Kim and I travelled there in June 2003. My first experience on a small private aircraft!! Just Me, Kim and the pilot, we had to climb on the wing to enter the plane!! The flight over was amazing, the views of the Exuma Cays from the low flying aircraft were just breathtaking. The runway at Staniel Cay is so short it looked to me as if we were going to land in the sea, but we made it to the runway! The pilot let us out, gave us our bags and left us on a runway with no airport and not a person in sight! After a minute or so a young guy came down to see who had arrived on the island, we told him we were staying at Staniel Cay Club so off he went to let them know we had arrived. A few minutes later someone from the hotel arrived on a golf buggy to take us up a small hill to the hotel. The staff and guests were so friendly, it was definitely a home from home. After a short rest and a drink at the bar, the hotel owner took us out on his boat to visit Fowl Cay and Sampson Cay via small cays with the only habitants being pigs or hogs.
The pigs would hear the sound of the boat coming towards the cay and would come to greet the passing visitors hoping for some food to be thrown in their direction. We were told that people go on their boats to picnic on these cays and the pigs freely invite themselves to join the picnic! It was an amazing experience for me, just to admire and appreciate the whole concept of nature and how this was so natural and beautiful and the questioning of how these cays appeared and how the animals came to live there. An experience I will never forget!
We had a similar experience on one of the Exuma cays when we took part in the Powerboat Adventures excursion - an exciting family adventure. The first stop is Allen's Cay, where guests can feed the Iguana's with grapes provided by the crew. There were about 50-60 Iguana's on that Cay....massive one's too!!!! After spending about 20 minutes on Allen's Cay, we were then taken to Ship Channel Cay for the remainder of the day. The crew prepares a buffet while the guests swim with the stingrays and watch the sharks being fed. After lunch, we were invited to snorkel, and then taken on a walking tour of the Cay. There are also 3 pigs on the island that keep the guests entertained, they come out as soon as they smell the food and freely wander about helping themselves to whatever you put down and be careful where you leave your alcoholic beverages, because they are keen on the booze too!!!!
