Monthly Archives: May 2025

Welcome to Little Bell Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas

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Sunrise on Sunday, May 4

This morning, Eric put away all the dive gear. We keep the dive compressor and dive gear off to the side in our lazarette. The last few days, he’s had to twist in weird boat-yoga angles in order to access the gear, fill tanks the tanks, and now stow the dive gear. Eric’s back wasn’t feeling good, and his jaw/gums were still a bit sore.

Once the dive gear was stowed, we got the dinghy up and got Kosmos ready for sea. We lifted anchor at 1100. Our next destination was called Little Bell Cay. As the crow flies, it was a fairly short ride. However, due to shallow water, we couldn’t simply pull into the anchorage via the shortest route. We had to follow a relatively narrow channel south of the island, take the east side up to the northern tip, and enter via another narrow challenge on the north.

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A Quest for Food in Staniel Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

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Dawn on Saturday, May 3, 2025

In the am, Eric filled the tanks that were used yesterday. After he was done, Eric and Christi jumped in the water and finished cleaning the bottom. Eric saw a nurse shark while he was underwater. Between the two of them, they used one tank of air. They were both relieved to finally be done. They vowed to never let the bottom get so bad again.

We decided to get a late lunch/early dinner onshore. We landed the dinghy at the yacht club and walked over to The Ship Yard. We’d put in a photo of the Ship Yard’s property in another post, and here is a photo of the restaurant itself. They told us that their chef was on vacation this weekend, so only the bar was open.

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The Cruiser’s Beach, Staniel Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas

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Sunrise on Friday, May 2

Keith does not do well when his schedule is thrown off its normal routine. As a result of going to bed so late last night, he was a super grumpy pants all day today.

This morning, while the generator was running, Eric filled up the two air tanks he’d used yesterday. We were pleased to report that Eric did fix the dive compressor while we were in San Diego. It turned out to be an issue with the drive belt, but putting a new belt in was difficult because the frame had corroded. He also replaced a lot of other parts on it, and it seems to be working fine now. All the effort to fix it has finally paid off.

After we finished with morning chores and school, Eric and Christi both worked on cleaning the bottom and waterline. Christi agreed it was the worst that Kosmos’s bottom had ever been — and Eric had already cleaned a lot of it! Between the two of them, they went through two tanks of air. They managed to get the entire bottom and waterline mostly done, but they would need to go back in one last time to finish it completely.

After showering, we went over to the Cruisers Beach. Apparently, the cruisers regularly get together at this beach for social activities, but we haven’t seen anything happening there since we’ve arrived. The shoreline looking south.

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More Exploring Staniel Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas

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Just before the sun poked over the horizon on Thursday, May 1, 2025

Today was the 16 year anniversary of when Eric and Christi completed our circumnavigation (it took two years and two days). We were pleased to be celebrating this anniversary while actively cruising once again.

While we’ve cleaned the waterline a couple of times in the Bahamas, we haven’t cleaned the bottom since Panama. Eric decided his project for the day was to clean the bottom. It was the worst he’d ever seen it. Normally, it takes one tank of air to do the bottom. He went through two tanks of air before he was simply too tired to keep going, and he still had a long way to go.

After he was done, we went to town. We had lunch at the yacht club again. As we were leaving, we noticed a crowd around the corner of the dock where we’d seen all the sharks the other day. We couldn’t believe how many sharks there were.

People were petting the sharks!

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Snorkeling The Grotto, Staniel Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas

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On Tuesday, April 29, after we finished our morning school/chores and were getting ready to leave Kosmos, it started raining hard — we did not want to be out in that kind of rain.

When it stopped, we checked all the rain forecasts to see if more was coming. They all said more rain, but conflicted with when it would hit and how hard. The clouds in the distance looked ominous, so we played it safe and stayed onboard for the whole day. It did indeed rain hard again, but not until the evening.

On Wednesday, it rained lightly in the early morning, but cleared up by mid-morning. After school and chores, we went to The Grotto. It was windy, and the ride over was a little bumpy and wet. 

We anchored near The Grotto entrance, got our gear on, and jumped in. We took this video because we thought the sound was funny. We had no idea that it was significant.

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