Party Central

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club seems to be a great cruisers' destination, with many boats moored, anchored, or docked around it. Tourists also arrive by plane at an little airport about a mile away. We were able to fuel up, buy water and ice, and book a table for dinner. We had to choose our meals and report our choices when we made the reservation.

On a little table perched on the edge of the water, two men were busily cleaning fish and conch for the evening dinner. I was watching with interest when I noticed turmoil in the water below, into which they were flicking guts, fins, and such. There were at least eight nurse sharks and two stingrays grabbing up the goodies in what can’t have been more than two feet of water. It was quite a remarkable sight.

We finally applied the decals to Django’s transom: DJANGO on the port side, MONTREAL on the starboard. Timely, since WW was able to pick up her registration on his email next morning.

The bar was lively, to say the least. A small shop off one corner offered touristy clothes, sunscreen, and a wide selection of rums. Dinner was served at 7 p.m. and was announced by a bell. Then we queued and were told which was our assigned table. The soup was delicious, the rest was not bad. I’m afraid The Poop Deck has spoiled me for cracked conch.

We headed back to our little haven, where Whit and Frisha tried to teach us a card game called Pitch or Setback. Unfortunately, I was unable to keep my eyes open. I gather it is better with four than three, because the others lasted only one hand more, then the crew retired. WW claims it’s because he won.

In the morning, Frisha, Whit and I borrowed bicycles, offered free to guests of the Club, and went to do a bit of shopping at one of the small groceries. We bought a cut-up chicken and Frisha was delighted that the price was comparable to back home, until I pointed out that it is probably what we’d call a “boiling fowl”. I intend to make a curry with it…a very slowly cooked curry.

We left dock and motored a short distance to Thunderball Cave, where the underwater scenes for the James Bond move Thunderball were filmed. You can swim in through an underwater channel and come up in a coral- and fish-filled cavern. Sunlight pours down through openings overhead. We moored and snorkelled around the outside, but weren’t quite courageous enough to try the channel without a guide. Frisha and Whit went a little way in and said it looked fabulous. Outside there were dozens of brilliant fish of all colours. Whit and I saw an actual Nassau grouper (a baby). It’s a protected zone, which is perhaps why all the fish seemed relatively fearless.

Then we headed for Big Rock Cut (Whit says its real name is Small Narrow Scary Cut), which would take us through the cays to Exuma Sound. The cuts are passages between the cays that allow boats to travel between the Great Bahama Bank and Exuma Sound. They can be quite tricky when the ebb tide is running, with powerful currents and strong rips. Suffice it to say, we made it through safely.

I write this as we motor down toward Lee Stocking Island, our next anchorage. We must be in George Town on Great Exuma tomorrow. Alas, Whit and Frisha will be taking their leave of us there. And I still don’t know how to sail.