Had a great sail all the way from Warderick
Wells into the anchorage at Big Majors Spot. Put in a single reef when it got up to
18 knots and we made 7.5 knots on a beam reach a good bit of the way. We
checked out Staniel Cay and the yacht club just south of our anchorage. Walked
around the town and did a little provisioning and got the propane tank refilled
(not the one for cooking just the one to run the generator for the watermaker).
Cruised by the beach with the pigs and sure enough, they swam out to the dinghy
looking for food. They are huge spotted pigs! I didn’t want them getting too
close- afraid they might take a bite out of the dinghy. We did feed them some
carrots.
 |
| Rick and Cindy from S/V Tortuga at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club |
 |
| Sharks at the docks on Staniel Cay |
 |
| The swimming pigs |
On Friday,
we snorkelled at Thunderball Grotto. It is an underwater cave that you enter at
slack low tide and there is a huge cavern inside that has holes in the top that
the sun shines through and lights up the fish swimming in the cave. It was
fantastic. Apparently they made some of the James Bond movies here
(Thunderball). The coral
outside of the cave was gorgeous too.
 |
| Sun shining into the grotto |
Apparently,
lots of celebrities come to Staniel Cay but we didn't see any. Johnny Depp owns
an island between Warderick Wells and Staniel Cay (Little Halls Pond). Didn't
see him either.
We left Big
Majors this morning and sailed to Blackpoint settlement on Guana Cay. It was
only about a 2 hour sail but started slow on a run (about 4 knots) and then
changed course and we were on a nice beam reach again doing 6 knots. Sailed
almost all the way into the anchorage area and anchored near S/V Ticket To..
who had left Bimini with us 2 weeks ago. They were just getting ready to head
out. Our other two travelling companions opted to stay in Big Majors another
day. At Blackpoint we finally had internet service so we sent out two blogs. We
had a laundry there too so we caught up on that too. We ate at Lorraine’s café
in Blackpoint and got to know Lorraine a bit. She made us some great cracked
conch and some good ribs and BBQ chicken and pigeon peas and rice (a Bahamas
staple). Also had lunch one day at Deshamon’s with a couple we met at the
laundry. Had pizza that wasn’t bad but different. The mailboat didn’t come last
week so everyone from restaurants to grocery stores were low on supplies and
choices were limited. Pretty much all of the food in the Exumas is ordered from
Nassau and comes in weekly on the supply boat. Choices are limited but
essentials are available (if they don’t run out before the supply boat comes.)
Blackpoint is a nice anchorage, much quieter than Big Major’s/ Staniel Cay.
 |
| Working on the blog at Lorraine's cafe |
 |
| Lorraine and LizAnn |
We left
Blackpoint on Tuesday, April 15 and sailed to Little Farmer’s which is just
south of Great Guana Cay where Blackpoint is. It has a tricky entrance but we
timed it to arrive near high tide and used visual piloting and the course on
our Explorer charts and got in the anchorage just fine. There was a swift
current so we decided to pick up a mooring ball which was quite a challenge
with the current pushing us one way and the wind another. We met Roosevelt at
the Little Farmer’s yacht club, He is the manager and our friends Vic and
Marilyn had told us we had to meet him. We took the dinghy over to the southern
end of Great Guana Cay just north of Oven Rock and found the path to cross over
to the ocean side. We found the path to the cave that Vic had told us about
too. The cave was huge with big stalactites and stalagmites and water running
in it. After checking out the cave (and cooling off inside of it) we continued
on to the ocean, or Exuma Sound side, and had a nice beach all to ourselves. It
was wonderful!
 |
| Signs to various places on Little Farmer's |
 |
| Sea Grapes |
 |
| Stingray near the dinghy dock at Little Farmer's |
 |
| Hiking across Great Guana Cay near Oven Rock |
 |
| View to the East (Exuma Sound) side, our private beach |
 |
| Entrance to cave |
 |
| Framed by stalactites and stalagmites |
On
Wednesday, people we had met in Bimini, Lisa and Andre and their two boys
arrived in their motor yacht, Sea Hunt IV. We went into the little town and
checked out the store which was not very well stocked (no mailboat recently)
and walked to Ty’s Sunset Bar and Grill where we met Ty, the owner and his
sister, Sherrel, the bartender and had a nice cool drink. We went back for
drinks at sunset with the crew from Sea Hunt IV and had a really nice, relaxing
evening. We were the only ones there.
 |
| Watching the sun set from Ty's Sunset Grill at Little Farmer's Cay |
