Swimming Pigs, Thunderball Grotto and a Regata

With January behind us, we have completed our first month as liveaboards and it has been filled with joy and nervousness. Almost all the nervousness is on me, as I seem to be having issues with the shallow waters of the Bahamas and the fear of wrecking a brand-new boat and our new home. This trip was again filled with this same trepidation as we left Warderick Wells and headed south avoiding sand banks and various shoals. Just something I need to get used to. 

First stop of the day was at Big Major around a 4-hour motor sail because the winds were light and on the nose, there was no sailing today. Big Major is the home of the famous swimming pigs of the Bahamas. We anchored just off the beach so we could beat the crowds that would be arriving from the various islands via tour boats. By around 15:00 we took Zorro for a shore break on a close beach to get him a swim, dig, and ball play - NOT where the pigs live.

The next morning after an early breakfast we hit Pig Beach as you dinghy up to the beach the pigs get super excited and start to get into the water and swim out to the boat. We had some carrots and various veggies for them to snack on. It is such a strange thing having these absolutely huge pigs swim around and bumping into your boat so that they could get a carrot or two. We went to shore and fed some of the smaller piglets and checked out their home right there on the beach. These pigs have a waterfront home and get food delivery from all the tourists. Forget about it being a dog's life, I want a Bahamas pig's life. More boats started to arrive and we needed to get back to get all our snorkel gear to head off to Thunderball Grotto, so we bid farewell to the pigs and headed back to the boat. 

We got to Thunderball Grotto just as the tide was ebbing. This makes it a bit easier to enter and by low tide, all the tour boats will start to arrive so it is highly recommended that you get there before low tide. This was an absolutely amazing cave with several chambers and swim-throughs plus some small bats. After about 40 minutes of swimming around with just a handful of people, the entrance started to get crowded as the first tour boat arrived with about 20 people. As we left we could see other boats dropping anchor all packed with people. So glad we got there early as we had it practically to ourselves. 

Staniel Cay Yacht Club was just a short dinghy ride and we wanted to stretch our legs and walk around Staniel Cay to take in the town. It was quite beautiful with colourful pink, blue, and green homes that the Bahamas are famous for.  We had Zorro with us so we grabbed a seat on the patio and had a great dinner looking over the shark-filled waters around the docks. They stay here waiting for the people to come and clean the fish. Not water you want to wade in. 

During our stay, we heard that there was a regatta happening on Great Guana Cay. We lifted anchor at first light and headed off to see if we could find an anchor spot to watch the races. This was a short motor that probably should have taken two hours but due to my anxiety around the shallow water, it took us almost 4 hours. We did find a good spot right off Oven Rock Anchorage which also put us in a great viewing spot for the races the next day. We headed to the shores of Farmers Cay to partake in the beach bar festivities and meet several other cruisers. Island Dancer and crew were there, we met them over on Great Harbour Cay. 

They race these 4 crew sloop sailboats that are just so cool looking. Huge booms and planks that the crew sit on to help balance the boats. The course brought the boats right past us allowing us to cheer them on up close. It always amazes me how much control some sailors have over the boats. I hope to get there one day. 

Next blog it will be time to say goodbye to Bob and Sharon and Nikki and I move on to a world-famous cruiser to hang out to make new friends and run into some fellow Leopard 42 owners.