Highborn, Cay to Staniel Cay, including the Exuma Land and Sea Park

Highborn Cay, the Exuma Land and Sea Park, and Staniel Cay 

The weather we expected to get did not really materialize to any great extent, so we headed out after four days.  We really enjoyed out time at Highborn, it is really a nice place.  We left and had a GREAT day sailing to Shroud Cay, which is in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  It is a “no take” zone about 25 miles long where there is no fishing, conching, etc.  We launched the Kayak’s and went into the Mangrove center, where motors are not allowed, it was truly beautiful.  We also took the dingy through a cut to the ocean (Exuma Sound) side, to discover yet another perfect white sand beach. 

A mooring we had been waiting for since before we left Highborn Cay came open at the coveted north mooring field came open and we took it.   Another GREAT day of sailing, beam reaching at 9 knots.  The mooring field and the “trails” were like something out of a fantasy novel, I have never seen anything more breathtaking. 

We also walked over the Sunshine Causeway, which  is slightly different than the Sunshine causeway in Tampa Bay.

We left a piece of driftwood with Diamond on it that the girls made, maybe someone we know will see it.  Then another GREAT day of sailing, beam reaching at 9 knots. 

 

After several days we decided to head to Staniel Cay, we need to get some food, and a taste of civilization.  We decided to anchor off of Big Major, where there is a large anchorage with good holding.  As we came into the anchorage, we motored right past Rafale, and waved to the Belgians from Texas, it was good to see them again.  We spent several evenings doing happy hour with them and the crew of Falco. 

There are two main attractions here, one is the swimming pigs, off Big Major.  You just dinghy up to shore, we brought dog biscuits, and they swim right out to your boat.  One thing a lot of people don’t know, dogs don’t handle sea pigs very well.  The mutt went crazy, but the pig just kept coming for more food.  I laughed pretty darn hard at the whole thing. 

The second it the Thunder ball Grotto, where the James Bond movie Thunder Ball was filmed.  This is place is amazing.  I was in the grotto alone, taking some pictures when a large ray swam through.  It was about a foot from me when I noticed it, and I managed to maintain my composure enough to get a picture.  When I came out there was a guide who has been bringing people there for 15 years, and he had never heard of one being in there.  It was a very unusual event.

There are two things I have needed to correct in my thinking.  The clocks that West Marine sells with days of the week rather than time, and cocktail burgees, are not really novelty items like I thought before we began cruising.  What day of the week is it?