Thunderball

2/8 - We were about to weigh anchor at Black Point when we saw another Monk 36 approaching the harbor. First Monk we’ve seen in the Bahamas. On board Ibis was Mark from New Jersey. He motored over next to us and we chatted awhile and then we were on our way. Because the winds were light we decided to travel on the Sound side so the guys could get in some fishing – no luck though – not even a bite. We headed into Staniel Cay through Big Rock Cut. This is our second time here, but last time we entered from the Banks side and spent time at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. This time we chose to anchor. We found a spot that the Captain thought would have protection from the forecast winds (although the winds have been fairly calm lately we still take into account what direction they’ll be from when anchoring). We ended up having a heck of a time getting the anchor to set. We tried four different spots before we finally were successful. Second Star was able to go further into the shallows where there was lots of sand and get a good set the first try, but not us. We finally moved to the other side of Thunderball Rock and found a good spot. As it turned out, Second Star ended up moving over by us because we had a better view of the sunset.

On our agenda today was snorkeling Thunderball Cave. You pretty much have to dive during slack tide, either high or low, but preferably low tide. Today low tide was at 4:50, so around 3:45 we checked out the current, saw that there was very little, so got our snorkeling gear together and headed out. It was a pretty cool place. We took lots of pictures and will post a few. Unfortunately, we just have our little Sony in a waterproof housing, and it didn’t take the greatest pictures. However, in real life the sights were spectacular.

Later in the evening, we went over to Second Star and watched the movie, Thunderball, and had popcorn. We recognized the cave and also several scenes from Nassau where they showed portions of Junkanoo (the festival we went to right after Christmas). The movie was much more entertaining with “Local Knowledge”.

Another Monk - Mark on Ibis

Heading out Dotham Cut - There is supposedly a rock
formation that resembles 3 horses; however, even
after going in and out of the cut 3 times, I never
could decide what rock formation the guidebooks were taking about.
Must not have much of an imagination.