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On Monday May 19th, we moved from the infamous Tuckahoe Point Anchorage to Coinjock Marina. Thanks to the weather watching we had been doing in preparation for crossing Abermarle Sound, the crossing was effortless. There was more wind than we expected, but the 55 mile ride to Coinjock was very calm the entire ride because we were heading into the waves.

The first event of the day was our passing thru the Alligator River Bridge. It is a14 ft Swing Bridge that opens on demand 24hrs a day. The Bridge was about 2 hours into our 6 hour trip. We ended up buddy boating thru the lock with about 4 other boats.

That’s when the fun began. The lock operator was hilarious, his voice was like a character out of Hee-Haw 😃. Here is a clip of the lock opening, hopefully you can hear the lockmasters heavy southern drawl.

Ok, then it was on to the Work Famous Coinjock Marina. At least it was world famous to Jerry. That’s all me & Deena have heard about for the last week – was Coinjock’s famous Prime Rib & the 1 Free Beer we were gunna get from the special “Coinjock Wooden Dollar” that Jerry had received at Coinjock, with his buddy Bob in 2003CY.

The excitement was building day after day, until today, when Jerry found the old Wooden Dollar Coin he had in storage for the special occasion.

Ooops- the special Wooden Dollar Coin was for Beauford Docks, not Coinjock !!!

Crap – we passed Beaufort a couple stops ago 🤣 😂 🤣

But the highly hiped world famous Prime Rib did not disappoint. It was an impressive 32oz cut. I doubted that me & Jerry could finish it, but I was sure that Deena could not. The bet was on – who could finish the 32oz Beast.

JUST KIDDING KIDS – we split the Beast 3 ways, had several delicious sides (baked potatoes, green beans, muffins), and were stuffed to the gills after the meal.

Coinjock is a pretty cool place. It is unique in that the marina has over 1000ft of linear dockage on both the east & west side of the ICW, running parallel to the ICW. The dockhands pack the boats in bow to stern but the dock is so long that many boats can tie up here. Several boats were asked to allow another to raft up with them to allow more boats to moor (including us). The dock is almost full in the evening and clears out by noon, ready for the next day’s wave of transients. The dock hands are very helpful and knowledgable about mooring boats of all sizes. We saw several vessels over 75ft long.

Then it was time for another Good-Night Tequila & beautiful sunset. Another day in Paradise !

On Sunday May 18th, we departed Belhaven for a short ride of 34 miles to an anchorage called Tuckahoe Point.

Prior to departing Belhaven, Deena & I used the complementary marina Golf Cart, to get some more groceries from the Food Lion about 1.5 miles away.

Back to today’s Voyage. We chose the Tuckahoe Point Anchorage location, because it is just before a big section of open water called Albemarle Sound. The forecast said that Sunday was gunna be really windy, while Monday “should be pretty calm for crossing the Sound.

See the wind forcast below (Sunday vs Monday). Look at the Green/Orange wind speed/gust on Sunday (15/22mph) vs the Blue/Green wind speed/ gusts on Monday(7/13mph).

We had a wonderful peaceful ride to Tuckahoe, because we had an incredibly long strait section of water with trees on both sides. Good thing because the wind was starting to whip up, out in the bigger open water.

During today’s cruise, we saw a very malnourished guy fishin’ along the river.

We arrived at Tuckahoe Point about 3pm. Tuckahoe is a somewhat open area, just off of the ICW, but not open like Abermarle Sound. The wind was fairly strong, but we got anchored pretty quickly/smoothly.

After a short swim and safe landing drinks, Jerry & I called our Miller Marina buds – John Nelson & Al Oleszko. We talked boating for a while & made plans for the coming home drinks, and said farewell.

About an hour after our call with John & Al, and after several Frank Sinatra songs (One for my Baby, and another for the Road). Then the action for the day occurred.

Jerry noticed that we were dragging the anchor, probably drifting about 25-50ft in an open area of about 600-900ft. So we had plenty of area to drag. But Jerry doesn’t really like the plow anchor, has had issues with its holding power in certain soils, and the wind was supposed to remain high until after midnight. So we decided to pull up the anchor and reset in 25-30mph winds.

Well, during the anchor reset process and a couple good gusts of wind later, the chain rode, 100ft of braided line & the anchor – decided to leave the boat and go to Davie Jones Locker forever 😲.

When we began the anchor resetting, we thought that it was going to be a quick/ easy reset, so we did not have our headsets on. The wind was so loud, that we could not hear each other.

With Mike at the helm & Jerry at the windlass, Deena had to frantically get the headsets turned on and get 1 headset to each of us (headset photo for advertising only – taken after the excitement 😃)

Mike held the boat in position, while Jerry & Deena attached the backup Large Danford anchor with 150ft of line to the bollard. They amazingly had the backup anchor ready to go within 5 minutes. Unfortunately, we lost 55ft of chain & a 45lb stainless steel plow anchor.

10-15 minutes later we were again safely anchored in almost the exact same spot as we started. It was great teamwork to quickly recover from what could have been a bad situation.

Kudo’s to Captain Luck for having a backup anchor, and to being able to reattach it to the boat so quickly (thanks to Captain Nelson, for the anchor swap in 2018).

Upon further inspection, Jerry found the anchor line had broken at a previously strained area that he had known about. The line had been thru many years of high wind anchoring conditions, but on this date said bye bye.

About 8pm, the wind died down to a completly, “On Golden Pond” type of calm. If we had had known that the wind was going to calm down so quickly, we probably would not even have attempted to reset the anchor. The forecast had not predicted calm until after midnight.

As with all of our days on the water, thru all of our boating lives, the Lord always seems to protect us and keep us safe.

And then he blessed us with a beautiful sunset over the serene water, to end the exciting day.

On Saturday May 17th we left our beautiful anchorage at Gale Creek-1, and headed off to Belhaven North Carolina. It was a short 25 mile ride (about 2.5-3.0 hours). We purposely planned the short ride because we knew that we were going to stay in the Belhaven Marina. Being cost-conscious boaters, you get a lot more marina value if you arrive at noon vs 5/6pm. The early arrival allows us to get some laundry done, restock the boat at the grocery store, take some nice hot showers, and visit the local town.

Our voyage was initially very peaceful on a section of water I would like to call “The Narrows”. It reminded me of a section of water on the Trent-Severn Waterway, as it looks like a runway.

After the Narrows, we entered a very open area of water called the Pamlico River. It was quite breezy and moderately choppy, but luckily we were heading into the waves.

We arrived at Belhaven Marina about Noon and got fuel up and settled into our slip.

After being at Belhaven for a little while and doing some research of my blog from 2018, I realized that me and Jonell had stayed here in 2018.

Belhaven Marina is very small, but it may be the most quaint little marina that I have ever stayed at. They have a wonderful little deck out back to socialize with other boaters, and unlike most marinas – have individual Bathrooms (most have 1 large bath room with several showers). The shower rooms have very nice nautical decorations & towels supplied by the marina. That deck out back for socializing worked very well – Jerry & I met 4 other boaters and consumed 3 Red Stripe Beers during the process 👌 . Unfortunately, Deena was doing laundry while Jerry & I were making friends.

In spite of being a very small marina, Belhaven has some pretty significant history. In 1928, Belhaven was thrust into the national spotlight when it became the final link to complete the inland route of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, connecting Beaufort to Boston, making it an ocean seaport.

Saturday night we went to dinner at Belhaven’s finest, a restaurant called Spoon River Artworks & Market. Jonell & I had been there in 2018 also. As their name suggest, the place is highly decorated. We asked about the lighting chandeliers – the lights were made using recycled books. The artist actually collected the old books herself from the scrap heep. They are also decorated with beautiful flowers all over the place. As with trying to re-live many memories, the food this time was ok, but not as good on this day, as when Me & Nellie ate here in 2018.

We ended the night with a little serenity, sitting on top of the upper deck bar at Belhaven Marina.

Just a short update today.

We were planning on going from Beaufort to Belhaven North Carolina, about 70 miles. But we were all a little ragged out after the start of the trip, and the long 90 mile ride into Beaufort.

So we stopped about 2/3 of the way to Belhaven, at a really nice anchorage just off of the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway). The Red Triangle shows the location of our boat.

It was a very uneventful ride. We did see several very nice Sportfish Yachts docked along the way. Then we saw, what we thought was the newest, most beautiful Shrimping Boat that we had ever seen.

As the Shrimp Boat passed by, we soon realized that it was just another Rusty Forest Gump Shrimp Boat.

We arrived about 2:30 pm to the anchorage, early for “end-of-the-day” activities compared to the last few days.

“End-of-the-day” activities = Tequila Time

After gettin anchored, it was swimming time 😃

The anchorage is again very peaceful, with an occasional boat passing by on the ICW. The photos really don’t show how pretty the location is.

After dinner, just before dark, we were treated to a tug pushing a barge southbound on the ICW.

Well, that’s about it for today !!!

The nice thing about anchoring out, is that first thing tomorrow morning, I can go for another swim before we take off for Belhaven.

Wait !!! – bonus photos from that I forgot to include in yesterday’s post. This area is part of the “Low Country” land in North Carolina. The marsh area looks like the surface of Mars.

We left our beautiful anchorage in Wrightsville Beach heading north about 89 miles to get to Beaufort, North Carolina.

We had a very early 6:30 AM start because we had an long 89 mile voyage & we had to get to the Onslow Swing Bridge by noon. The Onslow Swing Bridge is currently undergoing maintenance and is only open between Noon and 1 PM every day. If we arrived after 1pm, we would have to wait a full day for the next opening. Our plan worked to perfection, we arrived at 11:45am 😃

Along our route to the bridge, we saw many Osprey nests above the channel Markers for the ICW. There is a light sensor in the picture above the nest, but you can see the bird in her little home.

During our ride, we could hear several loud bang/boom noises off in the distance. Then we saw this sign –

After a little research, it became apparent that we were passing thru the Camp Lejeune Military Base. We heard the loud bangs & booms, but the lights were not flashing, so we proceeded thru.

We had MANY Dolphin sightings during the day. Sorry no photos, too slow on the camera trigger.

About 3/4 of the way thru our voyage, we had a little scare. We began hearing a ringing noise that was gettin louder & louder. What could it be – stuffing boxes, trans bearing noise, cutlass bearings, an engine bearing – OMG 😲

After inspecting/listening to several areas of the boat, we decided to narrow down the issue. We slowed down, the noise was still there. We put the port transmission in neutral, the noise was still there. We slowed down & turned off the port engine & the noise got LOUDER.

OMG – As we had slowed the boat down to almost idle, we called the Vessel behind us and told them to pass. As they came by us we finally figured out that the loud ringing noise was coming from their boat 😃

This vessel was a beautiful, but very strange ship. He name was the Nellie Crockett. She was beautiful, but the boat had a VERY LOUD exhaust with a lot of clanging, ringing & whining noises.

We googled the name of the ship and found a wealth of history.

The Nellie Crockett is a Chesapeake Bay oyster buy-boat built for Andrew A. Crockett of Tangier, Virginia, in 1925. She is located at Georgetown, Maryland, USA. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

Here is a link for a more detailed history on the Nellie Crockett.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftowndock.net%2Fshippingnews%2Fnellie-crockett&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc17299060d614128bd4408dd93df74d9%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638829310125505167%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DA6jAb37Mn2HzaGgXAgRa%2FJui8RVHIzZeVAca5edkgU%3D&reserved=0

We ended the night with a dinner at the Clawson’s 1905 Pub in Beaufort. This place has a lot of character & a lot of history itself.

Well it’s late after a very long day. We are wiped out and ready for bed. One last photo as we walk back to the Mahi Mahi in the Beaufort Town Creek Marina.

Well, as I advertised on the teaser post a few days ago, this will be a somewhat boring post.

We went about 75 miles today from Little River to Wrightsville Beach North Carolina.

During our cruise today, it was a very easy ride, some nice houses to look at but slightly boring. We did have a surprising cargo freighter passing us about halfway on the Atlantic ICW. Somewhat strange for the ICW, but they were coming out of the big city Wilmington NC on the Cape Fear River, heading out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Tonight we are anchored with 3 other boats at Wrightsville Beach North Carolina. And we were treated to a sailing school coming by us with about 8 to 10 young aspiring sailors. We’re looking across the bay at the sailboats & a beautiful 80 foot Viking sport fish boat. It’s a very nice setting, very easygoing, and just an incredibly peaceful feeling. I’m getting that euphoric feeling like I had back on the Great Loop (2017/2018) and just reminding myself how much I really enjoy this lifestyle.

Our incredible chef Deena, served up a 3 course meal – salad, muffins, and a meatball soup. I know, meatball soup maybe doesn’t sound the greatest, but everything was delicious. She is amazing on what meals she can create out of a small boat galley (kitchen).

So we’re still formulating the plan for tomorrow. Each night we do research, compare notes, then decide on the next stop for tomorrow. So far it looks like Beaufort NC (pronounced Bo-Fert) about 90 miles away.

This may be a challenging day because we have reports via AGLCA that a 12ft swing bridge about 45 miles into the trip, is under repair, and you can only get thru between 12pm-1pm. Most of the bridges we go under on the ICW are 65ft tall. The Mahi Mahi is about 17ft tall.

Hopefully we will give a more exciting post next time.

Have a great night

Farewell, from Jerry, Deena, and Mike

Hey Blog Followers,

Remember the Exuma Islands Trip that Jonell & I went on with Jerry & Deena Luck on the Mahi Mahi, in 2023 ?


Well, we have a new adventure on the Mahi Mahi for 2025.

After several years of traveling between South Carolina & Marathon Key Florida every winter, The Luck’s have decided to bring the Mahi Mahi back to Michigan & use her as their summer cottage. The Mahi will soon be stationed in Miller Marina in St Clair Shores Michigan. This is the same marina that Jonell & I kept our boat “Gettin’ Looped” from 2015-2019. It is also the same marina that our mutual friends John & Cheryl Nelson keep their 42′ Chris Craft Commander – Jenny Lee (currently up for sale if anyone is interested).

So back to our upcoming adventure – a few years ago, Jerry & Deena began toying with the idea of bringing the Mahi back to Lake St Clair. They had discussed it with me & Jonell a few times, but finally made the decision earlier this winter when John Nelson was able to secure a slip for the Mahi at Miller Marina. After the slip was confirmed, The Luck’s asked The Murphree’s if we wanted to go on another adventure & help them bring the Mahi up north.


Mike jumped at the opportunity, Nellie was slightly reserved in her excitement.
Many of you know that Jonell began a successful battle against Lung Cancer in the fall of 2024. She is doing great thanks to a wonderful drug called Keytruda, an Immunotherapy drug that has virtually eliminated the 3 tumors, without Chemo or Radiation. Cancer will always be a part of our lives moving forward, but is thankfully under control now.

But due to several doctor appointments (oncology, female doctor, and dentist), Jonell has decided to pass on the trip from South Carolina to Michigan. I had drafted out a plan that would have let Jonell keep her appointments, and also come on the trip. I had identified ports/marinas that we would fly Jonell into to meet us & return back home.
But there Jonell had several reasons that made her pass on the trip –
1. She was nervous about flying by herself & taking ground transportation alone.
2. She viewed this trip as a lot less fun & a lot more work than our Great Loop or the Exuma Trip.

And she is really correct !
This trip will not be the same as our Great Loop or the Exuma Islands trip – we will not be spending 3-4 days in each port.
We will be trying to cover as many miles/day as possible – with early departures / late arrivals, and only a one night stay at each City/Port.
The goal is to get the Mahi to Miller Marina by the 4th of July, so The Lucks can enjoy the beauty of summer on Lake St Clair.

The only areas that we may slow down for some tourism or relaxation will probably be –
1. The Erie Canal
2. The Trent Severn Waterway
3. Georgian Bay

We will be departing Michigan on Monday May 12th by 1-way rental car from Royal Oak Michigan to Little River South Carolina. The car trip will be about a 12-13 hour drive.

We will depart Little River South Carolina on the Mahi Mahi , Wednesday (May 14) or Thursday (May 15).
The trip from South Carolina to Lake St Clair will be –
* A distance of about 2200 miles.
* Take about 45 days.
* Our arrival at Lake St Clair is anticipated to be between June 26th & July 5th.

Note for our Blog Followers – The coming Blog Posts will not be nearly as exciting as the Exuma Islands posts. It’s hard to write an exciting blog when you’re just firing up the engines and clicking off miles every day, but we will try our best to spice it up & show photos as we pass by interesting landmarks.
We will not be sending daily posts, but maybe a couple updates per week.
The blog will also be a way for our friends & family to keep track of where we are at.
Also keep a look out for Deena’s Luck’s Facebook posts – send her a friend request if you are not already on her Facebook network.

Here are some graphics of our tentative plan.
The actual route will be a day to day decisions.
The route will also be a combination of traveling inside on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway or outside in The Atlantic Ocean.

Good morning Blog Followers,

It’s been about 6 days since we last communicated with you.
Our 1 month adventure in the Exuma Islands is nearing it’s end.

For the last 6 days, we have been retracing our steps back from Staniel Cay Exuma to Fort Lauderdale.

You may ask – why Fort Lauderdale, you left from Key Largo ?
The answer is – after we depart from The Luck’s tomorrow, they will actually be heading back to the Mahi Mahi’s home port of Little River South Carolina.

Jerry & Deena keep the Mahi Mahi in SC during the summer & pick her up every Nov/Dec to enjoy as their winter cottage in Marathon Key Florida.

It made a lot more sense to come back to the USA further north by boat, and go back to Key Largo to get my truck. So Jerry & I rented a car for the day, drove to Key Largo, and got my truck.

So back to our last 5 days.
We retraced our steps, coming back from The Staniel Cay Yacht Club, to the Palm Cay Marina at Nassau, to the Chub Cay Marina & Resort, the Big Game Marina in Bimini Bahamas, and finally The Hilton Marina in Fort Lauderdale.

There were more beautiful photos taken on the rides home, but nothing you haven’t already seen in the previous posts.
So I decided to use this posting, as I did after our Great Loop Trip – as a Recap or Summary of our 1 month Adventure.

Note = I have had some folks tell me that they did not see any Videos.
There are many VIDEOS inside the postings, they should have “Play Arrows”
Especially in the posts describing Swimming with the Sharks (#9), Feeding the Island Pigs (#11), and Snorkeling in the Thunderball Grotto Cave (#12).

So here we go –

1.The Exuma Islands Trip Overview – March 26th
In this post from March 26th, we describe “The Plan” for our 1 month adventure. We show some maps of where we are going, what activities we will try to do, and some photos of our travel partners – Jerry & Deena Luck and the Mahi Mahi.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/03/26/the-next-boating-adventure-the-exuma-islands/

2.The Departure from Key Largo & arrival at Bimini Island Bahamas – April 2nd
This post describes the exciting departure from Key Largo & arrival at the Big Game Club Marina & Resort on Bimini Island.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/02/bimini-bahamas-we-made-it/

3. Bimini Bahamas – April 3rd
This post describes the Immigration process at Bimini, our Golf Cart ride exploring Bimini Island. Our 1st look at he beautiful blue waters, the Dolphin House, and the opulent north side of the island.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/03/port-1-bimini-bahamas/

4. Chub Cay – April 5th
This post was somewhat boring. The post describes our long 101 mile ride from Bimini to Chub Cay. The posts describe “things we do during a 100 mile ride to reduce boredom”. But since our main goals were in the Exuma Islands, we only spent one quick night and took off the next morning.
Update – on our return trip home we spent another day at the Chub Cay Marina & Resort. It turned out to be a very nice place, with a swim up bar & infinity pool overlooking the blue waters of the Berry Islands.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/05/port-2-chub-cay/

5. Nassau Bahamas – April 8th
This post describes our “very rough ride” from Chub to New Providence Island (Nassau), our forced anchorage because we could not get an open marina, our 1st swim in the beautiful waters of the Bahamas, and the BEAUTIFUL Palm Cay Marina & Resort.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/08/port-3-nassau-bahamas/

6. Highborne Cay #1 – April 9th (Easter Sunday)
This post shows the Beautiful Beaches of Highborne Cay, the Water Swing, & our 1st Shark sightings.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/12/port-4-highborne-cay-exuma/

7. Highborne Cay #2 – April 12th
This “Bonus Post” from Highborne describes our “Rainy Bike Ride” to the Zuma Beach bar, and our golf cart return back to the marina from bartender Lacie. Yes – Lacie said it was ok to leave the bikes at the bar.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/12/port-4-highborne-cay-exuma-bonus-post/

8. Exuma Land & Sea Park – April 18th
This post shows the Most Beautiful Water we have ever seen in the Warderick Wells North Mooring Field, Boo Boo Hill, the mysterious Blow Holes, the Shoreline Rock Gorges, our 1st Sea Ray sighting, and a wonderful day-long Dinghy Ride.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/18/port-5-exuma-land-sea-park-warderick-wells-mooring-balls/

9. Compass Cay Swimming with the Sharks – April 20th
No further description required – one of our bucket lists items !
Note = lots of Video here, click on each image to check.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/20/port-5-5-compass-cay-swimming-with-the-sharks/

10. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club – April 19th
This post describes our arrival in the “Rippin’ Current” of Staniel Cay, our Island Walk-Around, and the Key West feel of the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/19/port-6-staniel-cay-yacht-club-initial-walk-around/

11. Feeding the Swimming Pigs – April 20th
This post was another bucket list item, to see and Feed the wild Pigs of Big Major Cay Island.
Note = lots of Video here, click on each image to check.
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/19/port-6-staniel-cay-yacht-club-the-swimming-pigs/

12. Snorkeling in the James Bond-Thunderball Grotto Cave – April 22nd
One of the top 3 highlights for me, this cave was awesome.
With multiple underwater entrances, tight caverns, and a thousand fish.
Note = lots of Video, click on each image to check
https://gettinlooped2017.com/2023/04/22/port-6-staniel-cay-yacht-club-cont-the-thunderball-grotto-cave/

After our Great Loop trip in 2017/2018, we frequently got the question – “What was your favorite part of the trip”.
So here are my Top 3
1. The beautiful Water in all of the Exuma’s, but especially the Warderick Wells North Mooring Field.
2. The James Bond – Thunderball Grotto Cave.
3. Swimming with the Sharks

Some quick Trip Stats
Days = 28 Days
Distance = approximately 670 miles
Fuel = 450 gallons diesel fuel (ave price = about $4.50 in the USA & $6.00/gallon in the Exumas)
Ports = only 8 different ports due to weather delays
Ave Marina price in Exumas (including Water & Elec fees) = $6-7/ft (don’t believe the prices online $3-4/ft)

Notes for future Bahama Travelers
Check out these very good websites for the processes to clear Customs/Immigration in the Bahamas & returning home to the good Ole USA.

Bahamas – online “Click to Clear” Crusing Permit application = Click Link
USA – online “CBP ROAM” cell phone app for video check-in to the USA = Click Link

We hope you all enjoyed the Blog Postings.
Stay tuned for the next adventure – don’t currently have a plan, but the options are endless !!!
Thanks for reading.

Love,
Mike, Jonell, Jerry, & Deena

Thunderball Grotto was one of the anticipated highlights of the trip, and it did not disappoint.

History
Thunderball Grotto, is a limestone cave situated on the western coast of Staniel Cay, and was the setting of the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball. It was from this film the name Thunderball was given to the Grotto. The island was also used as a filming location for a scene in the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again.

Here is a clip from the movie – note it is long & somewhat boring (10min).
Maybe come back to this link at the end of the blog if you are bored..
Thunderball Clip = Click Link

Located just west of Staniel Cay, this fantastic underwater cave system is great for snorkeling, diving, and wading. It is teeming with exotic marine life and a kaleidoscope of brilliantly colored coral reefs and fish, like yellow-tail snappers, Angel fish, Sergeant Majors and the like.

The Thunderball Grotto Cave was only 1 mile away from our marina.
It was somewhat interesting to find it because the Navionics charts did not really have a good exact location.
The location was an approximate location.
There are several small islands near the marina.
But after a little dinghy riding and looking for other anchored boats, we found it !


I don’t have much to say before the really cool videos except –
* I expected it to be pretty cool, it was even better than I expected.
* What an adrenalin rush.
* Thousands of Fish
* Little Caverns In & Out of the Cave all over.
* A fairly heavy current to get into the cave, & we were supposed to be at slack tide.

Let the Video Shows begin – Thunderball Grotto Cave
These videos & the actual event are so exciting for me.
There were thousands of fish.
There were MANY ways into & out of the Cave.
Some entrances had you swim under water for about 10-15ft to enter the cave.
I didn’t take video of some of the entrances that I went in, because I didn’t want to take the phone under water, even though it was in a waterproof protection bag.
note 1 = some folks have said that the Videos look only like photos on the blog – click on each screen, they are videos, not photos
note 2 = I purposely limited the videos to about 30 sec each, to enable easier loading on the blog

I hope that you enjoyed the videos, it was a very cool experience.

Todays Trivia
Question (s) = How many feet is a Fathom & where did the word Fathom originate from ?
Answer = Scroll Down

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Question (s) = How many feet is a Fathom & where did the word Fathom originate from ?

Answer = A Fathom is 6 feet long.
The fathom originated as the distance from the middle fingertip of one hand to the middle fingertip of the other hand of a large man holding his arms fully extended. The name comes from the Old English faedm or faethm, meaning outstretched arms.

OMG – How did I forget this ?
Swimming with the Sharks, really Mike , you forgot to Post this one ???

So it’s been a really fun trip.
It’s been a really adventurous trip.
It’s been a really exhausting trip.
The calendar has been heavily booked.
I do all the blogs at night, after adventures or after a day of consuming alcoholic beverages.
I have lost track of days & what I have & have not posted.
If I was a cell phone, I am running on about 60% battery right now.

So, here is what life looks like for Mikie after 3 weeks at Sea.
It fits in down here quite nicely, I look like many of the other guys that don’t own a razor.


Back to the story.

We arrived at the Compass Cay Marina for only 1 night, after the Land & Sea Park (Port #5), but before our current location of the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (Port #6).

Compass Cay is famous for “Swimming with the Sharks”
There are many islands which copy, but Compass Cay is the creator.

Background

The famous Sharks which live at the Compass Cay Marina are visited by over five million people year round.

The Compass Cay sharks found in the marina are a species called Ginglymostoma cirratum (commonly known as “Nurse Sharks”). These animals can live up to 25 years and grow up to almost ten-feet-long. A fully grown adult can weigh anywhere from 200 to 330 pounds by the time it is at its full carnivorous potential.

But first, let’s do our normal marina walk-around.

Compass Cay is another really small marina, but apparently a somewhat exclusive marina sought after by the “Rich & Famous”, Well at least the moderately rich folks.

Of the 6 boats in our sight (the marina only holds about 18 boats), at least 3 of them had servants bringing the owners their dinner. The boat next to us had 2 servants running food/drinks back/forth for only 3 clients.

Anyway, the 3 clients got their dinner served to them on the stern of the boat & after dinner had wine poured for them on the bow.

The Detroit Power Squadron did not teach us Murphree’s or the Luck’s about this kind of boating.
There was no DPS class on this topic.

The Mahi Mahi had Deena & Jonell !
I think our dinner, service, and ambiance was better !!!


Back to the initial Walk-Around
The small marina had a very much Key West look & feel.
Upon walking up the winding road to the marina restrooms, we passed by –
* Lots of wood plaques with boat names.
* Lots of bottles and knick knacks hanging on the trees (aka – a bunch of crap).








But let’s get back to the main reason for this Blog Post – THE SHARKS !

It was soooo cool.
I must admit that I was slightly nervous.
Jerry & Jonell were out, it was just me & Deena for Swimming with the Sharks.
So I did the gentlemanly thing & I let Deena go First !

With our guide “Beef” helping us out by Chumming the water, we slowly lowered ourselves into the blue abyss.

Oh, by the way, here is “Beef”, you can see why he has his name !

That’s all for now.
Hopefully by now, You have already seen the blog posts from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (Post #6).

There will be 1 more post from Staniel Cay – The Thunderball Grotto (the James Bond Cave).
Stay tuned, next issue.

Todays Trivia
Question = What is the difference between nautical speed measured in knots vs mph ?
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Question = What is the difference between nautical speed measured in knots vs mph ?
One knot equals one nautical mile per hour, or roughly 1.15 statute mph. The term knot dates from the 17th century, when sailors measured the speed of their ship using a device called a “common log.” The common log was a rope with knots at regular intervals, attached to a piece of wood shaped like a slice of pie.
10 knots = 11.5 mph
20 knots = 23 mph

Click the link = https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/06measure2.html