Reading the Tides: Understanding Bahamas Weather at Big Major Cay Out here on the shallow waters of the Exuma Cays, weather is not something you skim off a phone screen before pulling on your boots. It is the raw hand that governs whether my skiff leaves the dock at Staniel Cay or stays tethered tight….
Most sailors drop anchor at Pig Beach, throw a few sweet potatoes to the pigs, and turn their rudders back toward Nassau before the sun even hits its peak. My green parrot Sloop usually sits on my shoulder squawking at those speedboats as they roar past, because anyone who leaves right after seeing the swine…
Running a center-console boat across fifty miles of deep blue water on the Exuma Sound is a lot like reading teh tides before casting off the dock lines. If you head out unprepared, the sea will let you know real quick. I have spent forty years navigating these waters around Big Major Cay, and every…
My parrot Sloop gives a sharp squawk every time a fast boat roars past our dock, and to tell you the truth, I feel the exact same way. Out here in the Exumas, we watch the water like folks in the city watch traffic lights. You learn pretty quick that the sea dictates the pace…
Day Tripping from Nassau: Is It Feasible? Sitting on the fuel dock at Staniel Cay with my green parrot Sloop perched on my shoulder, I watch the morning harbor traffic come alive. Every day, folks step off boats or out of small planes asking if rushing down from New Providence to see the swimming swine…
Beyond Pig Beach: The Marine Wildlife of the Exumas I have spent forty years steering vessels through these turquoise shallows, and if there is one thing I tell folks on my boat, it is that the Exumas are far more than just one island of pigs. While Big Major Cay gets the headlines, these three…
Ahoy there. If you reckon that visiting a stretch of sand inhabited by swimming pigs is the only trick these waters have up their sleeve, you have got another thing coming. My parrot Sloop has seen more coral heads than most sailors spot barnacles, and I can tell you that the true magic of this…