My post on Saturday ended with my birthday at the Fowl Cay anchorage across the cut from Rocky Dundas. I’ll pick up from there and get you to our last stop before we headed to George Town. This one is not quite as long as Saturday’s.
On February 1st we made the short jump south to Staniel Cay. We walked about the island shortly after our arrival and picked up some fresh produce at each of the two little markets there, and some rum at the laundromat/liquor store. The town is smaller than Great Harbor Cay, with only a little over 100 permanent residents. It’s a welcoming island that includes one marina, the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Our primary reason for stopping here, however, was to snorkel Thunderball Grotto. This underwater cave was so named because it was used in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball, starring Sean Connery (which we watched the night before). It has also appeared in Never Say Never Again (another Bond movie) and in Splash with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. We were anchored about a football field’s distance from the cave, so it was a short dinghy ride the next morning. We arrived about an hour before low tide and the water was low enough already that we didn’t have to swim underwater to clear the ledge, we just swam right in. We arrived there with only two other dinghies and entered the water faster than they did, which gave us 5+ minutes to ourselves, a rare treat at this popular tourist spot. Besides it movie fame, it was fun to be inside. This one was bigger than those at Rocky Dundas, and there were schools of sargent majors, jacks, grunts, etc. inside. People tend to feed the fish here, so it’s no wonder they all hang about and greet the snorkelers. We did not feed the fish. We gawked both above and below water, and poked around the underwater nooks and crannies until the cave got crowed with people. Then we swam out and explored the reef around the island to the other side. On the opposite side we found the always below water rear entrance to the cave. We didn’t brave that, though, because I don’t trust my ability to hold my breath long enough yet, or to stay far enough below water while holding my breath to not hit my head. By the time we got back to Lady there were about a dozen dinghies and a couple of high-powered tourist boats full of people there to explore the caves. Guess we got there at the right time.
After we returned from Thunderball Grotto, we had lunch then hauled anchor and moved a few miles south to Black Point on Great Guana Cay. This was a quick stopover, but we didn’t want to miss the world-famous Lorraine’s Café and the chance to meet Lorraine herself. Cruisers rave about Lorraine and all she does for the cruising community, plus she serves as a station host for the Seven Seas Cruising Association. We did get to have a quick chat with her on the deck of her newly opened restaurant called The High Tide, that has a lovely view of the harbor. We bought a loaf of regular coconut bread and a loaf of cinnamon coconut bread from her mother, whose house sits right between the new restaurant and the original (and yes, still open) Lorraine’s Café. We took a walk through the tiny town, then returned to The High Tide for conch fritters and rum punch before returning to Lady. That night as we were preparing dinner we got to watch a few small, local built boats practicing for the Little Farmers Cay Regatta that started the following day. Can those folks sail! It was impressive to watch, and we were glad for that brief opportunity, because we would miss the actuall regatta itself.
The next day we went ashore to have lunch at Lorraine’s Café and realized, too late, why most cruisers mention going for dinner rather than lunch. During the day, tour boats with 20-30 people apiece show up for a buffet at Lorraine’s. They come one after another starting around 11:30 am. We waited almost 90 minutes for our food to come out to the deck because of the hordes of people inside. Lesson learned. I very much enjoyed my conch burger, though. We still got back to Lady in time to haul anchor and head for the north anchorage at Little Farmers Cay. We didn’t have time to stay for the regatta, we just wanted to shave 10 miles off of our trek to George Town the following day. We spent a lovely evening at anchor there, listening to the distant regatta party music at the marina on the other side of the island.
The following morning, Saturday, February 4th, we got up before dawn, had our cups of coffee, and hauled anchor just before sunrise for George Town. That is where I will pick up with my next post.
Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 