Orange Creek, Cat Island, Bahamas

 Early in the AM the next cruise ship arrived.  This time the Carnival Legend. It was fun watching them drop their HUGE anchor with the binoculars.  

Hopefully this is our last cruise ship close encounter this winter.

 

Amazingly, folks were boarding the ferries to go ashore at 7:30AM.

 

But soon we pulled our anchor and left the to their adventures.  Had the fishing poles out as we stayed in deep water most of the trip over to Cat Island.  Did hook one barracuda, but no edible fishy....arrived mid-day at the lovely small Orange Creek community on the northern tip of Cat Island.

 But before we explore on land, we wanted to check out the reef at the tip of the island.

We were not disappointed this time!  When we first got in the water a nurse shark swam our way.

 

It just swam peacefully by, not paying any attention to us.  Oddly, if you look closely, it has a piece of coral stuck in it's gill and a remora swimming along.  Strange.

 The coral was just lovely.  No current to worry about so we hung out on the reef for a couple of hours.

 

 

I'll just let you page thru some photos.

Back to the boat with our catch.

 

After a shower we got on the dinghy for a little trip into "town".  (Which is really just a few homes, a church and a grocery/laundry).

 

Going up the "creek" - we're on a falling tide so the water is rushing out of the mangrove area.

 

Quite lovely.

 

Went to the small but well-stocked grocery for some fresh fruit and garlic.  Chatted with a very nice store-keeper.

 Back to the boat after a busy day!  And another pretty sunset and a smidge of a "green flash".