On Monday, April 21, the crescent moon was still glowing brightly even after the sun had fully risen.

Saturday and Sunday were quiet days. Farther south on Meeks Island was a farm that had pigs. Many of the tour boats that had been speeding by us were on their way to/from the pig farm. On Saturday, our big outing was a dinghy ride to see the pigs. We followed the island south.

We’d anchored near the area that we’d explored a few days prior. We noticed that there was a staircase carved into the rocks at the area that looked like it had once had a structure, so even though there wasn’t a beach on the west side, it was possible to anchor a dinghy and walk over to the beach on the east side.

As we plodded along, we noticed that the geology of the island was fascinating.

We eventually came to a small cove that had a couple of tourist boats anchored and a sign that said “Pig Beach.”

For $15.00 per person, tourists could enter the farm to feed the pigs and swim with them. The pigs were apparently very nice. We had no interest in paying $45, so we idylled near the shore. We saw a big mama, a couple of medium size pigs, several baby pigs and some chickens.

Our Easter Sunday was even more quiet. We never left the boat.

On Monday, we got up 0545 and pulled up anchor at 0630, heading southwest towards the city of Nassau. For the majority of the ride, we were in protected waters and it was a smooth ride with winds at about 10 knots, creating 2 – 3 foot wind chop at 3 – 4 seconds, with no swell. There was one area on this course that was concerningly shallow at only 6 feet deep, but we reached that area at high tide and had plenty of clearance.

However, as we neared Nassau, the traffic became dense, particularly with speed boats zooming along at top speed, so the ride became rocky and uncomfortable from all the wakes. The wakes were coming from many directions at once, making for inconsistent motion, often simultaneously lurchy and rolly.

At one point, we were on a collision course with a speed boat filled with tourists — they were on track hit us on our starboard side. We slowed down significantly so it could pass ahead of us, but given their speed, what we did made little difference. It was still on track to hit our nose if they didn’t course correct. The boat came disconcertingly close to our nose, then did a dramatic turn and almost stopped parallel to us on the starboard side, so close that it felt like we could almost reach out and touch their boat. When the people onboard waved in a way that indicated that they thought the near accident was a thrill ride, we realized the crazy driving was a stunt for the tourists. We were not happy.

Minutes later, a large yacht came towards us. It looked like we were on track to have a head on collision. We were in the narrowest part of channel, so evasive maneuvering wasn’t really possible. They passed within 60 – 70 feet of us, which sounds like a lot of space, but felt scarily close next to such a large boat. Up until then, Eric had been worried about Kosmos being too deep to navigate this shallow area, but seeing that big yacht do it eased all of his concerns. He was amazed they didn’t get stuck.  

Minutes later, Eric freaked out because there was suddenly a loud, rhythmic booming noise. Eric thought it was coming from inside Kosmos and was running around the boat trying to locate the source of the noise. Christi kept telling him it was the big yacht in the distance playing rap with the bass turned all the way up, but Eric couldn’t believe that a boat that far away could have bass so loud that it sounded like it was coming from inside our boat. Fortunately, the boat moved out of ear shot relatively quickly.

As we entered into the channel between New Providence Island (the island the city of Nassau was on) and Paradise Island (the island Atlantis was on), the traffic worsened. There was a non-stop conga line of boats coming out of the channel, most driving on the wrong side of the channel. We realized later it was because the Bahamians drove cars on the left side, but they were still supposed to drive boats on the right per maritime rules. Meanwhile, there was a conga line of boats going into the channel, as well, and they were passing us on the left, making it difficult for us to maneuver around the boats coming towards us. To make matters significantly worse, the speed boats going both directions were running at full speed, despite the fact that we were in a no-wake zone.

At one point, a speed boat was on track to hit us head on. We were unable to make an evasive move — we were already at the edge of the channel with no room for us to move right and there was boat traffic on the left. Eric completely stopped. Fortunately, the other boat slowed down and changed course slightly, missing us by probably 50 feet.

Fortunately, the entrance to Atlantis was just beyond the second bridge that connected Nassau and Paradise Island, so we didn’t have to traverse too far into the channel. We were relieved when we turned into the Atlantis entrance. Once out of the way of the traffic, Eric stopped and called the marina office on the radio and asked for a slip assignment. As Eric had suspected, the slip was right next to the entrance, just a few slips down from the boat in the photo below.

A golf cart pulled up with two marina staff to help guide us into our slip and tie up. The docks were tall, so getting on and off was a little bit tricky, but it was do-able. Once tied up and plugged into power, the golf cart took us to the marina office to check-in. On the drive over, it became apparent that we were the smallest boat in the marina.

Eric went into the office while Christi and Keith looked around outside.

Much to Eric’s shock, they didn’t ask for any paperwork — no vessel documentation or no proof of insurance. All they wanted was a credit card number. Meanwhile, the people on the dock told Christi and Keith there was a manatee in the marina and pointed out where it was. They walked over and were shocked to see it was eating the growth on the waterline of one of the boats!

Once Eric was done, the golf cart driver brought Eric over to see the manatee, too. He said it hung around that boat because the crew fed it lettuce. He then took us all back to Kosmos. We ate lunch and then changed into our swimwear.

To be continued…