While visiting Staniel Cay, Zoe meets a girl who is sailing with her mother. Alone. Mary is the first woman I’ve met who is cruising as a single parent. Unfortunately, I never feel comfortable asking how she came to live this life, but I admire her courage nonetheless. She and her 11-year old daughter Colleen have been living aboard nearly full time for 4 years. They tend to stick to an area, such as the Bahamas, and have plans to venture to the Dominican Republic for hurricane season. They do have the support of DJ, who has been living aboard a sailboat for 24 years, and they often sail in tandem.
Zoe and Colleen form a fast friendship and each day as soon as school work is done, they radio each other. Colleen joins us for the pig feeding and tour of Thunderball Grotto. Zoe teaches her to sail the dingy, and they trade books. Colleen persuades her mom to sail up to Cambridge Cay with us so they can extend their time for a few more nights.
At Cambridge Cay, we coordinate our outings with Colleen and Mary. Most snorkeling here must be at slack tide, so it makes sense. One of our best snorkels is at the Sea Aquarium where conditions approach perfection: calm, clear waters, good sunlight and solitude. Nestled into the side of an island, the hard and corals appear more healthy than most sites in the Bahamas. The Aquarium is so named as it is as visually stunning and perfect as what one would see at the Boston or Baltimore Aquarium. Afterwards we stop by to see the sunken plane, more of a novelty snorkel. The night before we leave Mary, DJ and Colleen come over for a game night and we have a silly fun time playing Clue. The girls are crushed to be leaving each other, but we’ve foolishly run out of propane which requires us to sail back to Staniel Cay to refuel before heading north. While disappointing I am Zen enough to accept that these things happen while sailing, and it might mean we reconnect with the other family on Helia.
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