The sunrise was blocked on Sunday, December 28, 2025, but there were still some neat colors.

This morning, the boat was moving strangely. When Eric went to see what may be causing it, he saw that the chain had gotten caught on multiple rocks, creating a zig zag pattern. Oy vey.

This morning, the flotilla moved to an island called Compass Cay. We pulled up anchor a little before 1000, and needless to say given the rock situation, getting the chain up was tricky. Eric had to do some serious maneuvering to straighten the chain out and the windlass was strained a few times as the chain clung to the rocks. But all in all, getting it up wasn’t too bad — it could have been much worse.

The route everyone else was taking was through a narrow channel that was probably deep enough, but the chart said “Warning, shifting sands,” and that made Eric uncomfortable. He decided to err on the side of caution and picked a longer, deeper route. It took us an hour and a half to get there, and we were the last to arrive. The whole group anchored in a line because the channel was so narrow.

After we dropped anchor, Christi quickly made lunch. After eating, we got the dinghy down and headed to shore. We met the group at the mouth of what looked like a saltwater river that cut across the island. Some of the early arrivers were waiting under a small pergola onshore.

Once everyone arrived, we trudged up the shallow river.

Looking back at the anchorage.

Compass Cay was the first island south of the Exumas Land and Sea Park. On the short walk, the cruisers talked about how happy they were to finally be out of the park. While they were glad to not have to pay the anchorage fee, what they were much happier about was being allowed to fish/spear fish/look for lobsters again. Most of the other cruisers had gone out in search of seafood upon arrival this morning; however, they didn’t have any luck with catching dinner. Here was a shot of the scenery along the way.

The river dead-ended into a small pool under a rock wall. We quickly realized that what was feeding the river was waves coming over the wall. This was Rachel’s Bubble Bath.

The majority of the pool was very shallow, maybe knee-deep. But there was a steep drop-off not far beyond the rock wall where it suddenly went to more than six-feet deep. Most everyone got into the shallow area, where there was strong footing to stand against all but the strongest waves. The more adventurous went into the deeper water, where with no footing, they were pushed under the water when the waves came over the wall.

The water was too cold for Christi, so she didn’t go in. Instead, she climbed over one of the sand banks and walked along the ocean side of the island for a short way.

After an hour, everyone was ready to head back to their respective boats. After we returned to Kosmos, Christi made dinner. This was the sunset.

In the evening, one of the boats hosted a birthday party for one of the older teens. The whole flotilla came — and they crammed a lot of people onboard. The seating was cozy, which made it all the more festive and fun.