We arrived in Big Majors after an uneventful, good sail. You have to have a few good sails to even out the terrible ones. It reminds us of one of the reasons why we are doing this!
The bay is big but was packed with all shapes and sizes of boats, and it was shallow! We tend to stick to the fringes of an anchorage, especially when it is busy, but there were so many big super yachts anchored on the outside that we had to venture in front of them. Andrew manoevered his way skillfully through the throng and found a good spot to drop anchor.
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| Fishing boat |
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| Helicopter ride? |
I dropped the anchor into the purest blue water and watched as it hooked on the white sand below. After tidying up the boat we dropped the dinghy and went across to see the pigs. It is a famous spot, but I found it quite underwhelming. There was one poor pig who clearly had a lame hind leg. There were lots of piglets on the island and a big sign up saying don’t pick up the piglets. A few other people on the beach looked like they had arrived with the tourist boats with kids who were picking up the poor piglets! We didn’t go too close as we didn’t want them in the dinghy or damaging the dingy. They don't swim out too far, but are very keen to see if you have food for them.
I might do a short of the video I took which I will upload on our YouTube channel. Keep a lookout for that one.
Later Andrew and I went ashore to find the shop and the rubbish bin. We didn’t have to walk as far as the day before. On the way we saw some Laughing Gulls. We were wondering when they were going to make an appearance. Someone had asked on FB and another chap had said not before 15th March. Well, they were right on time.
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| Laughing Gulls |
The first shop, called Burkes, or the Blue Store, was shut with people waiting outside, so we went to the second shop called The Pink Pearl. It wasn’t huge but we found some fresh stuff and eggs. No meat, so we went to Burkes, which was tiny! The owner was limiting the number of people into the shop. We stood in the queue and shopped at the same time. We still didn’t find any meat but were told by another cruiser standing in the queue, that the Pink Pearl had some in one of the fridges. So we ditched the queue and went back there.
Meat had just been delivered between the time we had left, waiting for our turn at the other shop and coming back. We happily stocked up for the next few days, draining the bank account!
On the way back to the dinghy we stopped at the bottle store/ laundromat and asked about wine. She only had 750ml bottles of wine for more than $25 each and a case of beer was $70. We left without making a purchase.
The following morning we woke early and went to Thunderball Grotto, which was a short dinghy ride away. Laura and I were a bit nervous as we had been told that we would need to dive through a hole to get inside. I don't like small spaces, caves, or dark underwater spaces!!
Our worries were for naught. We went as the tide was going out so we were able to swim through the opening easily. It was amazing. It is a huge cave with porthole type openings underwater. Usually it is very busy but we were the only people there!
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| Entrance to Thunderball Grotto |
Thunderball Grotto is featured in two Bond movies, Thunderbolt (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983) as well as two other movies, Splash and Into the Blue.
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| Laura starfish |
Back on the boat, we were enjoying a lazy Saturday while a nurse shark swam around our boat. No more swimming for us that day! Isn't that water just the best?!
The day charter/water taxi power boats come speeding through the anchorage at full speed. Sadly, a woman was killed by one a few weeks after we had been here. She and her husband were in their dinghy and were coming round the corner from Staniel Cay. The powerboat either didn't see them or was playing chicken. The husband said every time he tried to turn away from the boat, it mimicked his movements. I wouldn't be surprise if the guy was on his phone and not looking where he was going. He rammed into the dinghy, killing the woman and seriously injuring the man. So crazy, and so avoidable!
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| Speeding boat!! |
We left Staniel Cay at 8am on Sunday morning and had a slow sail to Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. It was a beautiful sail with a 12 knot wind, coming from behind us.
We anchored in very shallow water, miles away from the shore, but that’s ok. We were too nervous to go closer in case we hit the bottom. The following day we went ashore and our mission was two-fold. We had to pay our fee to the Land and Sea Park, which we were happy to do, and to go for a walk. We were very impressed with the Parks office and the surrounding beach and sea.
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| Payment for the mooring ball in the box |
We walked to the top of a hill where people leave their boat name on a plank. We didn't leave our mark but enjoyed looking for the boats we recognized.
The following day the weather turned nasty. Next thing we knew the wind had picked up to above 60 knots. It stayed in the forties for most of the storm which lasted a good hour. I think it was more than a squall. Andrew was in the cockpit and felt the wind picking up. We turned on the instruments and started the engine, just in case we dragged. It eventually passed and we could heave a sigh of relief.
We left the park the following morning and sailed to Warderick Wells, on Norman’s Cay.
The weather was good, so we dropped the dinghy and went to find the sunken plane. It was so shallow we could stand on the plane and our shoulders were out the water.
The story about the plane varies but the gist of it is that the plane was being used to smuggle illegal goods into the US. It was coming in to land at Norman's Cay to refuel and didn't make the runway. It was so shallow that the pilot and his passengers were able to swim ashore with their loot. There are many stories around the history of the plane, but none of them really match up. Nobody is saying what really happened and who the plane belonged to. It did make for a wonderful snorkel with lots of pretty fish swimming in the wreck.
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| Screenshots from our GoPro footage |
There was bad weather coming so we upped anchor early the following morning and headed to Nassau. It was a long 8 hour sail with a few stressful moments when we had to sail through a field of bommies.
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| Field of bommies |
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| Dark patch is a bommie |
Andrew did brilliantly and we managed to avoid them all. I must say I said a few prayers to the sea gods to keep us safe!
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| Nassau |
In the next installment we stay in Nassau for far too long, dodging weather and other boats, meeting up with friends we met in St Martin, and stocking up in a wonderful supermarket.
