Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hans' Arrival


Enjoying the beach at Warderick Wells
From Warderick Wells, we booked it to Big Major Spot (2 miles north of Staniel Cay), the night before Hans’ arrival to the Bahamas – this was a big push, nearly 18 miles.  Big Major Spot is definitely worth a visit while in the Exumas to see the wild pigs that roam the beach.  They’ll even swim out to the dinghy when you head into the beach, in hope of food.  We fed them moldy hot dog buns and they loved them.  What an odd site to see pigs swimming!



The next morning we did a power clean of the boat and sailed into Staniel Cay and paid for a night at the dock ($2.00 per foot).  I counted over 15 nurse sharks off the dock.  They like to hang out where the fish are being cleaned.  A little eerie and needless to say, we didn’t go for a swim off the dock here.
Staniel Cay onshore
Mike and Hans in Staniel Cay
Hans’ plane arrived at 2:45pm that afternoon and we walked to the airport, which was less than 1/2 mile away and had an outdoor waiting station and No Security.  Nice and easy, no wait time, no hassle.  We welcomed Hans into the Bahamas with an ice-cold beer from our boat.  A little later that afternoon we went snorkeling at Thunderball Grotto, the cave where they filmed one of the James Bond movies.  Amazing spot with fish everywhere!

Hans & Mike aboard Tanqueray
The next day, after filling up our water tanks and jerry jugs with fresh water ($0.40 per gallon) we motored around the corner and anchored at Little Majors for the night, here we could get some snorkeling in without the waters infested with sharks (by the way, nurse sharks are a non-aggressive shark). 

Pipe Creek sandbar, is underwater at high tide



















From there, we sailed back up north to Pipe Creek where we spent two days of exploring, snorkeling, spearfishing, eating, kayaking, yoga and enjoying ourselves.  In total we caught, 7 conch, 2 groupers and a giant lobster.  We’ve been eating seafood non-stop.  I filleted my first grouper on the beach.  And one night Hans cooked us a delicious meal of crack conch and fried grouper.

Hans with his lobster catch

Sara filleting grouper

After Pipe Creek, we headed south again, this time to Black Point, one of the larger settlements in the Exumas, consisting of around 300 locals.  They have a grocery store here and a couple restaurants and one bar!  We all enjoyed a cold Kalik (Bahamian beer) at the bar and were able to pick up Wi-Fi!  This is a huge deal, it means I can check email, upload our blog stories and reconnect with the world after a long while of not having Internet access.

Future plans while Hans is onboard:  We plan to head south towards Georgetown and then cut across to the north end of Long Island if the weather cooperates, otherwise we may sail down the west side of Long Island and then onto Crooked Island.  Third option is checking out the Ragged Islands (this is mostly uncharted territory).
Still Honeymooning

6 comments:

  1. These blogs just keep getting better! Love the new pictures especially the Happy People sign. I might need one of those for Hobo Camp! You may be having one of the best honeymoons ever. It just started to snow. Daubie is heading to town for a coffee bean re-supply. Forces are coming over for brunch and we are having a Shire dinner at Melanee's tonight. Notice how people always say, "They're just Nurse Sharks." I wonder. Love you all, m

    ReplyDelete
  2. love all the pics -boy alot of people envy you guys right now------3 feet of snow,plowing,slipping,freezing and scraping our way through life and the pic of the kiss with sunset ahhhhh sooooo sweet.all the fish sound pretty tasty and I would pay alot for that lobster!! it probably isnt for sale!! swimming pigs!! just when I thought the world could not get any stranger! ha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Guys! It looks like we just missed you! we are down near Little Farmers. I hope you are having an amazing time! I know we are!!

    Keep in touch -Maggie, Ted, and Chessie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Every one of a hundred thousand cities around the world had its own special sunset and it was worth going there, just once, if only to see the sun go down.
    Cheap Flights to Karachi

    ReplyDelete

Followers