It is so nice to wake up after a restful night of sleep. Even with the wind picking up and a slight chop to the water, this anchorage has been way more comfortable than those in the past.

I was up (way too early) before dawn. Maybe because I fall asleep by 7PM? My mind was full this morning because I was feeling disappointment about our decision to NOT go to Turks & Caicos to visit our friends. Both of us were so looking forward to the break and to visit with other people (other than each other). We also had A LOT of mail sent to our friends (some VERY necessary items). So, I started to look into ways in which we could receive said goodies. It is a royal pain in the butt to get mail in the Bahamas — almost impossible unless you have time to wait.

During this research, I grew curious about the possibility of flying to Turks (or convincing our friends to fly to us here in the Bahamas). Needless to say I learned a lot. First of all, the cost to sail to Turks and Caicos is not cheap. The fees to enter and exit the country, alone, were as much as plane fair. Then the cost of a marina on top of it was 3x’s more than anywhere we’ve been in the Bahamas. This doesn’t even include food or other provisioning! I felt a lot better after learning all of this.

Once Jake was awake, I passed this information to him – I figured he would just be glad we weren’t going. He was really excited about the prospect of flying to Turks & Caicos to visit our friends. We decided to mull it over for the day.

Meanwhile, today was beautiful although very windy. We coordinated with s/v Beans and planned to move from this anchorage down the way a few miles to Square Rock. It would be an easy motor, and one where we don’t have to leave the comfort of the lee of the land (i.e. – the wind would be blocked by the islands the entire way). Beans told us the anchorage will probably be empty because it is a little harrowing to get to – unless you know how to get there (and time it according to tides).

So we followed them out of the anchorage and down the path. It was so pretty – the water was sparkling and crystal clear the entire way (which was helpful to navigate the shallows). We wound through shallow banks of coral and then down channels with deeper water. As we went through the shallows (on the map) we saw 5 feet at our shallowest (We draw 4 feet). But it went fast and then we found ourselves just passed Square Rock in about 8 feet of clear water.

Square Rock is a tiny little thing. I would guess its no more than a few hundred feet long and maybe 100 feet wide. But as we took in our surroundings, we saw an Osprey fly overhead with a stick and a fish to a huge nest on the top. So cool!!!

We wasted little time and jumped in our dinghy to buddy-boat with Beans over to some really beautiful coral reefs. They like to “hunt” here for their food, as they live almost completely off the land. We rafted our dinghies together so we didn’t separate (or blow out to sea). The water was cold, but the wetsuits made it very comfortable.

Mike, from Beans, was on a mission to hunt for food before Jake and I were even in the water. For some time, we were mesmerized by the beauty of everything. The coral here was AMAZING. I know that my pictures don’t do it justice. We saw such a variety of gigantic fish too. After maybe a half hour, we spotted the antenna of a big lobster. Mike came by with his sling and wasted no time grabbing hold of our meal. He also managed to catch several red glassy-eyed fish (he loves those) as well.

By this time we were all spent and the current was kicking back up. We motored back to Beans’ boat where Mike gave Jake and impromptu lobster-cleaning lesson. They made it look so easy! That night we invited them over for dinner aboard Bosco so we could all enjoy the hard won catch of the day.

It was early afternoon by now, and both Jake and I were feverishly working in the kitchen. We had all surfaces dedicated to cooking one thing or another. The meal: homemade lobster empanadas and Spanish rice with pineapples for dessert. It took us maybe 3 hours to prepare and clean up the meal but the time flew by! We had an excellent evening hanging out with our new friends and talking of plans to come. I couldn’t believe when they left how exhausted I was. And no wonder, it was almost 9PM! That’s late for us. 🙂

The next day was the first of February! Wow time sure does fly (or so it seems). And today was a first for us in that we took a complete lazy day. We had no plans to go anywhere or do anything. Instead we decided to take it easy, reading books and soaking up the pretty anchorage. Anne lent me a couple of books about the Bahamas (Wind of Carolinas and The Out-Island Doctor), both of which have been fascinating. Its really cool to learn about the history and culture of these islands and people as we are passing through them.

Slack tide was just after lunch, so we decided to go for a little dinghy ride. Jake and Mike went over to a small little island to burn trash. Then we explored the iron shore via lava walking – which is really just walking along the limestone rocks that are exposed at low tide. We saw a slew of baby conch, little fish and of course the perfect Bahamian water. We dinghied by a sunken sailboat as well. Apparently Beans and another cruising boat were in the area when it happened a few years ago, and recovered a bunch of boat items from the wreck (the roller furling, anchor, and a few other miscellaneous things). It was wacky to see it in such shallow water.

All-in-all it was a perfect “vacation” day on the boat. This is something that is very rare and wonderful! I hope we get to enjoy more of these days in the future.