There is much to get used to in Paradise. The winds are always howling, there are no calm harbors or anchorages, and there are no proper dinghy docks. These are pretty big hurdles for me, but in my experiences of sailing throughout New England and the Chesapeake the water is not nearly as beautiful as here, the beaches not nearly as white, and the fish not nearly as colorful! I guess I have to jump these hurdles in order to enjoy such amazing beauty.
We are in Big Major’s Spot right now, which is right near Staniel Cay, famous for Thunderball Grotto, that was used in the James Bond movie. Big Major’s Spot is also well known for its wild pigs, and I have to admit that I’ve had a couple of nightmares about those pigs!
But aren’t they cute?? So far they have not tried to attack any dinghies, so perhaps this is a quiet year for them… or the rumors are greatly exaggerated!
There are a number of small cays here that form an anchorage that I would not call calm but certainly isn’t as challenging as our previous stops, and there are pearly sand beaches on each of these islands where the shelling is rather good. The currents rip between the islands creating sandbars full of beautiful marine life, but you can only gather shells on these sandbars at slack tide. I will be thrilled if I can collect a few sand dollars today or tomorrow.
From one of these lovely beaches I walked out a ways in the clear shallow waters with Mary, from Sanity II, who had spotted this sea star as she dinghied in to the beach. When I called Bob over to see he couldn’t resist picking it up and posing.
At today’s slack low tide we plan to swim into Thunderball Grotto, and Bob will bring both of his underwater cameras! I thought that the grotto would be teaming with people each day, but yesterday only four people went in, and I’m hoping we’ll be as lucky today.
I’m zipping through a knitting project that I’ve designed myself with yarn I bought in England about 5 ½ years ago. More on that if I ever get better internet coverage! Maybe by then I will be assembling it so that my description will be documented with photos. Ever hopeful….
Many thanks to our son Chris, who takes our SSB (single side band) transmissions and posts them for us and figures out where to put the photos!
You can still follow our progress here:
