Hiatus in The Bahamas

 Head north?  Or, head home? It was home. We had been aboard Hiatus for nearly six months.  We wanted vaccine.  We wanted to see our son and the kitties.  So, we closed up Hiatus, hired a diver to clean her bottom, and arranged a now hard to find one-way car rental home. Our son and the kitties recognized us.  We made it back just as the yard needed its first mowing.  We're fully vaxxed and are making the glorious return to socializing with friends and family. We will return to Hiatus at the end of this month, June. While home, we put together this videos with snippets of our cruise.  

Pig Beach Big Majors Cay  If you have ever seen a brochure, a website, or a YouTube video of The Bahamas, you probably have seen the famous swimming pigs of Big Majors Cay.   Brought by pirates in the Golden Age of Bucaneers... No, it wasn't like that at all.  Many families on Staniel Cay had a pigpen.  When tourism began picking up in the late 1960's the residents thought to move the smell to nearby Tom Cay.  But, the pigs swam back.  So, they were resettled to Big Majors Cay.  It was a good location.  The pigs thrived and learned to swim out to the residents' approaching boats, which nearly always carried treats.   The relationship between pigs and people remained agrarian and small scale.  Cruisers visiting Staniel Cay often anchor at Big Majors and they discovered the pigs on shore that swam out to meet their approaching dinghies.  But, word was not passed around broadly, until the age of smartphones and social media arrived.  The rest is (recent) history.

 Thunderball Grotto     This morning low tide, which is the best time to see the Grotto, came early.  The skies were partly overcast.  The combination allowed us to have the Grotto to ourselves!     The Grotto is located between Big Majors and Staniel Cay.  Along with "Pig Beach" (video coming), it is a must see in the Staniel Cay area.