Thunderball Grotto, Iguanas and Pigs in the Exumas

Photo taken inside cave looking out.

As we moved up the chain of the Exumas, a string of narrow islands stretching for 90 miles, it became apparent that we would be remiss if we did not visit three particular locations which nearly all sailors do. It would be like traveling to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. After returning from Paris, people would react strongly upon learning that you had skipped the Eiffel Tower. “Wait a minute—you went to Paris and you didn’t go see the Eiffel Tower? Why in heaven’s name not?”

Cave filled with snorkelers and fish

So it is in this instance. “You went to the Exumas? Did you see the swimming pigs? Did you go to the Thunderball Grotto? Did you see the iguanas?” And so, we did all three. 

Thunderball Grotto - Staniel Cay

The Thunderball Grotto is a cave under an uninhabited island near Staniel Cay. It is underwater at high tide. But, between low and slack tide one can swim into the cave. The cave is filled with fish that also like caves and it is, quite spectacular. 

Queen Angelfish

I had a tete a tete with a Queen Angelfish that was astonishing. She repeatedly swam so close to me that it was difficult to photograph her. A superb problem to have from my point of view.

Huge cave with high ceiling and natural
sky lights

The Thunderball Grotto has two entrances and so we felt compelled to exit by the other which led to significant corals and fishes outside the cave as well. Beautiful! I highly recommend this snorkel spot.

Since the cave must be entered at slack tide, the tourist
boats delivered many other snorkelers to explore at
the same time as we did.

Iguana Preserve - Bitter Guana

The island of Bitter Guana is home to an iguana preserve for endangered rock iguanas. Most of the remaining 5000 live on that island, enjoying the dry heat and sand and plant life that they eat. We anchored nearby and went to shore to see them, the only people on the beach at the time. We’ve seen many kinds of iguanas on various islands but these were a different species. 

Note the criss-cross striping on the sand.  Those are from iguana tails.

It is not hard to believe that there are thousands of iguanas on the island. Everywhere we walked iguanas have left signs of their presence. Iguana tracks criss-cross the sand between all the clumps of Sea Grape bushes. Those and other waist high plants are really good for hiding, especially if you are an iguana. With some effort, we found two large ones by following the sound of rustling leaves. 

Found one large iguana hiding here.

In time a speed boat arrived with a load of tourists and music blaring. I thought, ‘Oh great, the iguanas are going to run as far away as they can now.’ But instead, it was as if a dinner bell had been rung. Iguanas came out of hiding onto the beach, running to greet the tourists. 

A tourist handed me her skewer to feed
the iguana

Unbeknownst to me, the tour boats, in an effort to ensure that their guests get to actually see the star attractions, had taken to supplying their guests with tiny pieces of food attached to long bamboo skewers. 

One of many who came hustling out of hiding
for tour boat

One of the iguanas, being sorely mistaken that I would have food as well, ran right up to me and put his face into my camera lens as I knelt on the ground. I got some great shots of an iguana front and back leg, belly, and tail. Real close-ups.

How's this for a close-up?

The Swimming Pigs - Big Major Cay

On to the story of the swimming pigs. Yes, there are pigs living on the island of Big Major Cay and pigs do know how to swim. That is not astonishing. They are not wild pigs, which I had assumed they were, prior to our visit and that fact surprised me. I had thought that they were feral pigs which ended up stranded on the island after some shipwreck 200 years ago. That would have made some sense to me. But no, some residents of Staniel Cay nearby, brought piglets to Big Major Cay.  And the pigs, in turn, have certainly brought in the tourists.

Pig who wants me to feed him.

The pigs sometimes swim out to meet people. They did not feel so inclined for our visit. There are awesome photos of pigs online, swimming with tourists. Cute, I admit. There are also reports of the pigs biting people. Can a pig differentiate between a scrap of food and my finger? Essentially no. Pigs will eat anything. Their primary objective in life is to eat and cool down. 

We did bring scraps from our lunch

As a farmer’s daughter, it is my opinion that pigs do not belong in the Exumas. There is no mud to lie in to cool down. The ocean is there of course, but does not provide a covering for their skin as does mud. Ocean water evaporates quickly, the salt is a desicant and the sand is HOT! There is no fresh water on the island.  It is now provided by people bringing it to them. Apparently there were a few pig fatalities until somebody figured that out. 

Since the pigs are accustomed to getting food from
people, I caution turning one's backside
to them.

Pigs do not sweat. I know it is a common phrase, “I’m sweating like a pig.” But pigs do not sweat. And that is a bit of a problem for them. They need to keep cool and certainly not over exert themselves in the heat because of this. They are at risk for heat stroke and death. So, bringing them onto a hot coral island with no soil, is not a very nice thing to do to a pig.  

There are a few half-grown pigs
 and one piglet on the island.

If they’re bent on bringing in an animal to attract tourists, I suggest an animal that thrives in this environment. Like maybe…. camels? Again, just my opinion.

"Hey, You're Going the Wrong Way!"

Isla Saona, off the southeast corner of the DR. A beautiful national park.

Geography can be hard. The largest land masses, the seven continents of North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Antarctica……I had all of those solidly nailed down by the 6th grade thanks to our American public education system. 

I gave in to the teaching that Europe and Asia are considered two continents when in fact, they look pretty darn much like one huge land mass to me. Hmph. Go figure. And who got to decide that Australia was a continent but Greenland was too small to make the cut? Was there a vote? If so, Greenland and some other island nations needed better representation, but I digress. 

Puerto Bahía Marina, Samaná Peninsula, DR

Frankly, until only a few years ago, I was quite content to live my life without giving the smaller chunks of land sticking up out of the oceans any thought whatsoever. All of those thousands of smaller lands, the islands— their very existence occupied an embarrassingly small amount of gray matter in my head. 

Far from our usual marina experience, this is the most
elegant marina we have ever seen.  Inexpensive, too.

I confess this now only to put the readership at ease.  If for example, you have ever been one to surreptitiously dig out an atlas (or to Google) to see where we were while in Trinidad, Grenada, Bonaire, Curacao and now the Dominican Republic, as far as I am concerned, that  is no cause for shame. 

The town of Samaná, on the northeast side of the DR. Home of the Bridge to Nowhere.

Up until a month ago, we had no intention of being in the Dominican Republic right now. Why? Because it’s way north of Bonaire. And when we were in Bonaire, we were really pretty close to South America. Our plans (written in sand, as my husband is wont to say) were to sail to Colombia after the winds settled a bit, later on in April/May.  

Riding a 4 passenger motorized bike

From Colombia, we were to go on to the San Blas Islands (off the eastern Panamanian coast), then to Panama proper and perhaps further north in Central America for the hurricane season where we would have left the boat for a visit back to the U.S.

Our driver, a real ham. Made ambulance
siren sounds much of the way to the
Bridge to Nowhere.

I don’t know whether anybody else has had this thought, but one of our FB friends commented the other day, “Hey, you’re going the wrong way!” Now that guy knows his geography. Indeed, we have moved away from South America and toward the U.S.

Bridge to Nowhere--a resort project that
was abandoned.

For a variety of reasons, we decided that we were not inclined to sail on to Colombia and Central America at this time. Many of our sailing friends have already sailed there and onward. We love seeing FB reports of where they are and what they are doing. We would certainly have enjoyed sailing with them there, but that didn’t happen at the right time.  About a month ago, we looked around and realized that nobody had a gun to our heads saying “You MUST sail on to Colombia from Bonaire” and so we just decided not to.

At the far end of the Bridge to Nowhere

Call us whimsical; call us changeable, tumbleweeds blowin’ in the wind, or simply sailboat vagabonds, but we are heading back to the East Coast of the U.S. for the hurricane season. As you may recall from previous posts, our marine insurance policy requires that we remove our boat from the hurricane zone between June 1 and November 1. 

Paintings sold at the base of bridge

If Northern Star were to remain in the heart of the hurricane zone and was then damaged in a hurricane, she would not be insured. So, our options from Bonaire were: 1) go on to the coast of Central America, 2) return to Trinidad {below 10 degrees latitude N} or 3) move the boat above the Florida/Georgia border. We chose #3. (You and I know that hurricanes hit the U.S. coast north of the Florida/Georgia border as well, but the boat insurers came up with this arbitrary line on the map, so….there you have it. Somebody voted on the geography again).

My first piña colada served
in a pineapple

We still have ~2000 kilometers, or 1079 nautical miles, or 1242 statute miles to get from our current location in Samaná, DR to the Florida/Georgia border. We will bypass about 700 islands (no exaggeration) before then. We will go through the Turks and Caicos, the Exumas and the Ragged Islands and finally the Abacos. We’ll stop at a few of them to explore, rest and to snorkel. 

The Dominican Republic lies east of Cuba and is not pictured above.

All of the above islands are part of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas which is scattered over an area of 100,000 square miles of ocean. Most of these islands are so small that you may have difficulty finding them on a map. And this might be a brain bender for some—the Bahamas are not part of the Caribbean. What? Yes, it's true. The Bahamas are not on the Caribbean Sea. They are in the Atlantic Ocean. See, it’s that geography stuff again. Geography can be hard.