Cruising the Exumas

March 9 - 24

Bananaquit - or known as "sugarbird"

The Exumas are chain of many islands or "Cays" that run Northwest to Southeast.  The body of water on the east side is Exuma sound which is deep blue water.  We cruised down the west side on the Exuma Banks which is more protected but can be shallow and has many reefs to avoid.  So navigation is really important requiring frequent checking of charts and talking to other cruisers.  We feel so lucky to be "buddy-boating" with Ginny and Jesse, as they have done this before.  We didn't go to all the cays - there are a lot! - but feel we saw a lot.  The water color and clarity cannot be beat - just beautiful.

Typical water color

We visited Staniel Cay for a few days and one of the highlights is to go to the beach where wild pigs live in the bushes.

Pig attack !  Going after Ginny and Jesse.

They swim out to get food - i took apple cores and carrots. They have been known to try to crawl from the water into dinghies - I threw my food !

A face only a mother can love.

Going on a dinghy tour of small uninhabited Exuma cays with Ward & Richard, Ginny and Jesse.
We are evaluating the swift water running through the cut.
Some of them are owned by celebrities such as Johnny Depp and David Copperfield, but we did not see those.

Getting ready to snorkel Thunder ball Cave, made famous in the James Bond movie 

A typical street on Staniel Cay.  There are two small grocery stores, this is the "Blue Store"
The mail boat comes every 1-2 weeks to bring fresh provisions and everyone makes sure they get there before they are all gone.  The abundance in the US always amazes us when we get back home.

Ok, enough pigs - How about some crazy people in the water with a bunch of nurse sharks?
The sharks congregate there to get fish carcasses from the fish cleaning stand.

Outside the cave.  We saw some amazing coral and fish but my camera did not work.
Swimming into the cave is easy at low tide but high tide you have to go underwater.  Inside is a beautiful grotto.

One of our favorite places at Black Point in the Exumas was Lorraines.  this is her mother, who makes delicious coconut bread every day.

The "Pink Store" on Staniel Cay.   The stores were very dimly lit to conserve electricity.

Cruisers happy hour on the beach
Very informal, bring your own drink and snacks.

Jesse, Ray, and Mike from "Goose Bumps" at the cruisers happy hour

Girls at happy hour.

An uninvited but welcome guest at happy hour

Another species frequently seen in the Exumas is the mega yacht - owned by billionaires, these babies cost many millions .
And the fuel bills per week run into the many thousands of $$$

 

These mega yachts rafted up together with their toys tied alongside.
Their dinghies probably cost as much as our sailboat.

Windblown ( It never stops!),, sun in the eyes, but having a good time.

Mahi mahi - wish we could catch one half this size.  this fisherman from Michigan did give us a smaller one and fixed it on the boat - delicious

Dinghy landing on Staniel Cay - we are going out to lunch.  Just drive through the stone breakwater and haul it up on the sand.  

Another - and most common way - to get ashore is to climb the ladder.  In this case it is low tide and the ladders have a tendacy to bend inward.  Then you have to hand up or down whatever you are carrying - provisions, garbage, etc.
We also have to take our propane tanks in to have filled periodically - or no cooking.

A happy meal onboard Megerin