Saturday, December 20, 2025 continued — Tiki Tour caught up to us and passed us near the sandbar, which was not far from the rendezvous spot at the mouth of the ocean. The sandbar and mouth were in the background of the photo.

The mouth.

Shortly after we beached our dinghies, the rest of the flotilla arrived. The kids quickly split up into smaller groups based on common interests. The group Keith went with mostly swam. Another group was playing ball on the beach.

Just about everyone had a go at “the washing machine,” where you jump off the rock and let the current drag you out to the sand bar — there was a sand bar at both sides of the mouth, so no matter which direction the current was going, you’d hit the sand bar.

The parents chit chatted and got to know one another. One of the parents shared the interesting history of this area. From this mouth, there was a hiking trail up to the top point of the island, where in the 1960s, a sailor had taken up residence. The dwelling was gone now, but reports were that it was Robinson Caruso-esque. This peak was called Camp Driftwood and it apparently had great 360-degree views.

As previously mentioned, Shroud was the northernmost island in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The next island north was Norman’s Cay, which was once an important node in the Medellin Cartel’s extensive drug smuggling network. Run by Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder, the cartel controlled the island from the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s. Norman’s was heavily fortified, complete with armed guards, radar installations, airstrips, and extensive warehouses filled with cocaine. Given Shroud’s proximity to Norman’s Cay, and the great view of Norman from Camp Driftwood, it was the perfect a clandestine observation post for the US Drug Enforcement Agency to spy on the drug smuggling operations. Per Wikipedia, the island was confiscated after Lehder was arrested in 1987.

There was also a submerged plane wreck off of Norman Cay that was a popular snorkeled/dive site. There were a lot of versions of the story of how the plane crash happened, so who knows what the truth was. The one kernel of truth seemed to be that it happened during the era when the Medellin Cartel controlled the island.

We stayed for about 2-hours, then everyone headed out as it was getting close to dinner time. It seemed everyone — parents and kids alike — had a nice time. Here was the flotilla leaving in single file line, slowly winding our way around the sand bar.

This time, the current was with us, so it only took us 30-minutes to get back. We didn’t see any creatures this time. Christi made a meatloaf with a pineapple topping for dinner. She pulled out a can of pineapple that we’d bought in Mexico and noticed it was bloated. Uh oh. That probably meant it was infected with Botulism. Christi opened the can to dump out the contents and it exploded. We checked our cabinets and saw there were two more bloated cans, all from the same Mexican manufacturer. 🙁

One of the boats had baked Christmas cookies and had invited Keith over to help frost the cookies. We wouldn’t let him go until he’d eaten dinner. By the time he got there, the cookies were already frosted and most of them eaten. 

Here was the sunset.