Staniel Cay

Staniel is supposedly one of the major stops for cruising boats in the Exumas. I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. The town is tiny, smaller even than Rock Sound in Eleuthera, with just a couple of shops, a bar, and a marina. We had an acceptable but not memorable meal at the overpriced marina restaurant (though admittedly cocktails were pretty good). There’s an airstrip, and golf cart rentals… what would you want a golf cart for? Where would you go? I’m stymied. It was nice to run into Kraken again, though – we’d chatted a bit with them back in Ft. Pierce. Small world, apparently.

The nature in the area is admittedly pretty, though. Even at the marina, the highlight was the half-dozen nurse sharks skulking around under the dinghy.

We skipped the pig beach at Big Majors, because seeing swimming pigs at Meeks Patch was enough, thank you. But the snorkeling at Thunderball Grotto was pretty neat. It’s a cave with a hole in the ceiling, which lets beams of light through in a striking way.

The guidebooks also emphasize that you should not try to jump through, because the top is in danger of crumbling. Jazz may have convinced a trio of enthusiastic dude-bros not to do it. There’s also coral most of the way around the island, so we took the long way round.