Stats for February 14, 2019

Origin: Cambridge Cay Mooring Field

Destination: Staniel Cay Anchorage

Distance: 14.6 miles

Speed: 6.8 mph

Time on the Move: 2 hours and 10 minutes

We left Warderick with a tentative plan to meet up with our friends Kent and Heather on Heartbeat for lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It just so happened that they were heading there for lunch on their way north and it was our destination for the day as we continued south. As long as we could make it by noon or so, we would get to see them and catch up on our adventures since we last saw each other in our Bird/Whale Cay Anchorage in the Berries early/mid January.

But first up on our trip south, we needed to empty our holding tanks. It is a GROSS and little known fact outside of the cruising community that the Bahamas do not have pump outs available. They are so rare that we have not yet seen a working pump out during our entire time in the Bahamas. They just don’t exist. So, as a rule, boaters travel 3 miles offshore to empty their tanks into the sea. This sounds disgusting, and it is, but at the same time, this is organic material that we are emptying into billions of gallons of moving water. From dust to dust, right? It’s where the fish go…. That’s how we have come to think of it.

Being comfortable with the idea of pumping out doesn’t make the actual emptying of the tanks any easier to handle. Most ocean boats have a special button that captains push underway that empties the tank from thru-hulls (holes) in the bottom of the boat in a matter of a minute or two. That’s it–easy peasy. Our boat, however, is a Carver that is made to be a freshwater boat. We do not have the push button to empty tanks via the thru-hulls because emptying into the Great Lakes and freshwater is illegal, so Carver does not (or did not in 1991) build that option into our boat.

This means we have to use an external pump to empty our tanks. Luckily, our amazing friend Ben let us use his homemade pump from his last trip to the Bahamas. What a great buddy to let us borrow his poop pump!! We think of him every 6 or 7 days when we pump out. We travel out to sea and attach all kinds of bright green tubes together with one end hanging down into the water and the other end hooked up to the pump (not very discreet at all!!). We run the power source up to the flybridge where we plug it in, and then flip the switch. It takes about 40 minutes, from start to finish, for us to pump out both tanks. It requires switching of the gear from one tank to the other, rinsing of the pump/tubes/deck afterwards, and then coiling it all back into the two plastic containers we keep it in. Mike wears gloves. It is not a fun process. Not to mention the fact that he has to stand out on the side of the boat for most of the time. On this day it was calm, and not such a big deal, but we have NEEDED to empty the tanks before on very wavy and windy days when standing out there is not comfortable or even very safe. And God forbid that pump go overboard! Mike dislikes the task so much that he has started paying the kids a quarter every time they poop off the boat. A restaurant/store/beach/wherever, just not in his tanks!!

But I digress… So, we were heading to Staniel Cay for lunch with empty holding tanks. We passed some big boys out there and wondered who in the world has money to buy or rent boats like that?! I like to look up the name of the boat and find out all the details about who owns it, how much it costs to rent for a week, amenities on board, etc. Helps me feel like I know my neighbors.

We dropped anchor about 11:55 am, just in time to zip over to the yacht club for lunch. Now, this yacht club is interesting, because it hosts a mix of all types of boaters. Some people are out for a day trip on a small tender, others bring boats like ours into the yacht club, while others park their mega yachts there for a while. Everyone is welcome, and you don’t have to be all fancy to go.

The yacht club has a pretty good reputation as being a fun gathering place for people who vacation on the cay and boaters alike. We hadn’t seen a restaurant for WEEKS (seriously, like haven’t even seen one), so we were super excited to give it a try. The boating memorabilia and fun colors, as well as packed bar (packed as in at least a dozen people!) and music, just added to our excitement and the island vibe.

It started to rain just as our lunch date was ending, and Heartbeat was on a schedule, so they took off. INNTW chose to sit out the rain with a rum punch or two because we were already at our destination for the day.

The rain passed quickly, and I did some shopping in their gift shop and then wandered outside. As I walked outside, I was very surprised to see Mike and the boys walking down the steps to the area where people swim with nurse sharks. At first they were just watching from the top step, but soon, they were in the water and nurse sharks were swimming just in front of them.

While swimming with nurse sharks is a popular thing to do here, they can bite. I don’t think I realized the boys were going to be so excited to jump right in the water with them, so I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, but I did not want to stifle their curiosity. Colin really wanted to touch one, but in the end, I don’t think he ever quite got there before I convinced them to give it up.

We moved INNTW from the anchorage by the yacht club around the corner to Pig Beach. Many people have heard of the “swimming pigs” and are thrilled by the thought of pigs on a beach. I didn’t really think it was that exciting when I first heard about it. Then months ago, while I was researching for our trip, I started hearing stories of how they can be aggressive and bite people because they are expecting food. However, this is one of the big attractions to Staniel, and the anchorage here is a beautiful, protected harbor filled with cruisers, so it’s the perfect spot. As soon as the kids could see the pigs from our boat, they were totally psyched about getting to pig beach. We watched a few tour boats head over and feed them, and they just couldn’t wait any longer, so we decided to head over for some before dinner pig time.

While we were watching the pigs from our boat, I noticed some of them would walk right up to dinghies approaching the beach and one pig actually climbed right inside a dinghy. These piggies are hungry!! I was awfully nervous about landing on the beach, as demonstrated in this video, but it all worked out in the end. We didn’t bring any food with us, so once we showed them our bare hands they usually left us alone.

We headed back to the boat for dinner, but we promised the kids we would visit the pigs again the next day. We were treated to this beautiful sunset before fried egg sandwiches for dinner.

Notice how that sailboat in those sunset pictures looks awfully close to us?? It is a gold looper (meaning they’ve already finished the loop) from Algonac, Michigan, right down the way from our home port of Harrison Township. It was also floating way too close to us. They weren’t that close when we anchored, but it was so calm (no wind and no current) that everyone was just kind of floating around over their anchors in an unpredictable fashion. Well, in the middle of dinner, just after it was mostly dark, I noticed their lights were actually on the other side of our boat–their boat moved from one side of us to the other! This made us very nervous because we didn’t want to be so close that we could bump into each other in the night. Not a great way to meet your neighbor. We contemplated what to do for a while and then ended up pulling up our anchor and moving a little further out to a new spot–in the dark. We broke my rule of not anchoring in the dark, but after we were set in our new spot, we felt much better not to be shaking hands with anyone.

We woke up to the calmest water we have seen yet in the Bahamas. The water was perfectly clear and the surface was just like glass. It was so peaceful, and beautiful, and hot. It was a perfect morning to go paddleboarding, so Mike and I took off while the kids watched some morning cartoons.

I didn’t dare bring my camera paddleboarding because there were a lot of nurse sharks swimming around, and I thought that was enough to keep me feeling wiggly on the board, let alone worrying about my camera, too! We paddled over to Beauty, the sailboat we’d switched places with the night before and explained the situation. It was great to talk to them about home and all of their sailing adventures. They even posted about us on their blog!!

After our paddle, the tide was just about at slack which was perfect timing for us to snorkel through Thunderball Grotto. Thunderball Grotto is the name of a James Bond movie that was filmed partly at this location, and I believe there is another Bond movie that features Thunderball as well. It looks like a big rock from the outside, but after you sneak through a small space at the edge, the rock opens up into a giant cavern with fish and coral all around.

I was impressed right from the very beginning when we were getting our gear on because the tender captains who were waiting patiently outside kept announcing what wildlife they could see from their boat. Rays, turtles, and sharks were all swimming around right outside the grotto. I was so impressed that Tobin swam right over to see a shark when someone announced they could see one from their boat. I was thankful I wasn’t in the water yet, but he wasn’t scared one bit!

Be sure to check out the snorkeling video with footage from Thunderball that I added to the Norman’s Cay post!!

We headed back to the pigs in the afternoon. The kids were begging to go back. This time we were determined to see them actually swim. We also brought some food scraps with us, and let me tell you, that just complicates things. The pigs rush you for the food and then more pigs start running over. It was terrifying! Poor Tobin threw a whole handful of french fries in the water when one pig started coming after him. It was a little scarier of a visit for all of us when food was around, but the piglets sure were cute!!

After a quick swim at a neighboring beach (with no pigs and no sharks!) we headed back to relax and enjoy the sunset. The kids watched a show while Mike and I had sundowners on the bow. We couldn’t resist taking a picture of this fellow cruiser fishing from his bow. Just perfect!!

Before heading out of Staniel, we needed to pick up some groceries, so we dinghied into town.

There are 2 grocery stores in town. Pink and Blue. We went to both, but Pink wasn’t getting her shipment in for a few more days. We bought a $10 honeydew and $10 grapes at Blue, along with about $150 worth of other goodies. We were excited about the fresh food, but man was it expensive!!

Just before we were leaving the harbor this sea plane landed and drove straight to pig beach. After getting his guests all set up feeding the pigs, the pilot got a hammock out, set it up under a wing, and took a little siesta. The good life.

Thanks for reading and following along!! We had a whirlwind 2 nights here filled with awesome adventures!

Our champagne lunch on the swim platform, toasting new experiences and having the guts to break out of the norm, even if just for a little while!!