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| Welcome to Staniel Cay |
We finally pried ourselves away from Wardrick Wells. It was my favorite place so far. There was so much to see and do and it was our first chance to get to do some snorkeling. The water is getting warmer every day.
We anchored out at Bell Island where we snorkeled at a place called Coral Reef Sea Aquarium. It was as beautiful as the name sounds and it did seem like you were swimming in a big salt water aquarium. The fish were obviously used to being fed and were not shy at all! We were the only people there so it was nice to get to spend a little time in a really secluded spot. We also snorkeled a submerged plane – it was creepy to see an upside down airplane in the water, but the surrounding reef was beautiful. Matt and Christie treated us to Chicken Vindaloo for dinner and we decided to move on to Staniel Cay where we would wait for Steve to get back from his visit to Florida.
We motored our way up to Staniel Cay since the wind was right on our nose. It didn’t take us long to get there though and we hooked up to a mooring ball right behind Thunderball Grotto, an underwater cave where several movies have been filmed. We were excited because we heard s/v Sea Yawl Later on the radio. Matt and Christie had been on the lookout for their friends Rusty and Linda on Sea Yawl Later since we made it to the Exumas. We were also looking forward to meeting them because they are from Beaumont and kept their boat at Waterford Harbor in Kemah. We had been following their blog for some time.
We did a little exploring of the town in Staniel Cay while we waited for Rusty and Linda to get to the anchorage. The town is small and we were hoping for a little more selection in groceries because we had not seen a grocery store or market since we left Nassau. You can find what you need here, but nothing near what you are used to back home. Everyone is really friendly though and you can buy freshly baked bread right out of the bakers kitchen.
One other reason that we wanted to make it to Staniel Cay was so that we could watch the Superbowl. We watched at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club and we finally got to meet Rusty and Linda. We hit it off with them right away. They are truly wonderful and special people, we made friends really quickly. Linda invited us over to their boat for dinner the next day, along with Matt, Christie and another cruiser, Shane on s/v Guiding Light. We had the best time, sharing a wonderful meal of spaghetti complete with Linda’s home made bread. We played a game called Catch Phrase (tons of fun) and then watched a movie on their big screen TV. Life is good!
The next morning we got a call from Linda and Rusty inviting us to spend the day on their boat to take a ride through Pipe Creek. We had one of the best days ever! Troy, myself, Matt, Christie, Shane, Linda and Rusty spent the day exploring in places where catamarans with a shallow draft can get to lots easier than a monohull sail boat. We even got to park Sea Yawl Later right up almost on the beach so that we could go for a swim. We saw starfish by the hundreds and even got to feed some sharks!
We got back to our anchorage in the early evening and since it was slack tide we knew it was time to explore Thunderball Grotto. What an amazingly beautiful place. It’s an underwater cave that’s full of fish. There are several ways into the cave, some of the only accessible by swimming underwater. Later that evening Shane cooked us all steaks and fish on his boat, Guiding Light. Did I mention lately that life it good????
We are still just loving life and the adventures that it brings every day. I am amazed at how busy we stay. There is just so much to see and do and so many wonderful people have entered our lives. We sure do feel blessed.
Please take a look at Kaleo and Sea Yawl Later’s blogs. I know that they have done a much better job than I have in describing the wonderful days that we have spent here at Staniel Cay.
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis
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