Island Moosie ... Snorkeling, Eating, and Drinking her way through the islands

September 24, 2018

I awoke to some unsettling news about work, with my friends messaging me. It wasn’t unexpected, but still a bit disconcerting to finally hear it come true. No matter. I can’t change the outcome. Change be damned, I will enjoy my vacation and deal with it when I get back home! Well, maybe some extra libations are in the forecast for today as a result…

The sun is shining and the breeze is blowing. A quick brekky of toast with butter, and coffee, and we had our plans for the day laid out. We like to kid ourselves into thinking that we can do a whole bunch of beach hopping in one day. So today we planned to pack it in and hit Tropic of Cancer beach, Forbes Hill beach, Cocoplum beach, and Prime Island Deli. We are getting out of the house early, we tell ourselves. Riiiiight. By the time we were ready to roll it was 11:30. Gah! Where did the time go??

Hook suggested we ditch ToC and Forbes Hill and head up to Cocoplum instead. No arguments here.

Cocoplum is my absolute favorite beach. EVER! I’ve been fortunate to travel to many beaches around the Caribbean, but Cocoplum has captured my heart.

We arrived with no one else in sight.

Is this heaven or what?!

Hook had his head down as we walk to our usual spot. Aha! Wait a minute… I know what he’s doing… 🤔 He is upping the game and intends to be first to find a sand dollar!! After setting our stuff down, I headed off to our usual spot to initiate my search.

One thing that we factor when planning our vacation dates is the timing of low tide. We know we are not early morning risers so the optimal low tide for us is sometime in the early afternoon and later.

I was giddy with joy sinking my toes in the sand and savoring the shallow waters all around. You can walk for hundreds of yards offshore and the water is still very shallow. This height-challenged girl approves!

This is how far I was from shore

This is how shallow the water was. Not even up to my knee. And remember? I have alligator legs! (code word: short 😆)

But where are those sand dollars? Hook and I both walk all around yet there were none to be found this time. Gasp! Apparently our account at Bank of Exuma is overdrawn! 😳 Sand dollar account that is… 😉 I did find a very small one. (Side note: Please do not take or handle brown sand dollars. They are alive and should be left alone. Thank you.)

We spent a few hours sitting in the sand letting the waters swirl around us. A school of friendly fish kept us company and tickled us with their nibbling.

On our way out we stopped to chat with another couple who had discovered this beauty of a beach and asked us to take their photo. We chatted for a bit sharing our awe of this wonderful island. It was their first trip to Exuma and they were celebrating their 40th anniversary. Happy Anniversary! What a place to celebrate. ❤️

One more snapshot of my favorite place

We stopped at Prime Deli to pick up some more goodies on our way home. More crackers and a hunk of brie. Yum! While perusing their other offerings I spot a lady who came in that I sort of recognized. I kept stealing glances to see if she was indeed the person I thought she was. I finally got the courage to go up to her and ask if she was Ms. Gardiner. I introduced myself and told her we were actually FB friends, six-degrees-of-separation connected (ok more like one degree of separation) when I had found a mama kitty and her kittens living under one of the Exuma Beach Resort buildings when we stayed there a few years ago and I alerted the manager and she said she knew exactly who to call to save them. We were leaving that day so I never met the person but I followed up after as I kept thinking of those kitties (I’m a cat lover in case you haven’t noticed 😺). That is when I was connected to Ms. Gardiner via FB and since then I have been in awe of her efforts to help the animals of Exuma. As a fellow animal lover I was thrilled to have finally met her. 🐶🐱

I wanted to take them all home! 😿

Quick stop at Smitty’s Pharmacy as I was looking for Orajel. Alas no luck. I will continue to scratch my bug bites. Here’s a tip: Apply Orajel to bug bites to numb the skin. It prevents you from feeling the need to scratch it. The numbing doesn’t last a long time but it does provide a brief respite from the urge to scratch it before needing to reapply again. This was the tip from my doctor years back when I came home from an island trip with noseum bites. I am very sensitive to bug bites and react quite severely despite all the hydrocortisone that I slather on them.

Next door was Smitty’s Liquor calling out my name. Score! Sands Pink Radler. Why yes, I will buy some thank you. Oh look, they have a small bottle of Rose’s grenadine syrup. Perfect! Now we can make proper rum punch. Not a lot of rum selection here so we settled for a local Bahamian rum.

Back at the villa, Hook fixed us some cold drinks as we ended the day at the gazebo. We were waiting for sharkie to make his appearance and he did not disappoint. 😃

Sharkie! He is a good size… around 2 1/2 ft or so

What a great day! Dinner was crackers and brie and ice cream.

Cheers to another day in paradise!

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Some prices from our shopping expedition

Prime Island $42 and change (didn’t get the receipt)

Quarter slice of President brie

Pineapple juice

Crab salad

Stax chips

Ice cream

Can of corned beef

Potato

Bath tissue

Paper towel

Water

Soda

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Smitty’s Liquor Store $33 and change

• 6 pack Sands Pink Radler
• Rose Grenadine Syrup
• Bottle of Gun Cay gold rum