A Tale of Two Cities

 

A post by Mark

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  I think that was from a Tale of Two Cities (at least that’s what the Cliffs Notes say- which I’m pretty sure is the only way I muddled through that one in high school).

Anyway – it is a good way to describe our time in Staniel Cay – which was close to 2  month ago – but I’m just now able to write about it.  While we had some great experiences there, we also had our worst experience of our trip (no need to worry – we’re good and were never in any danger or anything like that).  So – here’s a summary of our Staniel Cay experience:

We arrived on a beautiful afternoon where we sailed (mostly motored) on the ‘outside’  – on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Exuma islands (vs the shallow Exuma sound side).  Most of the time, we traveled on the Sound side – as it was always calmer weather – both wind and waves, but that day, we decided to go outside – as that is where you can catch fish as you sail.  If you listen to the stories that most of the other boats were telling us, you would think that the fish would just be waiting to hop into our boat and all but filet themselves wanting to become dinner.  That has not been our experience, and as per usual, the catch of the day that night was rice and beans.  Oh well.  It was a pretty sailin the ocean, and while there was a ton of current in the cut and around some small reefs and islands leading to the anchorage, everything went smoothly.  The anchorage was a bit crowded, but we were able to find a spot, get settled, and had a good night.

Staniel Cay is known for two main things – the swimming pigs and the Thunderball Grotto.

The next morning, we decided to see the swimming pigs. Here’s the deal… As the story goes, a handful of pigs got loose on Big Major Cay (right next door from Staniel Cay) and have been living there ever since.  They have now been conditioned to swim out to tourists to get food / snacks.  Here are some pics of swimming pigs.

We went early – before the ‘tourists’ – and had a good time.  We pet some of the piglets, and had fun hanging out with them.

So – to the bad part…. There are multiple signs that warn folks who want to feed the pigs to either do it in the water or to put the food in the troughs for the pigs to eat – but not to feed them by hand on land.  A group of folks either ignored, couldn’t understand (as they were only written in English), or didn’t see the warnings and started to feed the pigs on the beach.  This started a stampede of pigs of all sizes – and at the end, a baby piglet (probably less than a week old) gottrampled by a huge hog. Without going into a lot of details, it was really hard to witness this little pig die.  It hit us all really hard – harder than I would have thought it would.  The next few hours were awful.  While we all pretended that we were OK – we weren’t.  We had the worst series of arguments, shouting matches, and yelling at each other we’ve ever had. It was truly awful. After about 3 or 4 hours of this, we finally had a breakthrough.  We finally realized that we were not just sad, but really mad that somebody’s carelessness caused this senseless suffering.  Once we got it out in the open – we started to feel a bit better.

About 1 o’clock, we were mostly better, and decided to go to the Thunderball Grotto.  As the name implies, the Thunderball Grotto is the grotto where parts of the James Bond film Thunderball was filmed (I’m going to re-watch that when we get home – as I only vaguely remember the grotto scenes).  Anyway, the grotto is a real place – and pretty cool.  It would be truly phenomenal – if it weren’t for the crowds. You see, the best time to go to the grotto is near low-tide and near noon – so, when we got there at 1:00, it was pretty crowded.  Now – our notion of crowded has definitely shifted over the past few months – as we are getting used to anchorages with one or two boats and only a handful of people.  We’re also used to hanging out mainly with local folks (who have been some of the nicest people we’ve ever met) or other cruisers – who are typically low-key, laid back people. The Thunderball Grotto (and Staniel Cay, in general) was swamped with folks from megayachts and vacationers from nearby resorts.  Compared to what we have become accustomed to, it felt crowded – and that took a bit away from the experience (but it was still phenomenal).   OK – sorry for the rant…. Back to the story…

To get into the grotto, you swim under a low ledge and into a bigger inner-cavern.  Once inside, there is light from an overhead opening and a few underwater holes and a bunch of fish.  Pretty cool.  Here are some pics.

On the outside of the grotto, there are even more cool fish, coral, and general awesomeness.

The next day was Sunday – one of the coolest (and still most memorable) days on our trip.  Being Sunday – we went to church.  Note – this is not a normal thing for us – but we had heard from several people that church in the Bahamas was an experience not to be  missed.  “They” were absolutely right.   We went to the Staniel Cay Baptist Church – a ‘medium-sized’ church overlooking the water on a beautiful point of land.  We got there a few minutes early – and were among less than 10 other people in the building – and all of those folks were somehow ‘formally’ involved in the service (the 3-person choir, the reverend and his wife, the passage-readers, and other church leaders).  Needless to say – we stuck out a bit.  The service got started with a bang!  Singing and dancing right out of the gate.  It was – dare I say – fun!  After a few minutes, the pews more or less filled in – just as the second song began.  After a few readings, another catchy tune, the addition of a drummer to the ensemble (another cruiser who just ‘joined in’), we got to the part of the service where we greet the other parishioners.  Now – growing up Catholic, I’m expecting the usual ‘handshake and mumbled greeting.’  Not at the Staniel Cay Baptist Church!  We all got up and circulated through the church – with everybody giving each other a full-fledged hug and exclaiming our love for one another.  The really cool thing was that it really seemed as though each person truly loved each other person there.  It was a really uplifting experience.  After that came the ‘fire and brimstone’ portion of the service – and while it was a bit hard to follow at times – the passion of the pastor was quite impressive.  The service ended with a last song – and we were on our way.  It was a really great experience.  We are still singing the songs from the service – with all of the respect that they deserve.

So – in a place known for some pretty unique tourist attractions, our best experience was spent with group of truly genuine Bahamians who kindly invited us into their lives for a few hours.

Until next time…

Mark