Sailing Ohana

We grabbed a mooring ball at Emerald Rock, instead of going to the area where we had the Great Mooring Ball Fiasco of 2022 (see “Exumas Land and Sea Park Adventures” from last season). It has several snorkeling spots in the bay, and it’s close to Whale Beach and the Land and Sea Park headquarters. The woman who talked us through our mooring ball disaster last season is still the one in charge. Hearing her voice on the radio– her calm, matter-of-fact communication style– brought back memories of last year.

We had been out snorkeling and exploring all day, and I was hoping to see the fever of spectacular spotted eagle rays that were at Warderick Wells last year. We didn’t find them, but did see some other rays, turtles, a lemon shark, and a variety of fish. We went to the beach near our boat at the end of the day, where boys played on the paddleboard and Tommy and I hung out on the beach. The sign on the beach is all about how dogs aren’t allowed and it made me feel good that we weren’t trying to do this with Morris again, even though we miss him like crazy.

When we got back to the boat Spencer wanted to keep playing in the water, either diving in or jumping off of the coach roof. We said no, because it was right around what we call “shark:30”, the time of day when sharks go hunting. Sure enough, a moment later a 6′ long nurse shark showed up. At first it was a little unnerving, as the shark kept circling the dinghy with Tommy in it. But nurse sharks are not aggressive, so we weren’t really worried. The boys and Tommy were able to actually pet the shark as it rubbed up next to the boat. We have never spent so much time up close with a shark, and the shark seemed to not want to leave. He/she stayed at our boat well past sunset, so we turned on the underwater lights just to watch the shark swimming around with a few cleaner fish attached. It was a really cool experience.