Big Major/Staniel Cay II

From Big Major we took our dinghy around the corner to explore Staniel Cay. The island was cute with a few convenience stores we were glad to make use of. We enjoyed a large lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which held a festive and loved nautical vibe. Seated next to us was a brother and sister who were tour guides and originally from the area, turns out the sister studies and lives in Worcester MA.

Staniel Cay is most known for Thunderball grotto. From the water it appears to be an amassed land formation in the middle of the harbor but if you anchor your dinghy at slack tide you can find ledges that you can swim under and find your way into the center of the limestone rock and see it’s really a beautiful hollowed-out cave. The sergeant majors are accustomed to being fed by tourists and will swarm you which is fun. It reminded me of St. Martin in Grand Case, but only, the sergeant majors there were far more aggressive to the point where I would keep moving my arms and fins just to keep them from hitting me. The water is beautifully clear and the fish plentiful. There are multiple ways to get in and out of the grotto some more difficult than others. Mike and I had fun finding them all. Diving under some of the ledges can be disorienting, particularly if you’re diving from a heavily lit place back into the grotto. The water will play tricks on your eyes and what looks like a pocket of air is really more submerged limestone. Thankfully those entrances are the difficult passages, there are far simpler ways in. The main entrance is straight forward, in fact at low tide, I don’t believe you would need to put your head completely underwater. We swam at high tide and behind me you can see the passage out is fairly direct.Read more