It is a no take area with patrol boats enforcing it. There are mooring balls to prevent anchors from damaging the coral. You reserve one by calling in on the VHF radio. You can earn a free day (value $15) for each day you volunteer. Lee worked three days and earned a $45 credit, only a good deal if you love the work. He certainly did, since they let him work on the patrol boats. I was surprised on day when he came home in one to get more parts. It looked very impressive behind our boat.
They got a good deal, since he had many parts on board to do the repairs and went beyond their basic requests. One that he worked on had been stolen by drug runners and taken as far as the Dominican Republic. Another had been sunk. Beside working we took many hikes over the marked limestone and sand trails, all the way down to the Hog Cay anchorage and pirates lair where the pirates anchored to fill their water tanks. The trail required careful attention to foot placement, but the views over Exuma Sound were worth it.
There was a cruiser gathering under the tiki hut one night, books to exchange, movies to rent, dingy drift snorkels (you hold onto a line behind the dingy while it drifts with the current over the coral. I ran up to the Memento Pile on Booboo Hill several times to read the boat names and see the view.Somehow six days went by and it was time to move on.
The day before we left another boat requested that any boat going to Staniel Cay please take their guests to the airport there. We had met the guests, Maddie and Aaron, a young couple hitchhiking their way south on boats, and were happy to take them. They had begun their journey on bikes in Maine and planned to tour South America. Hitchhiking on boats seemed to be a good way to get there. Except their rides kept deadending. So they planned to fly to Equador, but first had to get to the nearest airport. You can see the beginnings of their trip at Mustachetravelers.
Only the very young and carefree could tell the stories they had to tell and we were entertained the whole way. They had no reservations to fly out of Staniel and we weren't sure how many days we might have them aboard. Getting a ticket on Flamingo Air requires finding Samantha. The terminal consists of a gazebo next to the runway, but Samantha is only there when planes are arriving. We were told we could find her at the general store and set out walking. Aaron asked every female golf cart driver "are you Samantha" until one finally gave us a ride to the store. There were seats available and tickets were purchased. We had just enough time for lunch at the yacht club. It runs on island time and we wondered if we'd have to eat while running to the airport, but we finally got served. Aaron admitted he hates to fly and was getting a little flustered. He heard a plane engine and began to run, overloaded with backpack and dangling shoes. The waitress had laughed at our worries, saying the plane is never on time and she was right. Another boater was at the gazebo with his guests, their luggage finally arriving two days after them. He had met the kids in the states and was so relieved that they were doing well. Small world. Like the previous two islands we explored every corner of Staniel Cay on foot. We did get a golf cart ride, but gave more than we got, having to push it up every hill. The driver knew what he was doing when he picked us up.
We found a new trail that let us hike the entire perimeter of the island with beautiful view down over our anchorage next to Thunderball Cavern, where a James Bond movie was filmed.
Late in the day we sailed the 12 miles down to Black Point, our very favorite stop in the Exumas. There's a settlement of a few hundred very friendly industrious people. First stop is always Lorraine's cafe.
She has a new baby boy and a lively two year old granddaughter. Picture an outgoing toddler sitting on a barstool chugging vita malt. She's notorious for going table to table mooching food. I stopped over at Lorraine's mom's house for a loaf of coconut bread and got a quick lesson in weaving palm plaits. She told me to come back with a fathom done the next day. Lee cut me lots of supplies on our walk, now I just have to get to work. Everywhere we walked small groups of women sat under trees plaiting away. They send the rolls to Nassau to be made into bags. The world's most beautiful laudromat is the next stop and she just happens to make conch fritters, six for a dollar. We had to check out our favorite sea glass beaches where it washed up by the handfuls around our ankles two year ago. The tide must have been right, we got very little this year, but collected lots of coral fans and my paperweights of stippled coral. My pockets were so full I would have sunk if I fell out of the dingy. There were over 30 boats in the harbor and we finally got to socialize to our hearts content. This morning we dropped off school supplies at the tutoring center and were enveloped in a group hug from all the kids. We got to hear about the building of the newest sloop, almost ready to enter the next race.
To all appearances it's an ideal life here, but of course we only see it from the outside. We left reluctantly this afternoon to head down the banks and position the boat at Cave Cut for an early morning exit into the sound and on down to Georgetown. There may not be another weather window for quite some time and lots of boats are ready to make the move. The sound side of the Exuma chain is real Ocean, unlike the calm shallow banks and most boaters take it seriously. We know slack tide is at eight in the morning and the cut won't be raging. Almost everyone has had the experience of going through a cut at the wrong time and descriptions like disney ride and washing machine apply. Tomorrow in Georgetown!
Lee's comments: Not sure what I have to add, weather and water are finally quite warm. I actually was sunburned through my shirt! Working on the Exuma Park patrol boats was interesting, they have no mechanic, and simple things such as wire splices and fuel leaks needed fixing. I changed out the hydraulic steering system on one boat with one borrowed from a boat in long term repair. I think when I came, there was only 1 of about 5 boats still working, and it had a bad gasoline leak that was dissolving plastic parts in the bilge. They buy the best Yamaha 225 horsepower outboards, for probably $20,000 each. They last about 2 years, 2000 hours of use, consuming 14,000 gallons of gas, that is worth around $60,000. Fuel is a bigger expense than all their payroll, with the bigger boat with two 225 HP motors costing nearly $100/hour to run. The park also needs to make their own electricity with a Diesel generator, much of the power then goes to making fresh water from seawater by R/O process. We really do enjoy Black Point, the people there are so welcoming. We had a tour of a Bahamian racing sloop under construction, complete with the ancient art of finding crooked and "Y" tree branches that fit the new boat. We met another couple that we knew from 2 years ago and traveled to Cave Cay, our jumping off spot, with them. We went snorkeling, talking of finding LOBSTER. Such a dream. I did see a Lion Fish that I was cautioned to keep a safe distance from. I had my spear and then came across a 40 pound unidentified monster, but since I could not identify it as edible, I let it be. It had no fear, I tapped it once with my spear and it paid no attention. Checking 3 fish ID books, still no match. It had a wide face like a catfish, but no barbells, was speckled and and big bulging eyes. I think it may have been a Puffer Fish, with possibly poisonous meat. Cave Cay is just that, the Island is ringed with undercut limestone, some real caves. I noticed nice fish in the caves with no air at the top. It was low tide and there was a surge that wanted to rake you across the coral if you were not careful. Water temp about 76F. Our GPS coordinates: N 23:54, W 076:16.
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