Friday, June 01, 2012

CAPT. MIKE IN THE EXUMAS DAY 4: SWIMMING PIGS AND WIND TURBINES

I was once again up at 6:30 in the morning. Went for a twenty minute swim and when I got out Sue had some french press brewed coffee on the table. After breakfast Corky and Sue raised the anchor and we headed for Big Majors Spot as the locals call it another cay just to the north of Staniel Cay:


We anchored off this beach:

With in a few minutes some pigs wandered out of the brush and onto the beach entered the water and made straight for our catamaran:



Capt. Corky got into the dingy to make sure they did not try to climb onto the boat. Then he ask Sue for the boat hook to make sure they did not try to climb into the inflatable.  Which in my opinion now becomes an additional nautical definition of a "pig stick".



One thing is for sure pigs may not be able to fly yet, but they sure swim pretty good:




 The pigs were brought over by locals from Staniel Cay. Who on occasion come over and slaughter one and have a local feast. But, the swimming pigs have become somewhat of a tourist attraction with cruisers and fast speed boats that come all the way from Georgetown carrying tourists to see and feed them. Though I would consider them wild animals and treat them as such. Even Pit Bulls are a little apprehensive with their approach:


or as this little girl found out that even cute hungry pigs can bite:



Capt. Mike's advice is to be cautious with these creatures. If you lose a finger it won't be the pigs fault.

After our obligatory stop to see the swimming pigs. We headed off toward Thomas Cay. Passing by Over Yonder Cay one can not help but, notice these wind turbines spinning in the breeze :



We actually saw these from the plane as we flew into Staniel Cay a few days ago. There is also a big solar array on the cay also.  A local media report has some background on what's going on here:




It's unclear to me what they mean by "family island" is it just owned by one family or is it being developed into a family resort. Still it's good to see renewable energy being used in such a pristine environment like the Exumas. I know from my experience with my conversion to electric propulsion that my boat and the waters are much cleaner using renewable sources such as wind and solar on board.


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