Thunderball, Pigs, Iguanas- much to do!

The winds at Pipe Cay subsiding, we sailed for Staniel Cay and anchored at Big Major Cay which is home to Pig Beach.  “Wild” pigs actively live on the island, and their favorite hang out spot is this beach.  (This is likely because tourists go over and feed them multiple times a day.)  Amelia was excited there were five piglets— super cute!  We motored over in the dinghy to see them up-close.

We didn’t have any food for them, so when one started swimming toward the boat Amelia wanted to keep our distance.  Thoughts of the pigs jumping into/capsizing the dinghy and getting bitten flashed through her mind.  Grant thought it was funny how nervous Amelia was about the pigs near our dinghy.  When we got back to Velocir other cruisers went over to feed the pigs.  Amelia’s fear of them jumping into the dinghy was not unfounded!

The next day we walked around Staniel Cay, a quiet town.  Instead of paying $5 at the marina, we walked 10 minutes to the dump to get rid of our trash.  Then we treated ourselves to lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  It was the most popular place in town, festively decorated with flags and swarming with cruisers (as well as people from private planes who fly down for the day from Florida).  The food was really yummy (we had a Club sandwich and fish burger with onion rings)  The waitress even gave us free Pina Colodas because she was practicing for the bar!

Walking around town later in the afternoon, we went in search of fresh produce.  None of the islands we have visited have had a produce boat in weeks, which we are told is strange.  We walked up to the first store we came by and workers were moving in boxes of fresh produce, just arrived by plane!  We thought we’d lucked out, as we were among the first to arrive.  The prices even seemed reasonable.  We picked some things out and went over to the counter.  Waiting, we heard the cashier tell the couple in front of us that the prices would be more than marked, because it was flown in.  The couple said, oh yes, we had thought as much, it doesn’t matter to us (we have heard this “rich” attitude ruins it for other cruisers).  When it was our turn Amelia said, how much is this bag of celery?  We don’t even like celery that much, but it is usually cheap and keeps well.  It was $5!  If celery was $5 ($1.50 on the tag) we could not afford any of the other food we had gathered up.  Grant put it all back while Amelia purchased some eggs and a small bag of carrots.  Looking back, our lunch was pretty cheap in comparison!

The next day was very busy.  We got up early at low tide to snorkel Thunderball Cave, made famous in an older James Bond film.  It was very beautiful and fish followed us around everywhere we went.  To enter the cave, we swam under a shallow ledge.  At high tide, this ledge is submerged and you actually have to dive down and then up into the cave.  It was early in the day, so the sunlight wasn’t shining directly in through the holes above the cave, but we could still see some beautiful coral and fish!

Some of the best coral was outside the cave!

We waited until high tide and then took the shallow route south to Bitter Guana Cay, home to endangered Iguanas.  They are said to live up to 80 years old and are one of the most endangered Iguana species in the world.

Their home was on a strip of beach with white cliffs towering overhead.  We anchored right off the beach and went to visit the Iguanas.

There were a lot of them!  They had interesting reddish coloring, and some were as large as a cat.  The way their skin hung off their bodies, their limbs looked like stuffed beanie toys.

Their tail-streaks lined the beach.

Our anchorage by the Iguanas was a bit rolly, so we went farther south to Black Point a small “local” town, crowded with cruisers.  It had a small grocery store (no fresh produce), a cute cafe and a very nice laundrymat (a little pricy but popular).  It was the weekend, and a lot of local men were coming to the town pier by boat with their fresh lobster tails.  They started a fire and grilled them on the rocks.

We went back to Velocir and ate some more canned food for dinner, enjoying a beautiful sunset!