Wednesday, we sailed up to Staniel Cay where Gaye was able to secure a mooring in front of the Yacht Club. Not a club at all, basically this was a marina with a restaurant.  We walked the docks yucking at the handful of mega yachts here. Luckily the majority of boats at anchor or on moorings, were catamarans like ours.  A considerable minority, less than 20%, of the sailboats were monohulls, a big shift from a generation ago.

We went ashore for happy hour at the Yacht Club which turned into a yummy dinner of fried grouper, stonecrab claws (not as good as blue crab) and pizza shared around the table.

Above: Dinghy landing at the Staniel Caye Yacht Club

The next day, we sailed from Staniel Cay up Exuma Bank and into the Exumas Land and Sea Park. Here again were the lovely, striated waters of light green, azure, turquoise, and cobalt signaling differing depths. We did a picnic anchorage to snorkel the Aquarium.  We had heard about the Aquarium when we chartered down here with the Bugenhagens and others 2 years ago.  It did not disappoint.  The aptly named Aquarium is partially circled by a small island had ideal conditions (calm enclosure? no anchors? ideal depth of 3-15 feet) to support a healthy coral reef ecosystem.  The many fish included blue and brown parrotfish, several angelfish, schools of silvery jacks, grunts, snapper etc etc.  Exceptional! The coral themselves were impressive and included brain, fire, funnel, fan etc of all colors.

After snorkeling, we pulled anchor to hit another recommended stop, Rocky Dundas.  These were hollowed out grottos complete with stalactites and stalagmites and sunlight from above.  Despite timing this trip for low tide, the sizable waves roiled and washed the rocks precluding our entrance into the cavern.  Instead, we dinghied over to Rachel’s Bath.  This was a sandy wash walk reminiscent of the western desert across the Cay. The Bath was near the Sound side. The rising tide began allowing crashing waves over the rocky sides of the Bath, cooling the Bath and adding white water energy that sent us walking back to the shore near Katoomba.

Sally goes in for another attempt to find conches for happy hour

Above: Sally and Gaye sort the conch haul for the best keepers.

Having extracted the conch meat using hammer and pliers, then pounding it tender, Gaye transformed the meaty chunks into a delicious fried appetizer to accompany our margaritas.

Fresh fried conch