Little San Salvador aka Half Moon Cay

There truly is world class diving off the southern coast of Eleuthera.

We departed Davis Hsarbor Marina and eased along the coral lined wall. I had to stop and make a dive before continuing eastward. The coral was spectacular, and there were lots of grouper.

A look at the navigation chart shows topographic lines on either sie of a shallow ridge running east and west between Eleuthera and Little San Salvador. This area is known as the Bridge. The north south current as the water upwells over that bar creates cooler, clear water with an abundance of fish. Sportfishermen frequent this area for big game fish.

We left the Bridge for a straighter shot into Little San Salvador. Ready for all the name confusioon? Cat Island was known a lot of years ago as San Salvador. Now there is an island SE of here that is called by that name. Anyhow, that is why this island was Little San Salvador. That is, until a cruise ship company bought the island, and created a cruise ship day anchorage, re-naming the island Half Moon Cay.

There are only a few people living on the island, maintaining the facilities and operations. The rest of the workers arrive on the mornings before the cruise ships come in, and they come from Davis Harbour, where we left from this morning, via a crewboat that looks to be 100-ft-ish. This boatload of workers man tourist shops, water toy rentals, para-sails, sailboats, beaches, playgrounds, and horses for beach riding, just that we could see.

When we arrived, a cruise ship was stopped for the day, and the beaches were full of people. We anchored in the NW corner of the bay and watched the operations. What a gorgeous place this is! The anchorage would be unmanageable in a west wind, but it was perfect with the SE wind the day we were there.

I went diving on some heads that went from 80-ish to 45' dotted along the top of the wall. This may be the most pristine, healthiest looking ecosystem I have seen in the last few decades. There was a vast variety of fish of all sizes (I saw one lionfish, which I anihilated. There were lots of soft corals, black corals, and sponges. The current was ripping, but the heads were easy to dive because of the topography, undercuts, and lees along the backsides. The water was clear and a little cool. What a spectacular dive.

When the cruise ship departed in early evening, the workers rolled up the sidewalks so to speak, and went home, and we moved into the SE corner, just off the beach, to get rid of the swell that had rocked us where we were.

Tom produced a tube that we towed behind the Whaler, and I tried tubing for the first time in my life. Allen makes it look pretty easy, but I didn't stay on nearly as long.... and they weren't trying to sling me off, like we were with Allen!

We cooked steaks on the grill, and I don't think it gets much better!