Just a short hop of 6 miles or so is Staniel Cay. This is a little more developed island but still has the small Bahamas island charm. The anchorage is a little over a mile from the dinghy dock so it is preferred to go in settled weather but we do it less than perfect conditions as well. We have been using the stand-up technique in the dinghy for rougher conditions more this year. After our dinghy crash on the reef in Rum Cay two years ago we have been a slow to go back to this method. But traveling this way is a lot dryer than sitting if there are any kind of waves.

In Staniel we went for a long walk the first day with Dave and Mary and ended up on the East side beach. It had been washed away some by Irene but still a good destination. We also stopped by Isles General grocery store near the airport for some ice cream. Always an important stop after a long walk.

What was unique about this visit was all the mega yachts in the area. There we several in the anchorage, a couple at the dock and two huge ones about a mile West of the anchorage. We watch a helicopter land and take off from one of them! All we can figure was it was around spring break and parents were using their yachts to entertain the kids and there friends. The funny thing was how fascinated they were with pig beach. One beach in the anchorage has several resident pigs that people bring scraps to feed. Lots of dinghy trips full of people from the big boat to visit the pig beach. Go figure.

On one settled day we went for a long dinghy ride to explore some of the nearby islands like Sampson Cay. As we motored around we came across a new development on a private island that looked very impressive. Everything from the small marina with statues and entrance terminal to the the football field sized solar array and large wind generators looked impressive. We went in for a closer look and wandered into the marina which had only one small but very expensive sail boat. We saw some guys doing landscape work and asked if we could walk around the island. Not sure he spoke English but he agreed and of we were for a tour.

We could not believe the money that went into just the stone walkways that were about 12 feet wide and had statues periodically along the very neatly kept grounds. They even had some plaques ever so often that gave background on some of the natural flora and fauna. It a beautiful beach with beach house and what look like a nice spot to watch the sunset that cost a lot more than my house.

We followed the paths to an inlet with another gazebo and some sandstone furniture. Not sure how they made it but it came out looking like it had a wood grain.

After about a half hour walking around the security people finally found us. Apparently is was not OK for us to walk around this private development that just went operational 4 days before. They were very nice but did make sure we went straight back to our dinghies and out of the marina.