Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sharks. Guns. Swimming Pigs.

Bet that got your attention!

Today we finally felt like "cruisers". We got the dinghy and outboard in the water and went exploring. After being boat bound for awhile, it was great to get in the dinghy and to shore.

We started out by going to visit the pigs on the beach. Yup pigs. There are about five pigs that call the beach at Big Major's Spot home. Cruisers and locals bring in their vegetable scraps to feed them. They are pretty tame and actually will come out into the water to meet the incoming dinghies. When we were here in 2001 - they actually swam out further than they did this time. But one did indeed swim. They seemed most interested in the tomato and radish scraps - not so much in the lettuce!
So that's the story of the swimming pigs! (Pictures to follow when we get internet access).

We also headed to Staniel Cay this afternoon - which is around the bend from Big Major's Spot. It was pretty flat and the water color was a glorious mix of turquoise, aqua and blues. You could see clear to the bottom. As we tied up the dinghy to the dinghy dock at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC), four sharks circled the boat. They were pretty good sized nurse sharks and were just cruising around the docks. We could see why - as there were huge lobster heads thrown in the water (those would
have been yummy tails.) So that's the shark story. (pictures to follow).

After a walk around the island and enjoying the bright colored bougainvillea and colorfully painted homes, we were thirsty and stopped by the SCYC for a cold drink. As we were having cold Kaliks (Bahamian beer), police and DEU agents came in. They had their guns in their belts - very old west style - no holsters or covers - just guns tucked into their belts. They came in to enjoy some cracked conch and cold drinks. And there is your "gun" saga. (No pictures to follow!)

As we sat at the bar with the locals - we heard that the actor "Sheen" (they didn't know if it was Charlie or Martin) was at SCYC last night. There was a huge yacht in the anchorage last night - so perhaps he was off of that vessel. Word amongst the locals was that he tipped well!

Because it's Sunday, most of the stores were closed. There are three small groceries on the island: the Isles General Store; the pink store and the blue store on the hill. I think describing stores by their color is very convenient. We saw roosters and lazy dogs as we walked to the Staniel Cay airport. No TSA security here. We walked right up to the runway. If travel was only that easy (neither of us misses that at all!).

It was a fun day meeting some other boaters, exploring in the dinghy, cruising by Thunderball Cave, walking around town and having a cold Kalik.

Last night (Saturday) it was pizza night aboard Astarte. Thanks Rene for the idea of making pizzas on flour tortillas. They tasted great.

Don't know if we're heading out tomorrow or not - looks like another front coming in…we'll see in the morning.

No comments:

Post a Comment