Dean’s Blue Hole and The Shrimp Hole, Long Island, The Bahamas

Continued… The next stop was Erica’s Store and Bakery in Clarencetown. Much to Eric and Keith’s disappointment, the bakery portion was closed, so they yet again struck out on buying bread.

Next was Dean’s Blue Hole, the deepest saltwater hole in the world with a depth of 202 meters (663 feet). Blue Heeler and Kosmos met up with Tiki Tour and Zimovia there. The hole was a random deep spot in an otherwise shallow area that was surprisingly close to shore. There was a platform anchored there, and people dove into the hole using the line to help them descend/ascend. Everyone in the cruiser family group snorkeled, adults and kids. They saw some fish. Eric said it was his worst nightmare — a deep, dark abyss. Keith said it was cool, though it was eerie to look down into the hole. Afterwards, the kids played in the sand.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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