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STANIEL CAY
Close to Many Interesting Cays in the Exumas
Staniel Cay is part of the Exumas, and home to a local vibrant community. It has a yacht club, andb a small airstrip, and is home to a good marina, as well as multiple vacation rental homes. Much of its popularity is due to its proximity to many other interesting cays in the Exumas chain, including much of Exumas National Park.
(from http://www.canada.com/travel/opulent+track+Bahamas/2206427/story.html)
Staniel Cay is a key stop in many people traveling in the Exumas, because the island has all the comforts of home. There are two grocery stores and a general store. There are also a few restaurants and bars for your enjoyment as well as places to buy locals crafts and art work. If you are interested in deep sea fishing or bonefishing there are guides available to take you out to the best areas. Snorkeling and diving are close by and can be arranged easy while you are here. There is also the famous pig beach, where you can see the famous swimming pigs as they come to greet you hoping for a nice snack. Another not to be missed into adventure is feeding the fish at the famous Thunderball Cave. There you are surrounded by lovely reef fish eating right out of your hands.
Our first encounter of the trip to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club comes in the form of an invitation to the club's 'Casino Royale' evening -- an annual event inspired by the fact that a James Bond movie (Thunderball, 1965), was filmed on this tiny Bahamian island. Our first evening on one of the Exumas's 360 small islands features tuxedoed Americans, blond-haired James Bond girls and dance music wafting out over the ocean until the wee hours of the morning.
And just when we think that life at Staniel Cay couldn't possibly be this intriguing all of the time, the multi-million-dollar yachts begin to pull in and adventurers from around the world spill out. The interactions at the club's modest bar/restaurant are fascinating, whether they be with the Spanish sailor who has navigated his yacht half-way around the world, or the Bahamian captain who waits dock-side for a job guiding foreign yachts through local waters, or the Florida couple who sold all their belongings to live in their sailboat.
Each day plays out this way, with sail boats, yachts and speed boats taking to the pristine Caribbean sea for the day and returning at supper time with fantastic catches of snapper, lobster and grouper. We experience the captivating scene from the top balcony of our colourful two-storey cottage that is perched on stilts right above the clear Caribbean waters. Each evening we marvel at the stingrays and nurse sharks that begin to circle right below our cottage in anticipation of the fish filleting that provides their daily meal.
We venture down to where the action is, with my son bravely standing ankle-deep in the ocean as the rays and sharks roil within a foot or two of his feet.
"My dad wanted to offer an experience that wasn't the norm and that took advantage of this amazing setting, so he supplied every cottage with a whaler (boat) and snorkel gear that allowed people to experience the ocean first-hand," says Staniel Cay Yacht Club owner David Hocher, the son of Florida businessman Joe Hocher, who established the Yacht Club in the 1950s.
The tale of the Hochers could be a script for any James Bond movie, with the senior Hocher building up the yacht club with his business partner throughout the '60s and '70s, followed by a partner falling-out and legal battle in the 1980s. In 2003, with Joe's son David now involved in the yacht club business, Joe disappears.
"He got up early one morning and got in his plane," says the 30-something David, explaining that his dad was a pilot and it was not uncommon for him to take solo flights. "We never heard from him again."
David, who resides largely in Florida and runs the Hocher water purification business, has made it his mission to turn the Staniel Cay Yacht Club into a full-service resort destination that still maintains its rustic charm and Caribbean feel.
He has succeeded as the club feels like your average small-town bar. With only 80 residents living on Staniel Cay, everyone knows everyone. And with few cars (everyone travels by golf cart), the island has only one road sign that reads, 'This Way' for one direction, and 'That Way' for the other. Our golf cart adventure, complete with a picnic lunch packed by the yacht club kitchen, takes us around the entire six-kilometre island in an afternoon. It also takes us to white-sand beaches that take away our breaths and instantly transport us to the cover of a travel magazine. Here, we are not tourists. On this lone beach, with the actual set of a James Bond movie in the distance and Staniel Cay Yacht Club owner David Hocher as the main character, we are 'travellers'.
Thunderball Grotto: can swim into large cave, especially at low tide
Staniel Cay wonderful Boo Boo Hill area
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HOT SPOTS!!
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
Staniel Cay Vacation Rental Homes
Staniel Cay Cottages and Art Gallery
More Vacation Rentals
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