Mercy, the dog, uses a "litter box" that consists of a black plastic cement mixing pan with holes drilled in it, with a layer of round river rocks lining the bottom. I remove solids immediately after use, and rinse the rock with a bucket or two of sea water. When I am done rinsing, I leave a bucket of water sitting there for the next use, particularly at night, to keep me from opening the transom door and walking out on the swim platform.
In the morning, at daylight, I noticed a lot of dirt in the bucket, which upon closer examination was moving. Remember this is crystal clear, gorgeous water! Allen and I pulled a couple of the critters out for examination under a magnifying glass, and there were what we think are larvae lobster! There were also a couple of tiny crabs in there, and a worm that Allen has named, "Will." I guess the drifting larvae were attracted by the cabin lights. During the course of the day, Allen has been refreshing the water from the wash down pump. We put a tiny piece of tuna fish in the bucket, and the creatures have been eating that. We're hoping to take them to Lee Stocking in Exumas to the marine lab, and find out just what we have! It must be my imagination, but I think they've gotten bigger! They have large eyes (proportionate), legs, and tails. We sure could use a microscope!
No cruise ship was coming in, but we departed and left for Cat Island, where we anchored up close to the beach just north of Alligator Point. The coast here has gorgeous small sandy beaches between huge rocks. The dogs played on the beach and in the water while we snorkeled the low ledge just off the rocks.
We took the Whaler into the interior of the island via the mangrove creeks, and had fun exploring. We went ashore near the point and wandered some more.
I drug Allen on the dive plane, looking for conch, but all we found were too small. He did, however get a spider crab with the largest claws I have ever seen on a spider crab! Tom boiled them, and Allen gloated as he ate them!
We watched a movie with Tom on a large screen tv with surround sound. (Pirates of the Caribbean, of course!) When they fire the cannons, you can feel it through the couch!
Showing posts with label Half Moon Cay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Half Moon Cay. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
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!
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!
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