Day 171 - Oink Oink — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 50, fuel purchased 0, slip fee $0 we are finally on the hook, daily high temperature 78°f

Even-though the winds are forecast not to drop until tonight we cast off. Five days in paradise was enough. We had visited every beach and site on Highbourne Cay multiple times. Dale topped off the water tanks with 42 gallons of water at 50 cents per gallon.

Craig and Day Olney brought Toucan Deux into the marina to fuel up. Then they set off for a short trip to Shroud Cay. That is about 7 miles. They hailed us on the VHF to ask if we had changed our mind about traveling 50 miles today in lumpy conditions. The wind has been up and down with periods of no white caps so we continued on. The forecast for the week is to get flatter and flatter.

We are headed to Big Majors Spot. I do not know why it is called Spot and not Cay. I will research it. We will be just north of the town of Staniel. Staniel has a marina, grocery store, shops, bars and restaurants.. Perhaps after a night or two on the hook we will be ready for some recreation. Big Majors Spot is home to the world famous spotted swimming pigs. They will come right to you and expect to be fed. We have been told they favor carrots. Be careful when you feed them or they might bite your finger off thinking it is a nice juicy carrot.

The little porkers are next to our dingy.

FEED ME! FEED ME NOW!

Staniel will be our southern most destination in the Exumas. We will cruise back north to Nassau and then cruise to the Abacos. We have chatted with boaters that have been cruising the Bahamas for over six months. Our one month cruise is starting to feel very short.

Here is a view of the shoreline. There are also several white sand beaches. The water is crystal clear.

Some people have bigger and more toys. There is the old adage that he who dies with the most toys wins.

We are on our hook tonight for the fifth time in 171 days. We will use our generator and survive on the 150 gallons of water in our ranks and the 30 gallons of drinking water we have in gallon jugs. Worst case is we will pull into a local marina and purchase mote water.

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day

“The Bahamas has mangrove nurseries, coral reefs, shallow sea grass beds, and deep oceanic trenches – all perfect ecosystems for sharks. Photographing multiple shark species in exquisite water was the assignment I had dreamed about from the start.”

Brian Skerry

Brian Skerry is an underwater photojournalist who works primarily for National Geographic magazine.

Skerry was born in Milford, Massachusetts in 1962, and grew up in Uxbridge. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in media and communications from Worcester State College in 1984. Before becoming a professional photographer, he worked selling corrugated materials and pursued photography on the side.

Skerry has worked for National Geographic’ since 1998 and has photographed a number of feature stories. Before 1998 he primarily worked doing shipwreck photography in the waters off of New England, but through his relationship with National Geographic he has now shifted to wildlife photography throughout the world. In so doing he has become passionate about sounding the alarm of the decline of the world’s fishing stocks; several of his recent stories focus on conservation photography. Over his three-decade career, he has spent over 10,000 hours underwater.