Today, we decided to explore Staniel Cay before Dave started working on the generator. If he decided he needed a part, we wanted to know what was available. When we left the boat in our dinghy, we motored near a beach on Big Majors Spot that has ferrel pigs. They were lying on the beach and stepped into the water, but didn’t swim up to our boat, like you see in all the pictures.
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| so much for swimming pigs |
The dinghy dock for the Staniel Cay Yacht Club was in a little bay. There was a fish cleaning station on the shore on a concrete retaining wall. Well, that fish cleaning station brings in a lot of sharks and stingrays. There had to be a dozen nurse sharks in clear water only about 4-6 feet deep. It was strange having them so near to you in the dinghy. But they were fun to watch.
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| a little too close for comfort |
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| feeding frenzy |
We had a great breakfast at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Then we walked into the town a ways and found a grocery store, some rental cottages, some homes, and a couple closed restaurants. We decided not to go further, but head back to the boat. Back at the yacht club, we visited with a couple from St Petersburg, FL. They were here for the second year renting cottages with 2 other couples. They said the cottages included a meal plan for the 2 of them for 3 meals a day and a skiff motor boat all for about $300 a night. And they could drive to Ft Lauderdale to fly here.
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| beautiful streets |
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| the major islands have a clinic, but I have only seen dentists in the bigger communities, Nassau and Marsh Harbor |
We headed back to the boat so Dave could get started on the generator. It is in the starboard lazarette in the cock pit. We store a lot of things in there, so the first task is getting all those things out of the way, again. Then Dave crawled down in the lazarette. There was a pile of salt from where the sea water evaporated. So after cleaning that up with a shop vac, he could see the leak. He sealed that and the generator ran beautifully. Way to go Dave! So we ran the water maker. Now one of the pumps on the water maker didn’t want to run. Dave just had to prime it with some water so it could draw the water through the hose as usual. So while the water maker was running, we put on the snorkel gear and cooled off in the water. The water was actually warm, but it helped that the generator and the water maker were dumping warm water overboard. Dave took a tool with him to check all the through hulls. He found some barnacles growing in them and was able to clear them. We stayed close to the boat for 2 reasons. One is that there is a lot of boat traffic in this anchorage. And the other is because of the sharks. Even though nurse sharks probably won’t bother you, it’s still makes me a little nervous. It was pretty hot and little breeze, so it was worth it to get cooled off.
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| inside the lazarette working on the generator |
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| crystal clear water like a swimming pool |
After showers and dinner, we decided to go to the yacht club for a Saturday night out. We saw the couple from St Petersburg again and visited with them. They were about 15-20 years younger than us, but he had all kinds of questions about living aboard a boat, leaving your home, etc. We met another cruising couple that were older than us. All 3 guys were named Dave. The other two Dave’s had been in the Navy. And Dave Roth had been in the Navy Reserve while I was in Dental School. So we had lots of stories to share. It was a fun evening. Getting back into the dinghy surrounded by sharks with a few beers in me was a little scary, but went fine. This was actually the first time we had gone back to the boat in our dinghy after dark in about a year, except for picking up Joe and Erin in Nassau harbor.
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