Snorkelling near Norman's Pond Cay

A couple of weeks ago Chris guided a kayak trip to Norman's Pond Cay and I tagged along as an extra hand.

I'd been feeling quite concerned that my lack of kayaking in the last year or so would mean that I'd  hold the group up so I had undertaken a crash course in kayaking in the two weeks before the trip. And it definitely paid off! I was happy and independent in my boat, and perfectly capable of staying with the group without flagging or indeed veering off in the wrong direction! I was delighted and quite relieved too!

Lunch time

Our days consisted of paddling for a few hours, snorkelling and also plenty of down time on the beach.

Our first snorkel was at Tug and Barge. My favourite fish to spot at the moment is the puffer fish; hiding in small holes with only their cute little eyes peering out. We also saw quite a lot of atlantic rays, a lion fish, jacks and angel fish. It was the best snorkelling spot I'd been to so far in the Bahamas and it definitely gave us an appetite for lunch. We made sure to rig up a shade to escape the beaming sun.

On the second day we went snorkelling just off Norman's Pond Cay, this time with the aim of catching some fish for dinner. We had Hawaiian sling spears with us which are simple spears with an elastic sling handle so they work in the same way as a bow and arrow. Spear fishing definitely adds an extra element to snorkelling - I'm always on high alert to make sure I don't find myself accidentally caught on the end of one of those spears! I'm still not used to the sound as they go whizzing by and then the "ping!" as it misses it's target and lands on rock.

Spear fishing

It was a busy afternoon in the water with large sting rays swimming by us, which even caused one of the clients to shriek in fear. A nurse shark we spotted behind a rock came out to investigate us. He was pretty inquisitive, moving back and forth between us and getting very close! We all backed away from his hangout - even a harmless nurse shark deserves a lot of respect.... It felt really special to see this shark in his habitat with all the smaller fish darting around him.

Despite the excitement of the shark and sting ray, we still managed to catch 4 fish and a lobster. Quite a feast for just four people, we definitely ate well that night! We cleaned the fish on the beach as the sun went down and then cooked them over an open fire. A perfect end to a great day of sun, sea and snorkelling!

Catch of the day

Preparing the fish