Exumas - In The Water

Thanks to the long run on Saturday, we enjoyed sitting an extra day at Highbourne Cay. After lunch, we were able to take the dinghy for a quick ride over to a small set of rocks and coral, anchor and go snorkeling.

Then, back on Luna, we tried out Mike’s new toy. It’s a Brownie Third Lung. It allows you to breath underwater but doesn’t require you to wear the big compressed air tank like SCUBA. The unit is powered by a lithium ion battery that can float in the water or remain on the boat. It compresses the air in real time so no refilling oxygen tanks. It comes with the hoses, regulators, and weight belts. Everything snaps together elegantly. You need a mask and weights (just enough so you can sink). With water current, fins are a must and a wetsuit allows you to be comfortable in chillier water. We are both SCUBA certified but neither of us likes deep dives. For shallow dives, this is much easier to setup and use.

We each took a turn. We spotted two 2 foot Ramoras that had adopted Luna as their new home, one for each hull. They look like a small, skinny shark with its fins in weird places. They didn’t really love the fact that I was down there cleaning the gunk off the bottom of the boat. They kept their distance as I got close but they came right back as I moved away from their spots.

Today we’ll move just a bit. As nice as this anchorage has been for us, it’s time to see another. We need to watch the forecasted wind direction so the anchorage is comfortable. We are also trying to stay in range of the British Telecom tower on Highbourne so Mike can stay in touch with work on the weekdays.