What an interesting area Staniels Cay through the Exuma Cays land & Sea Park to Allans Cay is.

The entry in through the cut to Staniels Cay was a little on the rough side with water rushing all around us. This was what we saw in front of our boat as we surfed some of the waves in and the following photo is Our Rose coming in after us. Needless to say not many boats leaving the cut at this time.

Once inside, Staniel Cay was very pretty with lots to see and do. Amazing coloured water.

The nurse sharks in the marina not so nice…..

Snorkeling with the fish and seeing great coral in the Thunderball grotto, from the 1964 James Bond movie Thunderball, was impressive. We may have to watch this movie again.

The wild pigs on the beach at Big Major Cay some of which swim out to meet the dingy for food were entertaining to watch.

Pirates beach at Big Major Cay made for a great place to have sausages over an open fire and marshmallows. Cruisers have made a great area to enjoy a BBQ and play games.

Of course more great sunsets….

Warderick Wells is in the Exumas Cay Park and is a no take zone so no fishing. The North Mooring field was so pretty with a small channel that you come up to get a mooring ball. There were great hikes on the island one of which took us up to Boo Boo Hill with terrific views of the area and to a monument made by cruisers where they leave driftwood with their names on it.

The snorkeling in the park was impressive with giant lobster climbing over the coral. We only wished we had caught a lobster as big but I guess they are in the Park so they can grow.

Shroud Cay was a great place to get in the kayaks and make our way through the mangrove rivers to the Exumas Sound side. No motorized vehicles in one channel so Richard rowed the dingy, which was a good effort given how far it seemed to go and how shallow it got.

Normans Cay, an island known in the late 70’s early 80’s for its drug smuggling operations. It was here that Carlos Lehder used it as a base for smuggling cocaine into the United States. The DEA set up spies on neighboring cays and gained enough evidence to indict and imprison him. Just off the shore towards the airport runway there is a wrecked DC3 in shallow water a reminder of the drug smuggling days.

At Allan’s Cay we went to see the Exuma Iguanas, which came running towards the dingy and stood waiting patiently for food. We counted 18 on the beach.

The sharks at Highborne Cay Marina were huge and hungry! Eeeek.

Public transport not as efficient by the look of things.

We had a delicious meal out at Highborne Cay Marina. We were celebrating a surprise early birthday for Richard and our final dinner out with Jen & Richard.

See you in the US Jen & Richard….lots of good times were definitely had. They are heading towards Florida, so West and we are heading East to Eleuthera Island.