The sunrise on Monday, May 12 was blocked by low atmospheric clouds.
And the rest of the sky turned an odd violet-ish color.
We’d decided to move around the corner, where it was more protected from the wind/wind chop (the blue dot on the map that we’d posted upon arrival at Highbourne Cay). We had to bring in the flopper stopper no matter what, as they weren’t meant for use in motion. Even though it was a short ride, we decided it was best to bring up the dinghy, too.
Continue readingContinued… When Christi and Keith returned to the dinghy dock, they saw that Kosmopolitan wasn’t there. They walked out to the southwest edge of the marina to watch for Eric’s arrival. Looking north, we could see the marina, the little shallow bay next to it, and the sea wall that separates them. The marina was clearly a dredged portion of the little bay.
Looking south, we could see that the beach on between Xuma’s and this point was lined with chairs.
Dawn on Saturday, May 3, 2025
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.
Sunrise on Friday, May 2
Keith does not do well when his schedule is thrown off its normal routine. As a result of going to bed so late last night, he was a super grumpy pants all day today.
This morning, while the generator was running, Eric filled up the two air tanks he’d used yesterday. We were pleased to report that Eric did fix the dive compressor while we were in San Diego. It turned out to be an issue with the drive belt, but putting a new belt in was difficult because the frame had corroded. He also replaced a lot of other parts on it, and it seems to be working fine now. All the effort to fix it has finally paid off.
After we finished with morning chores and school, Eric and Christi both worked on cleaning the bottom and waterline. Christi agreed it was the worst that Kosmos’s bottom had ever been — and Eric had already cleaned a lot of it! Between the two of them, they went through two tanks of air. They managed to get the entire bottom and waterline mostly done, but they would need to go back in one last time to finish it completely.
After showering, we went over to the Cruisers Beach. Apparently, the cruisers regularly get together at this beach for social activities, but we haven’t seen anything happening there since we’ve arrived. The shoreline looking south.
Just before the sun poked over the horizon on Thursday, May 1, 2025
Today was the 16 year anniversary of when Eric and Christi completed our circumnavigation (it took two years and two days). We were pleased to be celebrating this anniversary while actively cruising once again.
While we’ve cleaned the waterline a couple of times in the Bahamas, we haven’t cleaned the bottom since Panama. Eric decided his project for the day was to clean the bottom. It was the worst he’d ever seen it. Normally, it takes one tank of air to do the bottom. He went through two tanks of air before he was simply too tired to keep going, and he still had a long way to go.
After he was done, we went to town. We had lunch at the yacht club again. As we were leaving, we noticed a crowd around the corner of the dock where we’d seen all the sharks the other day. We couldn’t believe how many sharks there were.
People were petting the sharks!
