The Exumas are considered one of the best cruising grounds in the world. We were very excited to be able to share some of this experience with my parents who came to visit us on their vacation for almost a week. Although one week isn’t enough time to see all the Exumas has to offer, we sure did try! We did a little sailing (a lot of motoring), a silly amount of snorkeling, taught my parents to hookah dive, enjoyed some paddle boarding, walked along white sand beaches, searched for sand dollars, and still found time to put them to work on the boat.
Day 1: Pick-up at Barreterre
My parents are flying into the airport at Georgetown on Great Exuma Island. Initially, this seemed like the perfect spot. After some more research and having actually visited Georgetown, we realized it’s still a bit far from where we actually want to do most of our activities. Because on a boat – 30 miles is a very long distance. We arrange for a taxi to pick them up at the airport and deliver them as far north as possible (by land) to Barreterre on the northern tip of Great Exuma. It’s a quite shallow and harrowing journey on our cat to get to Barreterre, but we make it and are able to anchor just a short distance from a small dock where the taxi will drop them off. We finish up some last minute cleaning, and then I take out in the dinghy with Monster to wait for them at the dock. There is no waiting, though, because they are walking towards the dock as I pull up. My family is always early.
We get their suitcases in the dinghy and enjoy a short yet still very wet ride back to the boat. After some quick hellos, I rush everyone to settle in so we can get going. Vacations are not for relaxing – they are for fitting in as many activities as possible so that you’re absolutely exhausted. It’s after 5 pm, and in order for us to fit in all the activities I have on the agenda, it’s imperative that we make it at least a short distance north still this evening. Fortunately, the tide has risen so at least our journey away from Barreterre is a bit less exciting and we can move at a more consistent speed.
Day 1: Scenic views at Williams Bay
We pull into Williams Bay anchorage a short time before dusk, joining a few other catamarans that are already anchored. Last time Matt and I were here, we found it very easy to anchor and get a good set. Thinking it would be the same this time, I tell everyone to get ready to paddle board into shore. Of course, it is not easy, though. Not easy at all. We try to get a good set on our anchor 5, 6, I don’t know maybe 7 times. It’s simply awful. The closest catamaran nearby is watching too, with a dog yapping at us the whole time. The dog is cute, but it feels a bit like it’s laughing at all our attempts to anchor. Finally we get a good enough set (holding at 1800 RPMs). Typically, we want to see holding for a few seconds with the engines in reverse at 2200 RPMs – but it’s going to be low winds so we’re plenty good.
By this time, it’s getting very close to dusk so we won’t be paddle boarding after all. We do however all load into the dinghy to still head to shore. We want to show my parents the gorgeous views from on top of the hill. It’s a short hike up, with Monster leading the way. With the sun not overhead, the colors of the Exuma Sound are not quite as brilliant, but it’s still very nice. We all find a rock to add to the pile at the top – marking that we were here, before heading back down to the beach.
Day 1: Installing a new shower pump
We couldn’t let my parents come visit to just have fun – we are also putting them to work. They brought a full duffle bag of supplies over for us, including a new shower pump. The pump on our second shower went out a few weeks ago and hasn’t been operable ever since. This isn’t a big deal with just us onboard – we have a separate shower. It’s not ideal for guests though – unless they want to go a whole week without a fresh water shower. Just kidding, we would let them use our shower – but I just assume we fix theirs. Matt and my dad open up the bilge and get to work. Initially, it looks like it might just be an electrical wiring issue rather than the pump itself being bad. This seems fitting – we’ve had several problems turn out to be like this.
They trace back and locate a fuse at the main electrical bus that runs to the shower pump. It is clearly (like you can visually see it is) blown, so they get that replaced. I think they may have done a couple other electrical things as well – I’m not sure. My only contributions were finding our electrical wiring diagram (thank goodness that came on the boat!) and reading the amp number on the teeny, tiny fuses. So once the electrical components are fixed, the shower pump *sort of* works. Guess they will be replacing the entire pump after all. It’s almost 9 pm at this point, so we decide maybe it’s best to finally eat some dinner. Everyone can use the main shower for tonight and they can replace the pump tomorrow. On boat projects, you never want to assume something is fixed before you’re completely sure – but I’m going to go ahead and call this one a win. (Yes, it gets completely fixed the next day – and no further issues have arisen!)
Day 2: Smooth sailing to Big Majors
We have about 45 miles to sail (ahem – motor) today heading north towards Big Majors. This is the day I’m most worried about since my mom typically gets very sea sick. We’re on the inside and (for once) heading with the wind, so we’re not expecting bad waves – but you never know. Plus we have activities to do upon our arrival if we’re going to fit everything in. There is really no time for anyone to get sick on this trip – which is quite ironic (check out part 2 of this post for that story). The waves and wind cooperate, making for a smooth and quite quick motor to the Majors. We put our jib up for a bit, so my parents can at least feel like we’re sailing. We simply don’t have time to purely sail though – of course, when do we ever?
We pull into the anchorage – which is even more crowded with mega yachts than the last time we were here. There’s plenty of room though, and we carve out a nice place for ourselves – trying to avoid as much wake traffic as possible. Redeeming ourselves from yesterday, we get the anchor set well on the first try and are ready to rush everyone over to Thunderball Grotto (except Monster, who is quite unhappy to be left behind). You might recall from our previous blog post including Thunderball Grotto, that it is the site where the James Bond movies “Thunderball” was filmed – hence where it got it’s name. It’s a very popular snorkeling site in the Exumas, offering the uniqueness of a grotto, but still filled with marine life and very nice reef around the outside.
Day 2: Snorkeling Thunderball Grotto
We are *sort of* trying to make it to Thunderball Grotto to snorkel at low/slack tide. It’s a bit early for our schedule, though, and ultimately we decide as long as we get there at a “low-ish” tide, it should be fine. We just don’t want my parents first snorkeling experience of the trip to require diving below the water to make it into the grotto.
There is quite a bit of current in the area, so not the ideal first place to take new snorkelers – but we make do. Fortunately, we are able to anchor the dinghy and swim a short distance to shallow water where everyone can touch. Here we are able to take our time getting ready and all the gear situated. As we head into the grotto, there is a bit of a current opposing our entrance (per usual), but everyone makes it in – so far, so good. We spend some time enjoying all the colorful fish and the nooks and crannies of the grotto. Matt checks out a couple of the small, underwater swim throughs – and manages to find a wedding ring! Yes, a wedding ring – a man’s wedding band. This is the second wedding band that Matt has found, with the first being less than a year ago when snorkeling in Hawaii. We are trying to return these to the rightful owners, so if you know anyone who lost a wedding band at Thunderball Grotto – send them our way!
After everyone has gotten a chance to enjoy the grotto, we want to check out the reef on the back side. Since we are not at low tide, though, the back opening is no longer open (to the air). We decide the better option is to head back out the front and then just take the dinghy around. We know it will be a drift snorkel anyways, so it’ll be nice to have the dinghy dragging behind us. Starting at the far side, we all hop in the water and are rushed by pretty reef and lots of aquarium fish. We also manage to spot a small nurse shark – pretty exciting for the first snorkel! We all climb back in the dinghy so that we can drift by again. Next, we do a quick snorkel in front of the grotto – which doesn’t have much reef, but true to our expectations, we spot two sea turtles! They are quite small, but don’t seem to be afraid of us, so we can observe them pretty close-up.
A while back, Matt received a recommendation that we should snorkel the “big rock” nearby the grotto for even better snorkeling that isn’t crowded. Which reminds me – we snorkeled the grotto and outside reef ALL BY OURSELVES. If you’ve never been to the grotto, this probably doesn’t mean anything – but let me tell you, that is super RARE. Anyways, we are now in search of this big rock. According to Active Captain, there is literally a rock nearby called “Big Rock” – I think this must be it. It’s not. We go back to the grotto and decide to try the rocks right there – there are three, including the grotto. We check out the larger one, closest to Staniel Cay and are not disappointed. Once again, it’s a drift snorkel – and a very fast one at that. It takes us along the entire side of the rock, and then shoots us out around the corner, continuing to push us along reef the entire time. Quite fun!
Day 2: Paddle boards, lights, and a show
Eventually, we decide to head back to the boat – happy that our first snorkeling adventure was quite a success. Once back, my mom and I decide to break out the paddle boards and take Monster to the beach. Monster is quite adept to the paddle boards and even gets excited when you bring one over to the back of the boat for her to jump on. The best part, though, is when you have two people paddle boarding because she will jump from paddle board to paddle board while you’re underway (if you get close enough of course). It’s quite amusing and makes the activity all the more fun. As we are paddling towards shore, there is a catamaran with a young family onboard cooing over Monster. We head over to say hi and are not only greeted by the family but a nurse shark that seems to have adopted them for the day. It’s a nice size shark and just keeps swimming under our paddle boards and then over to their swim platform for a quick pet (and almost certainly hoping for food).
When we arrive on the beach, we notice that a couple pigs seem to be walking over to us. Yes, technically we did land on the Pig Beach, but at the far end so that Monster wouldn’t disturb them. Apparently, they plan to disturb us. I’m able to find two small carrots leftover in the water, so my Mom gives the pigs a quick treat for all the effort of their long walk. We plan to come back in the morning with the whole gang, but it’s still fun as a quick introduction to the pigs!
While we are off having fun paddle boarding, the guys are hard at work back on the boat. They get that shower pump installed, before moving on to our underwater LED lights. About the second time we turned on our underwater LED lights after having them installed (brand new), they quit working. Well actually, three of the four quit working. It’s always the same thing – take out the fuse, replace it, and then all four lights will turn on for a few seconds before the same three turn off again. Clearly an electrical issue. It turns out to be a fairly simple fix, though. They replace the main fuse with a slightly larger amp fuse, and then replace one of the main splices that is running into the electrical board. That seems to do the trick – now we can show off with an underwater light show!
It’s getting dark and all the mega yachts in the anchorage have underwater lights on, so we’re excited to turn our working ones on now too! Not to brag (ok, maybe a bit), but our lights are WAY BETTER! Our lights are full color spectrum RGB lights, which mean that we can select any color we want. Or better yet, we just let the colors keep cycling so we have color-changing lights. We are the only boat that we have seen in person so far that has color-changing underwater lights – pretty neat! We have a visitor that thinks so too.
A nurse shark comes up to our boat, seemingly checking out our new underwater light show. It sticks around for quite a while, coming up real close to the swim platform before circling back under the boat. We know we really shouldn’t, but we decide to feed it. It comes right up the swim platform, basically eats out of our hands, and then lets us pet its back. It’s a pretty amazing experience, and we all have a blast watching the shark while it enjoys a gourmet meal of tuna and hotdog. Even Monster seems to take interest, although possibly just upset that some other animal is getting all tuna.
Day 3: Visiting the swimming pigs
We wake up in the morning and dinghy over to see the pigs. The idea is to catch them early before they have a chance to get full from all the tourists feeding them. I think we might be just a bit TOO early, as many of them seem more interested in sleeping than the (fresh!) carrots we brought them. There are still enough that show interest, though, and a couple that show too much interest – these things can start to get aggressive. We take turns feeding the pigs. Well except my dad, who doesn’t seem very impressed. He says that he’s fed enough pigs during his days on the farm. Fair enough.
I’m pretty adamant that I want to see the pigs swim. After all, that’s supposed to be their claim to fame – right? Which is ironic, because as someone pointed out to us the first time we visited – all pigs swim. Regardless, I still want to see them swim so I head out into the water with my carrots. I eventually get a couple takers, though they don’t seem too impressed. After a while, we are low on carrots, and tired of being harassed by the bossy pigs. Monster is also quite unhappy after being chased by one of the pigs. We load back into the dinghy and head back to the boat. We’ve got a big day of activities planned ahead.
Day 3: Swimming with nurse sharks
We motor a few miles over towards Compass Cay where we plan to swim with the popular nurse sharks. We are able to find an okay place to anchor nearby, and then load into the dinghy to head into the Compass Cay Marina. When we arrive, we are quite excited to see that there are only a handful of other people in the water. We put on our snorkel gear (minus the fins so we don’t kick any sharks), and hop in the water. The sharks are quite active today, swimming around us right away. Everyone has lots of opportunities to observe the sharks up very close, pet their backs, and receive a few more friendly nudges than expected. We take lots of GoPro video to capture the moment. I don’t think my parents ever thought they would swim with sharks. Fortunately, everyone seemed to really enjoy it! My dad is definitely more impressed with the swimming nurse sharks than the swimming pigs.
Day 3: Snorkeling the Rocky Dundas caves
After getting our fill of the sharks, we head back to the boat and pick up anchor. We motor a very short distance over to one our favorite anchorages, Fowl Cay. We are excited to see that we have the whole place to ourselves. Given that we are close to low tide, we decide to head straight over to the Rocky Dundas caves – no time to waste. We want to have easy access to the caves and not require anyone to swim completely underwater to enter. The water is quite a bit rougher than the first time Matt and I visit, but it’s still manageable. We all enter the first cave, have a nice look around. It’s gorgeous, but really only a 5 minute activity. Then we swim to the second cave and do the same thing. There is some very nice coral between the two caves which we enjoy along the way, including endangered Elk Horn coral. After exiting the second cave, there is more current than we realized making our swim back quite difficult. I lead my parents over to a mooring ball, where we hang out while Matt puts those long free diving fins to work. He swims back to the dinghy and then drives over to pick us up! So much better than fighting the current.
Day 3: Fun finds at Fowl Cay
Once we get back to the boat, we decide to continue snorkeling at the coral heads in our anchorage. We grab Monster and try a new method of snorkeling with her – using a large blow up mat. She’s not very impressed, and it doesn’t work the best, but it does work. Our snorkeling turns out to be quite short, though, as there is an unexpected current coming through the area. With my parents still being so new to snorkeling, we decide to swim back to the boat and out of the current – which unfortunately also means away from the reef.
It turns out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise, though. Without pretty reef and fish to look at, we start looking closer at what is around us – and find sand dollars! Lots of white, dried out sand dollars. We all snorkel around, searching for sand dollars to collect along with some other small finds. We spot several hermit crabs in gorgeous shells, and even manage to find a couple pretty (large, spiral) shells that are empty, which we keep! We notice a handful of small (living) conch, which we admire but leave as they are. Eventually some larger animals come around the boat including a barracuda and a couple sting rays adding to our view. My parents even manage to spot a flounder somehow – which are extremely hard to see as they blend into the sand. They are quite amusing fish, though – completely flat with two bubble eyes on the top side.
Stay tuned for our next post to see how the rest of the week turned out!
