Crew Log for January 16th, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Between the Majors to Staniel Cay
• Trip Distance of 1.3 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 2,777 NM
• Departed at 09h00, arrived at 09h20
We have been on anchor for 11 days since we left the Grand Bahama Yacht Club on January 6th. Other than a brief stop to top up our way and fuel in Highbourne Cay, we have been essentially been hanging out in remote anchorages away from any development. We were looking forward to getting to Staniel Cay to top up our fluids and do some reprovisioning.
Staniel Cay island is located in the center of the Exuma Cays. It is located 75 miles (120km) southeast of Nassau and 48 miles (77km) from Great Exuma, the largest of the Exuma islands. Staniel Cay’s main attraction are the original swimming pigs at Big Major Island, although I admittedly struggle to understand their popularity. The Thunderball Grotto, the site of the James Bond Movie and a couple of other Hollywood movies such as Splash, is also right next to Staniel. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club is also a popular spot for a dozen or more Nurse Sharks who seem to perform on command and a popular hand out for cruisers.
Despite being a short trip from “Between the Majors” to the anchorage at Staniel Cay, it wasn’t to be taken lightly. We’d have to navigate the currents around the cut and avoid a menacing pile of rocks in the approach. The anchorages close to Staniel Cay have been reported to have poor holding and are exposed to winds out of the south and west. We were told to look for a good patch of sand to drop the hook.
Willow was anchored just behind Thunderball Grotto and reported good holding and an area big enough for a couple of boats. They planned to be here for the week while Kay worked, and like us, were looking for something close to “town”. Big Majors is the most popular anchorage, but with our 4 hp dinghy, it would be a wet 45 minute commute, one way.
Safely anchored, our first task was to refill our water tanks. You can join the lineup for the fuel dock with the big boat or “jug it” with 5 gallon jugs in the dinghy. There is a strong current the flows past the fuel dock so there is an added challenge to maintain your place in line, while avoiding the other boats, including very large super yachts, tied to the face dock.
When we arrived at the fuel dock the dockmaster dropped the water hose down to us, 10 feet below, and we filled the jugs right in the dinghy. Fortunately, we only need 27 gallons, which only required a couple of trips. Most of the water here is Reverse Osmosis (RO), which is desalinated sea water. While it is free in some places, Staniel Cay Yacht Club charges US$0.50 per gallon, which we don’t mind paying, given it is very safe and good quality.
One upgrade we did ponder over before leaving, was installing our own water maker on Elizabeth M. With our solar capacity, we can maintain the battery levels on anchor, but with our limited tank capacity for fresh water, we are restricted in how remote we can go. Given our plan was to stay relatively close to civilization, I struggled with the economics of paying over US$8,000 for a water maker. That said, water is not always as readily available as it is in Staniel Cay in many places in the Bahamas.
With the water tanks full, we headed to shore and made our way to the Pink Store and Blue Store, the main options for reprovisioning. Staniel Cay is a pretty small place and so getting anywhere here is a relatively short walk. We have never been here before and so any knowledge I had of the place came from watching YouTube videos. As we walked down the street away from the Yacht Club, I grinned and casually asked a couple walking by, if they could point us in the direction of “downtown”. The women was obviously confused with the question since there is no “downtown”. There is a Pink Store and a Blue Store. That’s it. Trying to be as helpful as she could, she asked her husband where “downtown” was. He grunted and pointed up a street. We decided to go the opposite direction, to add to the confusion.
The first thing you notice about Staniel Cay, is that it is small. While it was generally free from “rubbish”, the homes are modest and most yards are full of treasures or “another man’s junk”. You never know when that broken down golf cart or outboard motor might come in handy. Looking past that, the other thing that strikes you immediately is the strong sense of community that exists here. Everyone knows everyone. There are clusters of people of all ages interacting with one another under the shade of a tree, or walking down the road.
Literally everything required on the island comes in on the mail boat, once a week. When the mail boat is in, the shops are closed, and if you happen to arrive at the end of the week, finding fresh fruit and vegetables, propane or other items might be difficult. Everyone complains about the prices. You are not going to starve, but you may have to adjust your meal plans. A pineapple for example in Staniel Cay costs US$14 and apples were US$2 each. Most of the meat and fish is frozen. We were surprised that finding fresh seafood in an island nation was next to impossible.
Our expectations were pretty low, given that just about everyone felt you had to “rough it” until you got to Georgetown, where there was more selection. However, we were pleasantly surprised with the selection in both stores, and in fact, we ate pretty well. Mind you, we didn’t buy the US$10 bag of Lays potato chips or the pineapple.
We did splurge and had lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It was a very busy place with people coming and going throughout the day and, we always saw someone we had met before. They make a great burger and fries, although we declined to order the rum punch with it, which apparently is also famous.
The next morning we timed our visit to Thunderball Grotto with low tide. While it made it easier to get in and out of the grotto, it was also the busiest time to go. In addition to the boaters, there were big tour groups that also came during low tide. We spent quite a bit if time in the grotto looking at the fish, however there were moments where all we could see was bums and kicking legs.
Thunderball Grotto is an underwater cave system filled with marine life and brilliantly colored coral reefs and fish, like yellow-tail snappers, Angel fish, Sergeant Majors and the like. The entrance to the grotto is small and hidden at all times other than low tide. There is a natural skylight that has been produced by erosion, which allows sunlight to snake in from the holes above, lighting up the turquoise waters. It is a pretty cool experience, even with bums in your face.
We moved the boat out to an anchorage south of Big Majors to get out of the swells coming through the cut. Given this was likely as close as we’d get to “Pig Beach”, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Spoiler alert, we are still confused.
Swimming pigs can be found all over the Bahamas. These pigs reside on various islands in this territory including Eleuthera, Rose Island, Abaco, and Ship Channel Cay, but the main island where you can find swimming pigs in the Bahamas is Big Major Cay. The pigs on Big Major Cay (Pig Beach) are considered the ‘original swimming pigs’ of The Bahamas. Tour boats travel to and from Pig Beach constantly through the day and it is not uncommon to see mega yachts anchored off Big Major, tendering guests in to see the star attraction.
Judy and I both worked in agriculture for most of our professional careers. One of Judy's former projects was to help create public awareness for agriculture through an "Open Farm Day" program, where the public were encouraged to visit a local farm. It was popular, but something tells me people are more interested in seeing "agriculture" in a less natural environment. Not that different I suppose from a circus or aquarium.
There are about 20 pigs living on the beach and they will swim out to your dinghy to retrieve food thrown in the water. We heard many reports of people getting bit in the ass as they retreated away from the overly aggressive pigs and other stories of punctured dinghies from pigs trying to climb aboard. We didn’t bring food, but we did brave going ashore for a visit. I am still not sure what to think about the whole thing, other than people seem to be fascinated with pigs on a beach, so why not, if it creates commerce for the locals.
Aside from the challenges of provisioning in the remote islands of the Exumas, there is also the challenge of what to do with your garbage. The Exuma Park operates on a strict, "pack it in, pack it out" principal, which is fine, but we still needed to get rid of it. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club would take your garbage for US$6 per bag, or you could walk it up to the dump yourself for free. All the garbage here is burned, which I expect is the lesser of the evils.
We were planning to head back up into the Exuma Land and Sea Park, to explore the places we missed on the way down, when we were running for cover from the westerlies. Before we left, we made another visit to the Blue Store for some last minute provisions. We chatted with the lady who owned the store and found out her daughter was away studying business management, a discipline near and dear to me. It turned out she was studying in Sudbury, Ontario of all places. Apparently she was looking for an adventure, which I expect she was getting!
We were leaving in the morning, so we dropped over to say good bye to Willow since we weren’t sure when we’d see them again. We enjoyed a quiet evening watching the sun go down, before taking a wet ride back to Elizabeth M.
The wind picked up overnight, enough to blow a rubber mat off the deck. The anchorage also became uncomfortable with the swells from the southern winds. We planned to go to Shroud Cay, which was at the northern end of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Our friends on Anodyne and NoMastE were there, and the dinghy ride through the mangrove was reported to be amazing.
But more about that, next time.
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