Staniel Cay #3

Two of our neighbors, Scott and Kathy arrived on Monday the 31st. They came via Watermaker Air.which flies out of the Executive Airport in Ft. Lauderdale with a stop on Andros Island to clear customs and then on to Staniel Cay. This is a small company with very small airplanes. Their plane held 6 people, Pilot, Co-Pilot and 4 passengers. Except on their flight it was a Pilot and 5 passengers. with one sitting in the co-pilot seat. There were 20 knot winds as they landed and the pilot told them he was going to “crab” in to the landing strip. They said it looked like they were going to land off the landing strip, but the wind pushed them over and they landed just fine. It was an exciting flight.

They were brought by “limo” golf cart over to the Yacht Club and surprised us. We thought they weren’t due in till 1 PM. and they showed up around 10:00. I had just finished cleaning up the boat when they arrived.

Unfortunately, the 20 knot winds may continue most of the days of their visit. They got a dinghy with their cottage, so we went exploring over to Big Major Island where the swimming pigs are. Kathy tried to feed them a Pringle, but they weren’t interested. I had tried to feed them vegetable peelings when we anchored nearby on the way South, and they had turned their snouts up at that too. I’m not sure what epicurean delight they really prefer.

Pig on its way to the boat

Kathy trying to feed the pig a Pringle Chip

We had lunch at a beach down island from the pigs where at lot of the boaters have cocktail parties. The restaurant at the marina will make a box lunch for you.

We also went to a small island nearby that was loaded with small beautiful conch shells. Here are some photos we took.

Scott with some of the shells we found

Bob resting while we looked for shells

Closeup of our shell treasures

We stayed at the marina till Wednesday when most all the boats decided to venture out, even though the winds were still on the high side. We anchored just off the marina, but in sight of the cottage where Scott and Kathy are staying. They have a nice sunset porch and view and their own dock.

We’ve been taking turns eating on the boat and eating at the restaurant in the evenings. Wednesday night, Bob made Lobster appetizers that could have been the main entree, and then made Snapper marinated in Teriyaki Sauce with a side of wild rice. Both the snapper and Lobster were freshly caught. Kathy had not been a fish eater, but she is finding she likes the Grouper and Snapper anyway. She’s even tried Conch Fritters. We’ll make a fish eater out of her yet.

During the night on Wednesday, there was a horrendous thunder storm. It must have just sat over us for a half hour. There was no break between the sound and the light at all. I feared that we would be hit by lightning and fry the systems on the boat, but we were not. Scott and Kathy made it though OK. Luckily, Kathy enjoys storms. We were all surprised that the power on the island did not go out during the storm.

One day, we rented a golf cart and explored the island. Scott had been offered the choice of having a golf cart with no breaks, or one with no reverse. Thinking that reverse would probably be useful, he chose that. Scott had to dodge a dump truck, a police car (both the only ones on the island), and get us safely around the airstrip. If the island had been flat and the roads level, that would have helped. We all, luckily survived. It helped that Kathy and I were facing backwards, so we couldn’t see what was coming!

Scott and Kathy arriving at the boat for a day on the water

Here are some photos we took of the the other side of the island.

We stopped at a place called Club Thunderball for a drink and got these panoramas from the hill where the club was. It was just a gorgeous day.

Thunderball Island from Club Thunderball

Each afternoon, we ended up at the Club pool, as did the Laughing Gulls who arrived for a drink of fresh water whenever the pool was empty.

Laughing Gulls getting water at the pool

We often met with Ken and Sharon and their two of their 3 adult children from Canada at the pool. Ken had built the Trimaran, named Solis, they are cruising on. It took him 17 years and he is very proud of it. What a weekend project eh?