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

Bubble Baths and Bonfires on Compass Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Sunday, January 11

And the sunrise.

The seas had died down overnight and this morning it was much calmer in the anchorage. We puttered around the boat in the morning. Tiki Tour had arrived yesterday afternoon, and we met them onshore at 1330 to go back to Rachel’s Bubble Bath. This was looking back at Kosmos on the walk over to the Bubble Bath.

Continue reading

Back to Rachel’s Bubble Bath on Compass Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Saturday, January 10

This morning, we brought in paravane pole and snubber, then pulled up anchor at around 0730 and headed to Compass Cay. Last time, we came down the ocean side of the island. This morning, winds were 12 – 18 knots from the east with gusts to 24-knots, which meant the ocean would be an uncomfortable ride. Eric decided to take the lagoon side.

Even in the more protected waters of the lagoon, it was a bit of a lurchy ride. We couldn’t take the most direct route because it was too shallow, but we were able to utilize deeper channels (that had probably been dredged), which eventually got us there. The majority of the channels were plenty wide and deep for Kosmos… until the last one. The channel directly into Compass Cay from the lagoon side was very narrow and barely deep enough for us.

Continue reading

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.

Continue reading

Back to the Blowhole, Blackpoint, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, it was windy again with 15 – 20 knots sustained that was forecast to last all day. In good news, the wind had shifted to be from a more comfortable direction and there wasn’t much motion onboard.

Thanks to the big winds, there were 6-foot waves in the ocean. Eric was anxious to see the blowhole in action at high tide with the big waves. Neither Christi nor Keith were particularly interested in going with him, but he talked them into it. At 0745, we set out on the trek to the blowhole.

Here is a video from another angle where you can see the water hitting the land better.

Continue reading