Sea Scouts Summer Trip: Day 2

I woke up throughout the night, but did get sleep between 1:45am when I went to bed and 6:55am when I got a text from my husband that woke me up for good. Our dear, sweet bunny apparently got eaten last night. I got up,and crying, went to tell Edon and Ezi. They took it very well. I am so glad we weren’t home and am so sorry John had to deal with that sad and terrible thing.
Now that it was light we could see that the protected area we had anchored at was near a lighthouse. Supposedly it was just outside No Name Harbor. We had made it pretty much to our desired destination after all.
The path to our next stop, Christ of the Abyss, was to the south. Since our course took us directly into the wind, we couldn’t put up the sail. Throughout the day we were amazed by the stunning and various blues of the clear water. None of our cameras could pick up what our eyes could see, which is too bad. The colors ranged from a deep purple to an electric turquoise and everything in between.
Our progress was slower than anticipated because we were traveling south against the Gulf Stream. Due to shallow and protected waters of the National Park to the west, we had no choice but to travel against the current of the Gulf Stream. Around 2pm we arrived at the snorkel site and found an empty mooring ball to attach to the boat. Christ of the Abyss is a statue, about 14 feet tall, that is in a coral reef. After donning our snorkel masks, fins, snorkels, and snorkel vests we each found a buddy and headed toward the statue.
The reef was covered in different types of coral, including large purple fans that swayed in the currents. Colorful fish of all sizes swam singly and in groups. I had purchased a new snorkel mask prior to the trip, but hadn’t had time to test it out prior to departure. Unfortunately, it leaked and I kept having to stop and empty it as we worked our way toward the statue. My dive partner, Sam, dove down toward the statue. Her ears hurt her when she surfaced and we had to make our way back to the boat. I did get to dive down toward the statue before heading back, though. Back on the boat the kids jumped off the side into the water and I tried various combinations of snorkels and straps with my mask to see if I could find a functional pairing. But, no. The mask just leaked.
Sue and Jeanne cooked dinner, hamburgers and fries, as we motored onto our next anchorage site, Rodriguez Key. It was a mostly uneventful trip, except that the kids one time missed the cut over to the channel and had to make a small course correction to avoid several shallow reefs in the area. Once successfully anchored at Rodriguez Key, the kids played in the water until dinner time. It was Nick's birthday and we brought out a chocolate cake to celebrate. After this, I did the dishes, with some assistance from Edon. Several of the kids stayed up to play cards, but at 9pm I headed to bed. My next watch shift would begin at 4am and I was anxious to get to bed so I could get some sleep.