Today we went back to the Washing Machine at 1500 with the two families in the northern anchorage. Yesterday, we were so fixated on all the turtles at the mouth of the northern anchorage that we didn’t take one of the mouth itself.
The rolliness had increased and the anchorage was becoming uncomfortable. Sadly, it was forecast to get worse as the winds continued to shift. We were disappointed because, on paper, it looked like this anchorage should have been calm, as it was protected from the wind direction. But the swell apparently wrapped around the island and got into the anchorage.
The plan for today was for all the families to go to The Washing Machine together. As you can see in the map below, there was an extensive saltwater river system on Shroud Cay. The Washing Machine was at the mouth of the river next to the red dot, and we got there by taking the dinghy through the river system.
After school and morning chores, we went snorkeling with the other families. Only the adults and some of the older kids came; most of the kids skipped it. Christi forgot her camera, and since the photos from snorkeling in Little Bell Cay and hadn’t come out, we decided not to make a special trip back to Kosmos to retrieve it.
When we got up, we were surprised to see that that all the boats were facing different directions. It means the wind and current were going different directions, and some boats were more pushed by the wind and others were more pushed by the current.
In the am, Eric filled the tanks that were used yesterday. After he was done, Eric and Christi jumped in the water and finished cleaning the bottom. Eric saw a nurse shark while he was underwater. Between the two of them, they used one tank of air. They were both relieved to finally be done. They vowed to never let the bottom get so bad again.
We decided to get a late lunch/early dinner onshore. We landed the dinghy at the yacht club. We saw there was another shark feeding in process. Someone was filming the sharks with a Go-Pro. She dropped the camera in the water. The sharks attacked it, and one of the sharks ate it. The shark immediately spit it back out. A man went into the water with the sharks and retrieved the Go-Pro for her! She said it was on, so she probably has footage of it being eaten and spit back out.
We decided we wanted to try a new place, and walked over to The Ship Yard. We’d put in a photo of the Ship Yard’s property in another post, and here is a photo of the restaurant itself. They told us that their chef was on vacation this weekend, so only the bar was open.