish we had caught or whether they were safe to eat. Our fish identification book was of little use because it was mostly identifying reef fish. But, we finally pieced it together from other guides on board.

Since then, we have been eating tons of fresh fish. Jennie found a great recipe and prepared the snapper with garlic, ginger, basil, hot pepper and soy. We grilled it for a great dinner. The next day, we cooked the remainder of the snapper, that had been marinating all night, over a bonfire on a palm studded beach for an awesome lunch.

But, before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to let you know about our arrival and first night. After the snapper dinner, we retired to the beach for a bonfire and smores. The girls had collected the firewood during the afternoon. We were the only boat within miles and the sky without light noise pollution was studded with millions of stars. The weather has been pretty consistent with perfect temperatures, a few fluffy clouds, nice breeze, awesome sunsets and no rain.

The next morning, we decided to explore White Cay.

This is the small island were were anchored behind. Here is a great shot of the girls out on a towering pillar of rock off the seaward side of the island.

We moved Miakoda around to the back side of Devils Cay to be more protected from the surge and found a beautiful little beach with palm trees full of coconuts. After harvesting some fresh coconut, we cooked the remaining snapper on a bonfire. For dinner this night, we made fresh grouper fish fingers.

The next day, we decided to explore Hoffmans Cay where there is a blue hole. This was a real highlight. After a short hike up a hillside covered with trees, you arrive at a cliff towering over a deep blue lake. This is extremely deep and sheer. You can jump off the cliff into the beautiful water. It was too high for the girls, but Brian jumped several times and even Jen overcame her fear and did the jump!!It is a little unnerving with the water being so deep that it seems to go on forever.

Of course, after working up an appetite swimming, Jennie made some great lobster salad. For dinner at Hoffmans, we found a recipe for curried lobster - to die for!

Next order of business, find some Internet. We have been without cellphone or Internet for several days now. Finally, we picked up a signal on a nearby island and have moved there to update the blog. Our plan is to post these updates and then move on south to Whale Cay tonight and leave at the crack of dawn for Nassau on Friday.

Until then . . .