Thursday, February 12 — This morning, we were up early, quickly got Kosmos ready to go, and lifted anchor at about 0600. Here was the dawn shortly before sunrise.
We were sad to be leaving this anchorage so quickly — it was a calm and looked like it would be a lovely place to spend a few days. Also, The No Foreign Land app said a couple of the other boats in the anchorage were family boats, so it would have been nice to meet them. But we had important matters to attend to. Here was the sun rising as we were underway.
It was a smooth ride most of the way to Georgetown. Here was a shot of the scenery along the way.
Tuesday, February 10 – First thing this morning, Eric and Keith pulled up anchor and did a passage to Georgetown. Tiki Tour and Zimovia also went. It was pretty windy, and the sailboats put out their spinnakers. Eric and Keith held a sheet in front of the boat to pretend they were sailing, too. The passage was pretty good overall because the wind was coming from the back and it was following seas. But when it came time to enter Elizabeth Harbour, they had to make a turn, putting the waves on their beam. The big waves made the conditions uncomfortable while entering the harbor. While it was by no means rough compared to other places we’ve been, it was rough by Bahamaian standards. All three boats dropped anchor in the southern part of the harbor, by Sand Dollar beach.
Keith went to the beach on the ocean side and played in the big waves with Tiki Tour and Zimovia, then went over to Zimovia to hang out later in the day. Eric did laundry and watched the sunset.
Meanwhile, in the evening, Christi’s caught a red-eye flight to Baltimore, which left from the new terminal. The terminal was again mostly empty, which made it easy to find comfortable seating while waiting to board. Her flight to Baltimore was uneventful, but she didn’t sleep at all.
On Wednesday, Eric and Keith got up at crack of dawn to head to Staniel Cay to pick Christi up. The plan was to spend the night in Staniel Cay, then continue on to The Ragged Islands the next day. Here was a shot of the anchorage taken as they were getting ready to go — Kosmos was surrounded by Nordhavns!
Sunday, February 8 was a fun day. In the morning, Eric and Keith played D & D with Blue Heeler. In the late afternoon, Eric and Keith played D & D with Tiki and Zimovia. In between the D & D sessions, all four sets of kids went to the beach together. There was no adult supervision onshore, but Leanne, the mom on Blue Heeler, spied on them with binoculars from her boat.
After playing onshore for a while, the group went back to Kosmos to play on the platform. Here was Fynn from Tiki ferrying the rest of other children from the beach to Kosmos.
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.
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.
