The Hamilton Cave Tour, Long Island, The Bahamas

Saturday February 7 — Tiki Tour and Zimovia were also in the anchorage. Diane from Tiki organized a family outing to Dean’s Blue Hole. Diane arranged for us to rent minivans. The people renting out the vehicles met the group at Tiny’s to collect the money and hand over the keys. Tiki and Zimovia shared a minivan, and Kosmos shared one with Blue Heeler.

Kosmos and Blue Heeler took full advantage of the vehicle to do some shopping and sightseeing. The first stop was a farmer’s market, which was not far from the anchorage by car, but too far to walk. The market wasn’t all that big, with a small selection of produce, eggs, and some artisan goods. Eric wasn’t sure if it was normally small or if they’d just come too late and the majority of goods were already sold. But he was relieved to have finally found eggs.

Next was the Hamilton Cave Tour, which was a privately owned limestone cave in Clarencetown. The owner had a small storefront on the road. Eric called a number listed on No Foreign Land, and thankfully the owner said there was a tour starting in a few minutes. They went to the store, then followed the owner about 1/4 mile or so to his property (which would have been hard to find on their own). There was a fee for the tour, but Eric couldn’t remember what it cost. They joined some other tourists, and the group went down a staircase to the mouth of the cave.

Continue reading

Snorkeling and Diving The Piano at Rudder Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Just before the sunrise on Friday, January 23

A popular tourist attraction in the area was a statue of a mermaid about to play a piano that David Cooperfield had sunk for an activity for his resort guests. After Christi and Keith finished school, Eric and Keith snorkeled the statue with Bogumilia.  

We’d read that the statue was hard to see while snorkeling because it was kind of deep, and they recommended going at low tide, when it was only about 10-feet down, for the best views. While they could see it, it was tough. Low tide meant a strong current, and it took a lot of strength to stay in place over the statue in order to get a good look at it. From what they could see, it appeared the statue was a 1:1 scale of a person and a grand piano.

Continue reading

Keith’s Perspective on Blackpoint, White Point and Rudder Cay/Le point de vue de Keith sur Blackpoint, White Point et Rudder Cay

January 17 – 24 –On Saturday, Dad made French toast for breakfast. We met a boat called Bogumila for lunch at Emerald Sunset. I was feeling better, but not back to 100%. On Sunday, Mom woke up sick. Dad and I went to shore for lunch. We ate at a buffet, and I think their ranch dressing was bad. 

On Monday, we moved to a place called White Point. Tiki Tour, Zimovia and Mellow Puff were there. I went to the beach with the boys while the girls hung out on Tiki Tour. On Tuesday, it was rainy and high winds. I went over to Tiki Tour and played card games. On Wednesday, the weather forecast said it was supposed to be nice, but it lied. I went over to Tiki Tour in the afternoon. Everyone was moving to Rudder Cay, but we couldn’t get there because you had to go through a really shallow spot that we could only cross at high tide. Tiki and us ended up at an anchorage near Rudder, but on the other side of the pass. In the evening, I went over to Tiki Tour. 

Snorkeling the statue in Rudder Cay

Samedi, papa a fait du pain perdu pour le petit dejeuner. On a mangé le déjeuner au Emerald Sunset avec un bateau qui s’appelle Bogumila. J’allais mieux, mais pas à 100%. Dimanche, maman était malade. Papa et moi sommes allés à terre pour le déjeuner. Nous avons mangé a un buffet, mais leur sauce ranch était périmée. 

Continue reading

Keith’s Perspective on Compass Cay and Blackpoint/Le point de vue de Keith sur Compass Cay et Blackpoint

January 10 – 16 — This week hasn’t been much fun. On Saturday, we left Warderick Wells and went to Compass Cay. It was super uncomfortable there. We went to the Bubble Bath in the afternoon. 

Cette semaine était pas amusante. Samedi, nous sommes partis Warderick Wells et nous sommes allés à Compass Cay. C’était très inconfortable là-basu. L’après-midi nous sommes allés au Bubble Bath. 

Continue reading

Moving to the South Side of Compass Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Tuesday, January 13

Normally, in an anchorage, boats faced the wind and took any wind waves on the nose. Yesterday morning, the wind was hitting Kosmos on her port side instead of on the bow, which meant the current was so strong that it was overriding the wind in determining which direction Kosmos faced. Having the wind hitting us on the port made the motion onboard different from what was normal in an anchorage — it wasn’t a bad motion, it was just not a typical motion, so we felt a bit off kilter.

In the morning, we did school and chores. At about 1300, we moved to the south end of the island, to an anchorage that would be more protected in the coming winds. The ride took about 30 minutes and we had to go through two scary passes that were both narrow and shallow.

Continue reading