Removing the Retainer from the Toilet on New Year’s Day, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Sunrise on Thursday, January 1, 2026

It was a chiily morning – only 66 degrees Farenheit! But it was 45-degrees in Florida and snowing in Baltimore, so it much warmer here in the Exumas than the rest of the US East Coast.

Eric celebrated the New Year by making a French toast breakfast with the coconut bread that we’d bought from Lorraine’s mom. This coconut bread was different than the one we’d gotten in Cat Island. In Cat Island, it was basically white bread with a hint of sweetness and a hint of coconut. Looking at it, you’d never realize it wasn’t plain white bread. Lorraine’s mom’s bread was basically white bread with a swirl of coconut jam in the middle — like a jellyroll cake but with bread instead of cake. The jam was made from tiny pieces of real coconut. Eric and Christi loved it and thought it made phenomenal French toast. Keith wasn’t a coconut fan and said he preferred French toast with regular bread.

After breakfast, Eric did a little gaming to help psych himself up for tackling the toilet. The first step was to clear out the closet. Then he had to disconnect the water pipes from the toilet. The water in the outgoing pipe spilled, which was stinky.

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New Year’s Eve at Over Yonder Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Wednesday, December 31

This morning, we were awoken at 0600 from radio chatter. When Eric turned on the internet (when we’re at anchor, we turn Starlink off at night because it’s a power hog), he saw an explosion of What’s App chatter amongst the flotilla group. “The La Paz Waltz” had made the boats in the anchorage move oddly in the night. We’d first heard the term “The La Paz Waltz,” in Baja to describe when boats didn’t move in unison because the wind direction conflicted with strong currents — some boats moved with the wind, others with the current. The boats in the anchorage reported they had abnormal tracks around their anchors and several had come disconcertingly close to hitting one another – within 20 feet! Tiki Tour moved to an anchorage a mile away. Two of the boats went to join the other half of the group in Big Majors. Zimovia stayed put since they were now alone and there was no one to hit them.

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Sheltering From the West Winds in the Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Monday, December 29, 2025

We only got to see part of the sunrise because a cloud descended and blocked the view. Here was the sun just as the cloud began to descend.

We haven’t been in “civilization” since December 17, and our trash has been accumulating. We had put a full trash bag out in the cockpit a few days ago. When Christi went out to take the sunrise photos, she saw that the entire cockpit was covered in maggots. She told Eric about the problem and the two of them bagged the trash up into a sturdier bag and made sure it was really secure so no more maggots could escape, then cleaned up all the maggots in the cockpit. Ugh. It was not a fun start to the day.  

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Rachel’s Bubble Bath at Compass Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

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.

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Moving to an Unnamed Sand Bar in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, The Bahamas

Dawn on Saturday, December 27

We forgot to mention that one of the chores that Eric had done a few days ago was change the generator oil. Today he put away the tools. Eric frequently says that in boat maintenance, getting everything out and putting it all away again often took longer than the task itself. Eric also spent some time in the morning trying to figure out why the air conditioner in the salon mysteriously stopped working. He cleaned the sea strainer and checked the oils, but didn’t see a problem.

Today the wind was dead and the seas were completely calm. Here was our flopper stopper.

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