Ambergris Cay: Quiet Tranquility after a New Year's Celebration on Stirrup Cay

Walking the beach on Ambergris Cay, escorted by two ospreys, guarding their nest.

We departed from Stirrup Cay anchorage, not even needing to start the engines to pull the anchor and sail out of the anchorage. That is our challenge now: to not use the engines unless absolutely necessary. It is also why we have almost full fuel tanks since leaving Marathon 12/19/25 (over 2 weeks ago).

We have had a busy few days free-diving, exploring and meeting new friends. Got to meet some fellow kite-boarders on Stirrup Cay, though the first day i was overpowered (24 knot winds) and the next day underpowered (10 knots) trying to use a 9 meter kite. We need to go through our various kites and make sure they are all fit to use so we do not waste precious wind-time. I would have done well on the 12 meter kite that Rob was underpowered on, and he could have been on a 15 meter. The bay at Stirrup Cay is several miles of white sand beach so one can sail with on-shore winds from various directions. There can be some waves, as I found out on the 24 knot day. I got launched about 20 feet in the air with my board 50 yards or more behind me!

Aline and Yves Fontaine-Pagot

Aline and Yves join us again for dinner: lobster and fish is the norm.

Exploring the shores of Ambergris Cay

We were soon joined by our new friends from Canada, Aline and Yves on their 40 foot Fontaine Pagot. I enjoy teaching them English as they allow me to work on my rusty French. The funny thing is when we played Scrabble last night, I offered to use my French edition "scabble de voyage" but they brought their English version over which was nicer and we played in English. I should have had an unfair advantage, but realized too late that their on-line dictionary helped them immensely and they did not need that handicap!

My French travel edition vs the English version: There are slightly different letters in them!

Aline and Yves holding up their boat in background

Rob and I are racing, as usual, from the catamaran to shore at Ambergris Cay: crystal clear water and no sharks.

We went out for a free-dive off-shore, 3.5 miles from the anchorage and were disappointed with the paucity of fish and the small size of the lobsters. Rob did get a mutton snapper, I got a lionfish and a normal legal sized lobster, again, free-handed, no spears. This is on contrast to our catch from just a bit further up north in the Berries. There were sharks there, though, seen on every dive.

Rob demonstrates the size of the huge osprey nest we found. We did not disturb it.

Famous "Red Lobster": One of the larger lobsters we caught and painted for a gyotaku print now on our bed sheet!

Certainly some of the most consistently HUGE lobsters I have encountered in my 42 years of diving! Several of them were between 6 and 8.5# When catching them it was hard to know who caught who!

Some treacherous rocks make for exciting sailing!

Items are not smaller than shown in picture!

Rob and me with our catamaran in the background above our hands.

Beautiful, rugged terrain! The rocky shores host a variety of heat tolerant snails and crabs.

Medical Leave under sail in light morning winds, heading south-west to Nassau.

Beautiful sunsets and sunrises!

Walking in soft white sands of Ambergris Cay

Yellow Jack that I speared free-diving and got him to the dinghy before the sharks came! Nice firm white meat!

Such breathtaking, and very remote beaches!

Headstand to celebrate midnight on New Years Eve 2025!

Small Private Fireworks on the beach on Stirrup cay: met some nice people from Miami: Mimi, Phil and friends

New Year's Eve Beach Bonfire: Stirrup Cay

New Year's Eve Potluck at the Marina Stirrup Cay: Yves, Aline, me, Rob, Kathy and Dave.

Valerie and her two toy poodles remind me of Rosie: I miss my four-legged babies!

Lobster salad, lobster sushi, grilled lobster, how many ways do I make thee?

Queen conch certainly don't look appetizing, but they are delicious!

We did not see any conch around the latest cays that we have visited, perhaps they have been overfished. We did get our limit on the two days we went out "hunting" them which is 6 per boat per day. We make delicious conch salad or cracked conch, which is the decadent fried variety and involves pounding the conch to make it tender enough to fry or sauté. I am looking for a conch fritter recipe for the bread-maker but not trying that hard since they are addictive and certainly not the healthiest option!

We are heading to Nassau to drop off a crew member, re-provision the boat and hopefully find another pole spear rod for my new roller pole spear. It is a Headhunter brand, so I was disappointed to lose part of the spear so easily en route to another dive spot. We don't intend to spend much time near Nassau since it is so overpopulated and commercialized. We plan to head to the Exumas after this, so stay tuned!