Egg Cay

8 a.m. Friday, April 21st… Off we go! Hope and SeaBreeze sailed to Egg Cay in the Eleuthera’s. Not much wind, so we motored all the way. We arrived close to 3 p.m. and anchored right behind Hope in the prettiest aquamarine colored water yet! Shortly after securing our anchors, Kory and crew picked us up in their dinghy and we scooted off to a sand bar that was just around the corner..maybe a mile at the most. We were awestruck at the beauty when we arrived at the sandbar…sand so white and untouched, and the crystal clear water surrounding…just incredible! We all got off the dinghy after sliding up onto the sand and wandered around like we had just stepped foot on the moon taking it all in.

We walked while combing the beach, finding a lot of treasures along the way. The girls, Lauren and Ellie, both found brightly colored Conch (pronounced “konk”) shells and were prepared to take them back to the boat when the mollusk living inside slowly showed it’s slimy body followed by it’s foot! The shells were quickly tossed back into the waters edge along with a squeal!

Walking back towards our dinghy we came upon a small motor boat anchored in knee deep water with several people standing next to it cracking open Conch shells and then putting the body inside, into buckets. The parts they did not put in the bucket they were feeding to a very large Stingray who’s wingspan looked to be about 3 1/2’ wide. We all said hello from a distance and asked what they were doing and if it were ok to come and take a closer look. They graciously agreed and we walked up to the boat and stood there in the water observing this graceful large Stingray fluttering along close to the sandy bottom and hovering close to it’s food source. The Stingray also floated in our direction checking us all out which was cool but a bit scary at the same time. The young man who was feeding the Stingray said that they had been feeding this particular Ray since he was very young and small which made him pretty friendly. He added, as long as the Ray did not feel threatened or wasn’t stepped on, he wouldn’t hurt us. He also asked if we wanted to feed the Stingray which Rick took him up on his offer and fed the fish a few times. He said when he put the Conch ‘leftovers’ up to the Stingray’s mouth, it was sucked right out of his hand like a vacuum cleaner that had grabbed a hold.

Just as we turned to walk back to the dinghy, the girls spotted a large pile of Conch shells. Seeing their delight, the man feeding the Stingray said they could pick out whatever they wanted. So Lauren and Ellie each took one shell with them back to the boat.

Next stop Hope Town in the Abacos!