Sampson Cay

The holding was very good as we didn't move at all, but we had the GPS set just in case the anchor tripped at night to sound an alarm to wake us. We slept well even with the strong winds and we were much more protected than in Warderick Wells because we weren't bouncing around even with the stronger winds here. We are glad we left Warderick Wells to come to this anchorage at Sampson Cay because we are much more comfortable. After having some breakfast we headed into shore to use the internet at the Sampson Cay Marina. We were there all morning and I checked out the store to compare prices of food. The Bahamian bread cost $7, the chicken cost $10.29/lb, steak was $14, shrimp cost $38/bag, and the French wine we got from Nassau for $5 was $9 here. They also didn't have any eggs which we were looking to purchase. I snapped pics of wildlife and scenery while JR was on the computer and then I got on my email long enough to reply to a couple people and quickly updated my blog without attaching any pics due to time. Then we headed back to the dinghy and we saw a nurse shark right on shore in the shallow waters! This is the first time I have seen a shark on my trip and it was really cool. I was able to snap a few quick pics with my camera phone and then we headed out to Frodo. On our way back we saw several nurse sharks swimming at the bottom of the water very close to the marina. Then we pulled up our anchor and headed out of Sampson Cay around 1pm and headed for Staniel Cay. We took the inside passage during low tide and it got a little rough when we approached the opening into the Atlantic where we could see white caps. The wind was blowing 15 knots from the southeast and we motored the entire way not bothering to put out our sails. We got to the anchorage near Club Thunderball around 2pm and saw the Hungarian family anchored here. The current is very strong here and we had to get through some rapids to enter the anchorage. We threw down a second anchor to help pull us out of the strong current and then went inside to eat some much needed lunch. Then we looked at the charts and decided we didn't want to back track to get into a better anchorage so we pulled up both anchors and got closer to shore so we wouldn't be in the strong current area. Then we rested and read for a short while before heading into shore looking for the general store and the dinghy dock. We took the dinghy all the way past the small bridge to Isle's General Store and found that they had their own dinghy dock, which is nice. We looked around and saw there wasn't much as far as groceries so we asked if they had bread and eggs, but they didn't stating the supply ship would be in the following day and to come back. The lady did suggest for us to visit a yellow house for some bread and so we hopped back on the dinghy and headed into town to search for this yellow house. It really is too bad she was not more descriptive because there were several buildings painted yellow around town. So after wandering aimlessly we went into a BATELCO building and asked for directions. They gave us directions and we were off... we walked and walked until we passed the yacht club and saw some new development so we asked the man walking from a house and he informed us that there weren't any shops where we were and we were far from the bread house. So we listened and followed his directions bringing us back to the dinghy parked on the beach, which we made a pit stop to get some water as we were dehydrated by this point in the hot sun. We continued walking down the main street and eventually saw a yellow house, which we didn't think was the right building because it just looked like someone's house. JR kept walking down to the Happy People Marina and I saw that the yellow house we just passed was indeed the place of the bread. So I got his attention and we made our way into the kitchen asking for some freshly baked bread. We were too late in the day and there was no more bread so we would have to return the following morning around 9:30-10am when they are finished baking the bread. We found the Pink Pearl Grocery store up the hill from the bread house so I decided to check it out since we were here. We bought a couple of Kalik's and drank them at the counter while chatting with the old woman working the store. She was quite delightful to talk to and we discussed all sorts of topics. We finished our beers and walked back to the beach to cool off in the nice cold water. As we got in our dinghy we saw a couple nurse sharks swimming near the shore line. Then we decided to stop by Thunderball Grotto to check it out. We set our anchor and tied a stern line to some rocks on shore and gingerly stepped off the dinghy onto the sharp, uneven rocks. I wore my wet Crocs sandals (bad idea) to climb up the sharp, craggy rocks with the assistance of an old rope to see the Thunderball cave from above and snap a few pics. My sandals slid out of place and my big toe got a small laceration from a protruding rock while I was walking around the top of the big rock taking some pictures. JR found the top of the cavern and it was really neat to see how big the cave was inside and to see the blue water below with the light on the other side of the rock shining through the water because it was high tide. Then we hurried carefully off the top because we saw all the stress cracks from the top of the cave around the opening we were looking through, which we never know when it will give out. So now we knew more about Thunderball and we would return the next day at low tide to explore the underwater area. We headed back to Frodo for some dinner and a movie because with all the wind we have been getting our batteries were full from the wind generator. I completed a sketch and read to end my day.