Thunderball Grotto, Staniel Cay

  Thunderball Grotto became famous after appearing in the James Bond movie, Thunderball. It is located at Staniel Cay, Exumas and while there we, obviously, went and took a look. The best time to snorkel there is at slack water, low tide. During other times there is a very strong current around the rock where the grotto is located and at high tide, in order to get into the grotto, you would have to dive down under rock,swim along and hope that you came up in the grotto before you ran out of air!!
Here are some pictures that we took of the grotto, underwater fish and coral. The colours are spectacular .  I know, it's a tough life but someone has to live it.

Ian gives the "thumbs up" after a good morning of snorkelling.  

Mayaguana to Staniel Cay, Bahamas

  We had light winds on the overnight sail to Mayaguana, so it was a slow sail with the screecher out. Around 10am we pulled into Abraham's Bay and dropped anchor behind the reef that separates the bay from the ocean. We had a looong dingy ride into town where, fortunately, we were able to check in, all legal in the Bahamas ( we had heard conflicting reports as to wether there would be a customs agent available here).

    Welcome to the Bahamas!  Ian walked in on a dusty dirt road to check in with customs ( in the local post office)  I stayed with the dingy, although there was no one around.    The water here, as we had heard, is amazingly crystal clear and the different colours are stunning.

Our next two stops were Plana Cay and Atwood Harbour on Acklins Island. The anchorages were deserted, we had the long beautiful beaches all to ourselves, pretty sweet!

At Plana Cay, just as the sun was going down, Ian noticed a large moving shadow in the water. Our first sighting of a Nurse Shark. We put on our underwater lights and were treated to the sight of four sharks slowly swimming and resting right under our boat, it was really amazing.

Look who's turning 60!   Yikes, i"m married to an old man!!!  but a good one.   Happy Birthday honeybun.

After another overnighter our next stop was Georgetown in the Exuma's. Apparently, during the cruising season, this anchorage is packed with hundreds of boats. Now, nearing the end of April, most  have headed back North. The anchorage ( Elizabeth Harbour) covers a large area affording plenty of room for swinging boats. Georgetown itself is a pleasant little town with a few gift shops and restaurants and a well stocked grocery store right beside the dingy dock, perfect.

Across from Georgetown, Grand Exuma runs Stocking Island with it's many anchorages. With the weather forecast  of high Easterly winds coming we moved the boat over to Monument Beach at Stocking Island for protection from the wind. We actually ended up with two days of no sunshine AT ALL, cloudy and lots of rain. Unheard of for us, we couldn't remember our last day without sun. Stocking Island has beaches on both sides. Lovely calm protected ones on the west side and wild rocky beaches on the East side. It also has a system of well cut trails along the elevated centre of the Island so all in all a very pleasant place to go walking.

Ian, admiring the view on the East side of Stocking Island  

 Looking down the centre of Stocking Island with the boats anchored at Georgetown far right.

                                                                                   

Ian on one of the pathways and the largest termite nest we have seen yet on our travels.  

After several days enjoying the walking paths and beaches here we headed back over to Georgetown in order to stock up again on fresh fruit/veggies, etc before continuing up the Exuma Island chain.  After spending one night at Rat Cay, a private Island so we didn't go ashore ( although we think you can use the beach?), we arrived the next day at Little Farmers Cay. 

 We dingyed in to the settlement, not too much going on here. We did see a police car and the all ages school, the grocery store was closed. There were very few people around but we did speak to one local fellow who informed us the Island has a population of 50! 

In for dinner at Ty's Sunset Grill. Behind the restaurant was the Island airport runway.  Our next stop over was a short distance up the coast off of a long white sandy beach, Jacks Bay. Again, we had the anchorage  and beach all to ourselves. It's going to be tough having to put a swimsuit on when we get back to civilization!!!!  

Crystal clear waters and amazing colours.

Our own private beach.

Ian enjoying the shade on the foredeck.   

Next stop, Staniel Cay. 

Turks and Caicos

Well, I obviously have way too much time and internet on my hands, lol. Three blogs posted in less than a week !  We are currently anchored off of Monument Beach, Stocking Island in the Exumas, Bahamas. We moved over here from the anchorage outside of Georgetown, Exumas three days ago because of expected high easterly winds and bad weather. Yes, the weather has been bad. Windy, overcast( this is the second day with no sun) and wet. We have not had weather like this since, um ..... I can't remember when. Honestly, we have had sun everyday for months now. Oh well,  a good time to catch up on blog posts.

 We had checked out of Culebra, P.R the previous afternoon and were ready to up anchor the morning of Tuesday, April 14th heading out for the Turks and Caicos. This was to be our longest voyage (460nm) yet with just the two of us on board.  When we are preparing for a passage Ian looks at the proposed route on the computer. He puts in waypoints between our start point and destination and by inputting our expected boat speed we can get an expected time of arrival. Working back from this we then figure out our time of departure. We much prefer to arrive at new destinations mid morning/ noon, even if that means departing at night, so that we can get anchored and settled in during daylight hours. Obviously, it's much easier to leave a harbour at night ( follow your in bound track on the chart plotter) than it is to enter an unknown harbour at night.

 The passage went well, the winds were light, just the way I like it. Ian was hoping for more wind to which I say, careful what you wish for! I prefer our passages and sailing to be drama free!!  We settled in to our three hour watches between the hours of 7pm to 7am. This way the off watch person gets enough time for a deep sleep ( hopefully).  I have found reading my Kindle during watch a good way to pass the time. I also seem to snack constantly ( not good). I must say, we had some beautiful nights. The stars were out, the seas were calm and I was treated to a beautiful golden moonset one night, quite lovely.  Still, after three nights I found myself quite sleep deprived and was very glad  to arrive at the Caicos Bank and French Cay on the fourth day.

The change in water colour as you go from thousands of meters deep to around ten meters is very dramatic. There is a line in the water, one side of which is deep blue and the other an amazing shade of turquoise.  French Cay is a small spit of rock and sand on the edge of the Caicos Bank, about twelve NM from Providenciales. It is home to hundreds of sea birds and is in fact a protected bird sanctuary, no humans allowed.   That was fine with us. We dropped anchor in the protection of the Island and relaxed, looking forward to an uninterrupted nights sleep.  The next day we had a good trip across the bank, keeping a sharp look out for coral heads as we approached Sapodilla Bay, where we dropped anchor.

 Sapodilla Bay has a small sandy beach and we spent several days there hanging out. There are no nearby stores but we did have a very nice lunch at the Las Brisas restaurant.

  This is how Ian likes to spend his day. In a comfy chair, under an umbrella, reader in hand and his boat ( on the right) in the distance.

  We rented a car for the day as we needed to get groceries and other boat items. We ended up here at Blue Haven Marina for a delicious lunch. This marina is relatively new and looks very nice, a good place to stay next time we pass thru!

   After a couple of days at Sapodilla Bay we moved the boat over to an anchorage off of South Side Marina. There was no room for us in the marina partly due to the fact that there were already two Antares yachts there!!  There are only 48 Antares ( our boat brand) launched in the world so it is a very rare occasion to have three of them in the same location.  So, naturally, we met up with Christian, Dayna and Caspar from SV Blue  and Alon and Dawn from SV Blue Dawn. It was a real pleasure to meet and spend time with them all and interesting to hear of their sailing adventures.

 Time to move on again. Most of the boats we met in the marina are heading south for the season, we seem to be the only one's heading north? hmmm.   Oh well, we checked out of T& C and motored in complete calm to the edge of the Caicos Bank, this time near West Caicos, where we dropped anchor and relaxed in preparation for our overnight trip to Mayaguana, Bahamas.  

Our Floating Home

 

Zooropa in Brazil

    We have now lived on board Zooropa for nine months and while it has been an adjustment she is a very comfortable and roomy boat for the two of us. I took most of these pictures of her shortly after we had started cruising and while in Brazil ( ah, Ilha Grande). Since then I have added family pictures and momento's and it has become MUCH less tidy inside. I am looking forward to reaching Florida where I hope to cheaply replace cushions and add knick knacks.

Zooropa in the Bahamas

This is a great place to hang out, especially when sailing in a light breeze. The air comes up thru the fabric on the trampolines and is very refreshing. We now have a canvas awning which we put out when anchored ( see picture above) in order to keep out of the sun and still enjoy the tramps. 

Looking back at the boat from the tramps. The dark wrap around glass encloses the salon inside. The clear windshield encloses the cockpit and helm station.  

Ian at the helm coming in to Salvadore

This is the rear of the boat, thats the dingy hanging off the arch which is it's position while we are moving. The BBQ is covered in blue canvas.  We have Nu Teak ( fake teak) which we like the look of but which gets incredibly hot when in the sun. The tan coloured awning at the top can be removed but we leave it out whenever we are anchored. The sun is relentless and the awning gives very welcome relief.  

There is a step down from the cockpit into the salon. We have tons of storage under the salon seats. The beautiful cherry wood table opens out and also can be lowered to the salon seat level.

This is the work area to the right of the cockpit door entrance. It most definitely does not look this tidy anymore, ever! That is one of two TV's on the boat. My washer/dryer is in the cupboard to the left of the sink. 

This is the navigation desk and captains chair, where I am occasionally allowed to sit, lol!  

 This picture is taken inside the salon looking down in to the galley, thats the top of the freezer on the left.

This is the galley looking towards the rear of the boat,thats the guest bedroom thru the doorway. The small wooden door with the latch and hinges is the fridge which is beside the steps back up to the salon.  On the right are the double sinks. On the left the three burner gas cooktop. 

 The galley looking from the other direction, forward. Thru the door is the third bedroom ( not seen) and then the second head (toilet).  In the galley you can see the cooktop again and the oven and convection microwave.  No, we do not have a dishwasher, that would be me!   

   The first guest bedroom.

The second guest bedroom and guest head.  That's the elevated bed on the right.

The stairs leading down from the salon to our bedroom and bathroom. That's our bookcase stuffed with cruising guides. Our closets and bedroom are thru to the right and our bathroom on the left. 

  Our bedroom. I have to crawl over Ian to get out which is tricky, he doesn't seem to mind. 

   I realize now I have no pictures of the cockpit seating area and table. I will try and put one in on another post.

  

Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands

       We checked out of St.Martin ( French side) the morning of Thursday, April 9th. Seeing as this is a French country, check out was an easy one stop affair. Back to the boat to prep for our afternoon departure to Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands. This was an overnight passage for us, we took three hour shifts between 7pm and 7am which worked quite well. As seems to be the case recently, we ended up motor sailing as the winds were light for most of the night. A steady stream of brightly lit cruise ships passed us during the night, mostly all heading to different ports in Florida, ( we have a system on board  called AIS which allows us look up the speed, direction, bearing, destination etc of identified boats). The wind did pick up early morning and so sails went up and engines were turned off, blessed relief ! Nothing beats floating along in peace and quiet, it really is quite lovely.

 We sailed right on by the BVI's , what a shame as we love that area, but we are feeling a bit time pressured ( hurricane season approaches), hopefully we will cruise the BVI's next season.  So, on to Ensenada Honda, Culebra. Ensenada Honda is a large deep bay with many different anchorages. We dropped anchor deep in the bay by the small town of Dewey. We had a ten minute, hot walk into the small airport to check in with customs. Culebra falls under the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico which in turn falls under the jurisdiction of the USA. Needless to say, the check in process took much longer, involving phone calls and multiple forms, than for example Martinique where  a simple form was filled out online in the local street cafe, printed and signed by the barista, passports not required!

Approaching Ensenada Honda

Looks can be deceiving! Inside is an amazingly well stocked grocery store.

Dingy dock and bridge, Dewey

Flamenco Beach, really beautiful

Left overs from US Navy bombing practise

Zoni Beach

Our means of transportation

       We had a great day touring the 7 mile long by 3 mile wide Island, visiting many of it's beautiful beaches. Some of the hills were quite steep but the golf cart managed them just fine.
        Next port of call...... Turks and Caicos.