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Diane and I take turns piloting our
rented 13 foot Boston Whaler around the islands.
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Oh the indignity and humiliation ! We I ran
aground at least 5 times on the shallow sandy bottom. As the skipper
it was my chore to pull the boat over the flats back to deep water.
Here we are heading south between Joe Cay and Pipe Cay. According
to the chart this was supposed to be a deep water dinghy route
!
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This is our beautiful, private, secluded beach on Pasture
Cay. Talk about paradise on earth ! We had the whole island to
ourselves. We stopped here for lunch and a swim in our private
cove.
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Big Majors Spot (the island just north of Staniel Cay) is
inhabited by a pig named Emily. She comes out into the water looking
for handouts from anyone who comes ashore.
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Just off the coast of Staniel Cay is Thunderball Grotto. It's a small
rocky islet with a cave. The roof of the cave fell in long ago. Several
movies have been filmed here, namely the James Bond thriller, "Thunderball",
hence its name. The entrance is shown on the left. At high tide, the
cave opening is barely visible and you have to dive down under the rocky
roof to get inside. Once inside the cave opens up. The big hole in the
roof lets in light. The snorkeling here was great!. You just have to
watch your head while you're snorkeling around inside the cave. Diane
wasn't careful and got a few head bruises!
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The entrance to Thunderball Grotto.
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Inside the cave looking back to the entrance.
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The big beautiful blue and yellow fish are
Queen Angelfish.
The reddish fish (below)that looks like it has
a big black eye is a Squirrelfish.
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To the right is a Nassau Grouper. It was very large! The small
striped fish in the lower left corner, called Sergeant Majors,
are about the size of your hand!
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