US Coast Guard

January 20, 2013

We are currently anchored near Staniel Cay. We left Black Point on Thursday January 17th to return north to Cambridge Cay for some more snorkeling and to weather a small cold front. On Sunday January 20 we traveled south again to Staniel Cay to hopefully pick up a few supplies and provisions.

On thing that was notable around Cambridge was a significant US Coast Guard presence. We have seen two Coast Guard helicopters over the last few days, the last of which altered course to fly over us in our dinghy at a fairly low altitude. We had been told to expect some Coast Guard presence in the Bahamas, but it still seems a bit weird to see them in another country. Apparently the Coast Guard conducts joint operations with the Bahamian Defence Force.

We also heard an 'interrogation' of a vessel by the Coast Guard on the VHF radio. It was fairly routine: origin, destination, number persons on board , etc..

Probably the strangest, however, is Coast Guard only by speculation. Twice we have seen two light planes flying in a loose formation VERY close to the ground and curving around islands in classical radar evading maneuvers. The first time we saw them we were in the Cambridge Cay mooring field. We saw one coming across Bell Cut and behind Cambridge Cay, while another came around Bell Island. We thought for a second that they were going to collide, and our first thought was that it was a pilot error. They were white and had no special markings.

Today we saw them again while traveling down the Bank to Staniel Cay when Joyce spotted a plane she thought was landing. I looked and saw the second plane close behind. They were not landing, but rather flying very low, looping around the the various cays.

Either they are drug runing planes trying to fly below the radar or they are some sort of interdiction operation doing the same thing to try to sneek up on the 'bad guys'. Either way, very interesting to watch; you just don't want to get 'tangled up' in anything!

Tom
Staniel Cay, Exuma
Via Satellite
Map