Dawn on Saturday, May 10
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.
Sunrise on Friday, May 9
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.
On Tuesday, April 29, after we finished our morning school/chores and were getting ready to leave Kosmos, it started raining hard — we did not want to be out in that kind of rain.
When it stopped, we checked all the rain forecasts to see if more was coming. They all said more rain, but conflicted with when it would hit and how hard. The clouds in the distance looked ominous, so we played it safe and stayed onboard for the whole day. It did indeed rain hard again, but not until the evening.
On Wednesday, it rained lightly in the early morning, but cleared up by mid-morning. After school and chores, we went to The Grotto. It was windy, and the ride over was a little bumpy and wet.
We anchored near The Grotto entrance, got our gear on, and jumped in. We took this video because we thought the sound was funny. We had no idea that it was significant.
Continue readingSunday, April 27 — We got up at 0530 and untied from the dock at 0630, just as the sun was beginning to rise. It was high tide. Today was the new moon, so the tides were extra high/ low. We were grateful to have a little more water under the keel as we navigated the narrow channel out.
We were heading to an area called Staniel Cay, part of the string of tiny islands that make up the Exumas.
The sea conditions were okay. The 1 – 2 foot wind chop waves were sharp, hitting at 2 – 3 second intervals, and breaking. They were hitting us on the starboard. The motion was lurchy. Much to our frustration, the closet was squeaking like crazy like it does in head seas. In good news, there was no swell. It was a sunny day with scattered clouds.
Continue readingWednesday, April 23, 2025 — We arrived at the park at 0930 so we could go on The Serpent Slide before the rest of the rides opened. We exited the ride right at 1000 and went straight to the river just as it opened. Today, the waves from the wave machine were noticeably bigger, there were a lot more breaking waves, and the ride moved faster. A couple of days ago, Christi had overheard a patron complaining to a lifeguard about the wave machine being turned down. The lifeguard had said there’d been too many accidents. The patron had said he understood why Atlantis needed to do that since, over the last few weeks, the Bahamas had been full of drunk, stupid 18 year old high school seniors on their spring breaks (the legal drinking age in the Bahamas is 18). We were wondering if Atlantis felt comfortable turning up the wave machine now that most spring breaks were over.
At 1230, we started scoping out food options. One of the employees told us that the round building across the lagoon from Shake Shack was a Mexican restaurant called Crocodilo. Since Mexican food was our favorite, we were sold!
From the waterslides, we walked over one of the lagoon bridges to the back the lagoon/ocean. Just to give you a sense of how big the resort was, the first shot was looking back at the main hotel from just beyond the bridge, and the second photo was of the restaurant, taken from the bridge.
