Super Bowl and Beyond (2/5/13)

The trip back to Black Point was uneventful with winds on our nose but without much gusto behind them.  We motored the entire 10 miles back and settled in before noon.  The afternoon was spent on an extended hike and preparations for super bowl viewing.

Apparently football is a popular sport for Bahamians and there was quite some excitement amongst the local population about the game.  The Ravens appeared to be the favorite team of many a Bahamian and we enjoyed watching the game at DeShamon’s Restaurant in Black Point with numerous other cruisers and lots of locals.  DeShamon’s put out an amazing array of snacks, including some top notch conch fritters, followed by the best conch chowder I’ve had to date and THEN a full fledged pig roast and all the fixings!  When halftime came, the cruisers found their way back to their boats – cruisers midnight being somewhere between 7 and 9pm, HA!

Since then we took advantage of all of the services available at this little gem of a Bahamian town.  We did laundry at Ida’s (Rockside Laundry) and caught up on email and internet tasks – banking, blog posting, etc.  I showed Nancy from Pegasus the deserted beach Rob and I had found and we enjoyed a long hike there and back as well as finding a treasure trove of sea beans and having a great swim on a gorgeous white sand perfect beach.

We’ve really enjoyed the past week or so traveling with Pegasus and Java.  Last night we had a sundowner aboard Java with their famed “java juice”, a concoction of coconut and dark rum, pineapple juice and ginger syrup.  Yummy but lethal!  This morning we all left the anchorage together and sailed the perfect breeze up the seven or so miles to today’s destination of Staniel Cay.

Staniel Cay boasts pig island – yup, pig island – and the Thunderball Grotto.  Crazy enough, somehow some domestic pigs ended up on the island ages ago and they have adapted.  They actually swim out to boat for food and the sight is quite something.  We enjoyed a feeding excursion ourselves and then scoped out the other beaches in our little stretch of paradise.

A set of power boaters have claimed a section of beach here and have set up an all out mini resort with picnic tables, chairs, a fire pit, beach games and even a gas BBQ grill!  We met there late this afternoon for a swim and happy hour and enjoyed the sunset with a couple of the “founders” and some fellow cruisers. 

Most of our little group will be heading north for their crossing to Eleuthera later this week while Rob and I stay here to explore the grotto (the underwater cave in the James Bond movie) and the surrounding area.  Good friends aboard Windward and Long Gone are just north of us and heading our way – more to look forward to – and soon we’ll make our trek to Georgetown for the so called “adult day care”.  The fun continues!