Riding Out a Storm in Southern Compass Cay, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Dawn on Wednesday, January 14

Keith had a fever of 101 when he woke up, so we skipped school and let him rest. We had a quiet day onboard. By the late afternoon, his fever was gone and he was feeling better. In the evening, we went over to Mellow Puff for a short visit. They had a large cockpit area, and we made sure to sit far enough away from them, and down wind of them, to ensure that we didn’t expose them to any germs. It was a nice visit. This was Mellow Puff at dusk.

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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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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.

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Snorkeling at Warderick Wells, Exuma Islands, The Bahamas

Thursday, January 8, continued… Keith got ready to go snorkeling. Eric and Keith went to the ranger station to check in. Christi stayed behind to make lunch and dinner. Tiki Tour had also moved from Shroud to Warderick this morning and had moored in The Horseshoe. The Tiki crew and their guests — a family with two kids close in age to Keith — met Eric and Keith at the beach by the ranger station. The kids played on the beach. After a couple of hours, Eric returned to Kosmos to eat lunch and to pick Christi up. Keith said he wasn’t hungry and asked to stay with the other kids.

At about 1600, Eric and Christi returned. They found the group snorkeling in the pass.

The snorkelers saw a group of twelve spotted eagle rays and they followed the rays for quite a while. They said the rays were amazing. From the dinghy, all Christi and Eric could see were black blobs that looked like moving rocks.

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