Last Photo

Back in Ft. Lauderdale!

Back in the USA

Made it back safely to the states!

From here, Dan, Jerry and Kevin will fly commercial back to their respective homes. Jim will be meeting up with Clarence and will make the flight back to California. Route TBD!

Bimini: The Island the Bahamas Forgot

Not much here... Not much at all. We've decided to cut our stay here as short as possible. We plan to fly back to Ft Lauderdale tomorrow morning (Saturday).

A few underwater pics

The diving in Grand Turk and the Bahamas has been great.  Here are a few photos I took on this trip.  They are, hopefully in order: * A nice coral head * Banded coral shrimp * A conch (later to become conch fritters!) * Honeycomb cowfish * Flamingo Tongue shell on a fan coral * Golden spotted moray eel

Ray and Nurse Shark

Near the fish cleaning station at the dock

Sunset...

...on our last night at Staniel Cay in the Exumas.

Off to Bimini

Tomorrow we'll head to our last Bahamas destination: Bimini. The flight will consist of two short hops- one to Nassau to take on additional fuel, and then to Bimini.

We've had a fantastic experience here at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, aside from some difficulty with the neighboring dive shop. Definitely a destination to mark for a re-visit in the future!

Currents, Pigs, and Grottoes

Today was our most interesting day thus far.

We loaded our boat with dive gear and food and set off for a dive site on the ocean side of Staniel Cay. After realizing the ocean conditions were not suitable for our small boat, we headed towards our next dive site where the water was calmer. After a brief drift dive there in the ripping current, we dove near a small cay and then had lunch on a pristine beach nearby.

After lunch, we did one more dive and then headed off to see the swimming pigs. This group of wild pigs has been conditioned to swim out to visiting boats and beg for scraps. That bunch of floating bacon would not win any beauty contests!

The last stop was Thunderball Grotto, so named because part of the James Bond film was shot there. Full of fish, it was a fun last stop before heading back to the marina.

-Jim

Sunset

Lightning on approach to Staniel Cay

Made it just in time.

Landing at Staniel Cay earlier today

Staniel Cay

Wow! It's beautiful here! Flight was great. Beer and lunch now at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club where we will be staying for the next 4 days.

Beer?

Why yes! Thanks :)

Cracked conch...

...(conk)

Earlier

Sitting under the wing of the plane next to us while we refuel...

More pictures...

...from lunch at the bar and grill.

Kevin shares a traveling experience over beer...

...and lunch...

Goodbye Turks, hello Caicos!

Made it to Provodenciales airport where we are taking on fuel and spending the night here. Pictures show our visit to Grand Turk tower to pay our fees, departure from Grand Turk, and arrival and fueling at Provo.

Local brew

Salt Cay

Just finished two dives. Now at Salt Cay for lunch!

More Salt Cay

Lunch!

Wind-down after a night dive

Here we are, back at the Sand Bar (and grill) after our first day of diving in Grand Turk. We've been diving with Blue Water Divers. They're a fantastic operation. Not too many people here at the moment which is great for us.

Tomorrow we are planning on diving in the morning and then continuing on to Salt Cay where a bartender resides that makes his own moonshine. Should be an interesting trip :)

The water here is fantastic. 84F. It's practically like a bath. Wetsuits optional ;).

There's a live band across the street at the Salt Raker. We may go visit later tonight.

Cheers!

Sunset

Preparing for our night dive tonight!

Morning in Grand Turk

Coffee on it's way! First day of diving today.

Arrived!

We finally arrived at our furthest stop - Grand Turk. We flew for 2 hours and 45 minutes to Stella Maris in the Bahamas for fuel, then for another 1 hour 45 minutes to Grand Turk. We were IFR for both legs, which was good considering the density of clouds and haze. The scenery between the clouds was still amazing though...

After landing, we cleared customs and immigration, caught a cab to the hotel, and then went directly to the dive shop and the closest bar (priorities!). After a bit of drunken snorkeling, we went to dinner and then called it a night.

No more flying for a few days!

-Jim

First night in Grand Turk

We made it! Thanks for following along! More detailed update of today's trip to follow.

Arrived: Grand Turk