The Next Day at Staniel Cay

It's Saturday, 9 Feb 2013.  After a great night's sleep, we're ready to spend an entire day within 100 feet of sea level.  Naturally, based on our rise up the learning curve yesterday, that means we need to head back to the bar / restaurant for a quick breakfast before tracking down our Boston Whaler.  While we're there we sit next to some young Canadians who are also going to take a boat out for the day.  This is his first time, but we learn she's been there before as a youngster with her family and is enthusiastic to be back again.  She suggests a number of places we might want to visit that are particularly interesting.

Spending time at breakfast kills a little time.  We need to do that because almost all the staff boats over to the Yacht Club from another island, arriving around 0700.  Once there the staff swings into action pretty quickly, informal but efficient.

If you recall the first picture yesterday from the front porch of our cottage, there are docks right out in front with boats hanging from motorized slings.  Our boat is one of these, a few docks down from ours.  An older fella walks us down, makes sure we understand how things work, and cuts us loose.  We head out into the bay to the west of the island and start exploring.  From out here the number of boats anchored in the area becomes clear -- there are a lot of them.  

Once out on the bay, we're in no hurry.  We amble around getting the lay of the land, so to speak, and seeing the sights until Ann spots a beautiful beach no one had been on that day.  We had it all to ourselves.  This is the view to the west . . . 

. . . and to the east.

We set up shop and did a bit of exploring on this small bit of beach.




















The view from our little patch of sand was beautiful.  If you look closely at the horizon in the picture below, you can see the masts of the small armada of boats at anchor.

Ann heads off to see what she can see, and comes back excited about her frog.  This is actually a small bit or rock in the sand, but the resemblance is clear.

There is also a wind farm to the north of the main island -- a good move on their part since fuel is extraordinarily expensive, requiring shipping to get there.

I've mentioned how clear the water is in the BHs.  You can see this again in the forefront of the wind mills.




Ann waded just past our boat when she spotted a large star fish on the bottom.  She was uncertain whether the camera would get this clearly, but we decided to give it a try.  Mind you, there is about 4 feet of water where she took these pictures.  You decide.

After a few hours on the beach we head back out to explore more in the area.  On the way we pass another beach where there were swimming pigs - really, we have pictures to prove it!  

They come up to the boats for food.  We provided an apple core which was met with considerable satisfaction.  It was a bit ironic, though; the idea of a clearly contented pig with an apple in its mouth.  Had to stifle an urge to holler "run for your lives."  

After our porcine encounter of the first kind, we circled by Thunderball Cove.  This was the location of the James Bond "Thunderball" shooting we mentioned yesterday.  On the way there we ran into our breakfast companions who were about to do some snorkling at the cove.  It has a big sign above the site.  Folks at the bar reported it has excellent snorkling.  Depending on the tide, you can either swim through the tunnel on the surface or fully submerged.  There were a lot of boats in the area so we decided to head out to see some of the islands bounding the west of the Yacht Club's bay.  Nice ride, and another example of just how shallow it is out there.  Our outboard extended maybe 18 - 24 inches below the hull.  On our way out to the islands and back we drug the prop through some loose sand.  We were never going full speed at any point, but slowed down further.  Eventually we headed for what appeared to be deeper water.  

By the time we headed back for the Yacht Club, we were ready to relax before dinner.  There was no particular procedure for leaving the boat, so we tied our whaler to the end of the pier and heading back for our balcony overlooking the late afternoon bay.  As you can see, rush hour traffic was just clearing up on the water before us.  

After cleaning up a bit, we headed back to the bar / restaurant by way of the pool area immediately behind the cottages.  We didn't get much time around the pool, though quite a few folks used the area.  Nice as it was, I think our beach was a better deal.

On the right is the path to the bar (the light blue framework in the background) is the phone booth we'll use in the morning to file out flight plan to Puerto Rico.

The Yacht Club has a large dinner most nights.  Of course, you sign up during the day at the bar for something on the menu that night.  By 7:00 PM everyone who signed up has gathered in the bar for a drink or two, and one by one the groups are seated.  The food is excellent, served by all the same folks you've met and chatted with during the day in the bar / restaurant.   

Eventually, everything winds down.  A few folks stay in the bar to tell a few stories, have a few drinks, shoot some pool, and generally socialize.  Many have children with them and head back to their rooms or boats.  

I have this recurring thought that Key West might have been like this a long time ago.  Before the highway was built so one could drive to Key West, and before there were as many tour boats.  At that time, the only way to get there was by plane or boat -- just like Staniel Cay.  There are stories about the call in the bars and coffee shops late in the evening for the "last flight out", the last flight from Key West back to Miami.  There are also stories about mysterious mechanical difficulties arising at just those times, problems which delayed the flights until early the next day when flight crews found they could not replicate the problem and returned to Miami.  For better or worse, such was the attraction of the place.  

If you chose, you could hang around the Yacht Club bar until all hours and chat with people who have travelled extensively, have interesting backgrounds, and have views to match.  Conversations start up spontaneously and cover a wide range of topics.  It is the luck of Key West that they had people like Hemmingway capturing elements of their lives and using them in their writing.  Maybe some of the aura of Staniel Cay will be equally well preserved by folks equally talented.   

That's if for now.  Next up - a long day to Vieques PR.