Thunderball Grotto

I know he's a bit hard to see, but we saw a FLAMINGO on Normans Pond Cay on our way up to Staniel Cay the other day. It's very rare for these birds to be hanging out somewhere other than Inagua Island here in the Bahamas, and there they exist in the thousands. But this little guy was a treat! He's the first Flamingo I have seen out in the wild like this. Sorry the photo isn't better, now I know why bird watchers get the great zooms :) But like I said...we were on our way to Staniel Cay. We had a resupply to do up that way the other day.

 When many people hear about Staniel Cay, or the Exuma Cays, they hear about the famous Thunderball Grotto. You can type it in a search engine and pull up all kinds of videos and pictures and info about it. It was made famous by some movies that include James Bond "Never Say Never Again" and "Thunderball", "Splash", a more recent one was "Into the Blue", and many others I'm sure. Whenever we can we try to take our guests by here to snorkel. This group was getting a resupply during their 2+ week trip in the cays and we met up with them on Gaulin Cay South (close to Staniel Cay). We were able to hop over really easily with the group and let them take a swim around. It was a big hit!

Thunderball is such a cool place to snorkel. It is best to hit it at slack tide when it is LOW, but it is doable at other times...just makes it easier on you if you time it right. I have only been to it a handful of times when other people aren't visiting, and that is usually during the summer when things are pretty slow down here.

 There are a couple different entrance points and little dive holes like this around the grotto that you can dive in or just swim into the cave. The ceiling has openings at the top that let the light in. And a few brave dare devils, or crazy teenagers...eh hem... Dallas and his brothers (along with many others I'm sure) have been know to jump in through them as well.

 The fish are EVERYWHERE when you're in there. I took some crackers in and crumpled them up and I have a couple video clips and the fish are swimming all over me. It is sooo crazy! I got one video where I was trying to touch a Nassau Grouper (which is a fish most folks down here love to catch) with my foot to show how close he was hanging out. He was a pretty decent size one too, and not at all afraid of me. It is so peaceful being in here with all this sea life.

I had to include this photo above because Dallas and I have been trying so hard to get a shot like this with the camera where the top and bottom are in focus. Well, the stars aligned just right on this day and we got it. Now to get one like this with something a little more exciting :)