We were met at the dinghy dock by a friendly local and pointed in the direction of the Customs and Immigration building. It appears Mayaguana has been forgotten by the powers that be. Their country flag bleached out and tattered hung limply on the pole, a request for maps of the island was met with the reply 'we used to have them but they ran out long ago'.
We managed to buy data cards to be able to check weather and were pointed in the direction of the local store to buy bread. There was virtually no one about, we finally found the store but it was locked and our calls to the adjoining house finally roused the owner to open up for us. The supplies arrive weekly on the mail ship and the bread was the previous weeks and at USD6 a loaf we decided we could do without!
We finished up as soon as possible and headed out of town. Lifting anchor we set off for Betsy's Bay then Plana Cay; this was more like it!
We had heard from a cruising friend that he hung the carcass of a fish over the stern of his boat and attracted Rays and Shark. We decided Plana Cay was the perfect place to try it. The first one we hung over and then went ashore for a walk. On our return we found the 3mm nylon line it had been on was snapped and the weight we had used to tie it to the rail pulled tight. Wow! It had to have been something big. Before putting the next one in the water we went for a snorkel and found a huge Grunter below the boat. Andre swam down with his GoPro and as he approached the fish made his loud grunting noises and swam out of reach. As Andre floated back up to the surface a large Barracuda swam at him, he didn't notice but wondered what I was pointing at! I had my head out of the water laughing and explaining to him what had happened when he suddenly pointed behind me. I thought Mr. Barracuda fancied my toes and turned as I pulled my feet up. I was not wearing fins at the time. There not even two meters below us was a two meter lemon shark. He swam lazily under us apparently ignoring us.
We moved close to the floating dinghy and boat and watched as he circled in and out. Then a smaller reef shark also came in to see what was happening. Eventually they moved off and we got out! We had made a new best friend. Mr Lemon shark obviously liked what was on the menu and moved between the three boats. We quickly re baited our lure line and dropped it in the water. He was game and came in slowly taking his time as he took the fish in his mouth. Putting some resistance on the line we we were able to turn him and pull him towards the boat. He didn't fight it just chewed lazily on the carcass as he tried to swim away. He eventually got it off and headed for the next boat for their contribution to his dinner!
For the next two days we were there he moved from boat to boat checking to see if his 'dinner' had been refreshed. Incredible!
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