continued... We quickly got the dinghy down, got the snorkeling gear out of the lazarette, suited up and hopped into the dinghy. Here was a shot of the rock called The Aquarium.

There were moorings on the southwest side of the rock, which was the main snorkeling area. We attached to the mooring, which already had several other dinghies on it, and hopped in.

The Aquarium was part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, so fishing was prohibited here. As Eric had promised, The Aquarium had more fish and coral than any other place that we’ve been in The Bahamas. There were lots of types of coral in several of colors, and they were big healthy coral. There were also lots of fish, though most were little or medium size. But it paled in comparison to other places where we’ve snorkeled/dove in the South Pacific and Asia. The first video gives a sense of how many fish were around. The fish were used to being fed and had no qualms about getting very close to people.

The second video gives a sense of the amount and type of corals on the sloped portion of the dock between the waterline and ground. We noted with surprise that the coral was dense. Every other spot we’ve been to in the Bahamas has only had little patches here and there.There was no coral on the ground.

On Eric’s last visit, the current was strong, so he was unable to swim around the rock; he just stayed in the shelter portion near the moorings. The current was light now, and we swam all the way around the island. The portion near the moorings was indeed the best spot on the rock because it had the most fish, but the whole rock had good coral and a decent amount of fish. Here was a view of Kosmos taken from the north side of the rock.

Once we had finished circling the rock, we piled in the dinghy and headed back to Kosmos. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t have time to go to the airplane, but we needed to get moving if we were going to make it to Norman Cay before dark. As a side note, we felt like we were rushed, but in the relatively short time that we’d been there, several fast tourist boats had come and gone. We’re sure those people paid a lot of money for a boat to bring them to snorkel here, so we’re sad for them that they had such a limited amount of time in the water.

We brought the dinghy up and secured it, left our gear in the cockpit, quickly showered and pulled up anchor. We took the same shallow, narrow channel on the west side of Bell Cay on the way out as we’d taken in. On the way in, the tide had been lower but rising, now the tide was higher but falling. It was way less stressful going out as we were following our track and, surprisingly enough, no one passed us going the other direction.

Once we’d exited the channel, the rest of the trip to Norman Cay went smoothly. It was a beautiful, sunny day with was no wind, so the seas were flat as a pancake. It was the ideal conditions for a powerboat. We passed a unique boat that caught our attention.

But something did happen that was concerning. While passing Shroud Cay, someone called on the radio that her husband was having a heart attack and she didn’t know what to do. Several people responded with advice.

We arrived at Normal Cay at 1820. We could smell trash burning, and it was a strong odor. We’re guessing that since the wind had died, the smoke was lingering. Here were a few shots of the anchorage. Looking north.

There was a dock and a few small structures.

A map of where we anchored.

A map showing how far we’d traveled today.

The anchorage was calm, so we didn’t need to put out the flopper stopper. Since we were going to be leaving again first thing in the morning, we also didn’t put on the window covers or get the dinghy down. Here was the sunset.

 And looking south during twilight.