Shroud Cay- revisited

Got to sleep in a little. Out around 8:30, and headed to Shroud Cay. We pumped up Big Bertha and let Moose try her out behind the Cartermaran for a bit while we were underway and almost there. Hattie was quite concerned about her boy all the way back there by himself and was barking at him from the swim steps. 

The plan is to pack lunches, sunscreen, and head to the lazy river and the hidden beach just as low tide is passing. We learned last time that low tide makes the little river nearly impossible on the tender, but it also made the hidden beach more of a sandbar.

Adults plus Sasha loaded into the Chicken and the other 4 kids were pulled in Big Bertha behind us. At some point, probavly after our first shark spotting, Moose jumped out of Big Bertha and held the line between the Chicken and Big Bertha for some high speed snorkeling. 

We took the first lazy river to a beautiful beach, and we didn't have a moment there alone, unlike last time. This time some crew members brought out and set up a table, chairs for 9, and some pop-up tents on the beach. We never got to see what came out of it. We imagined it being some expensive add-on trip to a "picnic on a private beach" or the staff of a large yacht setting up for the owners. Meanwhile, we enjoyed our pb&j or pb & Nutella sandwiches and Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles- living our life of luxury. 😂 

After lunch, we explored and swam around some more. As the tide was coming in, we walked out away from the boat and floated in the current back. Moose was excited to find a conch where someone was finally home!

Onto the next lazy river... we floated most of the way there and wound up walking the last part of it in super warm, almost hot water. We got to play at this beach and no one ever joined us. Last time we were here, we couldn't stop at this beach due to the wall of black clouds hanging behind it and said we would come back. Roo wished she could've played there longer. Moose was trying to catch tiny fish with his bare arms. It looked like he was hugging them.

We tried floating back, but were unsuccessful because the current was getting too strong, going in the opposite direction. We kept expecting the current to shift but it never did, so we tendered back to the boat.

Over the course of the day and on both rivers, we saw 3 sharks, countless turtles, and 1 stingray! We were gone from the boat for 5-6 hours today. Everyone was getting fried, even though we kept reapplying sunscreen and covering up, so we ate dinner inside to avoid the sun. We barely missed the sunset, but I think it was probably too cloudy anyway. After dinner, we started watching the video from our Canada trip in 2024 that Keith put together for us.