A Bahamas Birthday

"B B E"
Best Birthday Ever! is the verdict from Madeline today.
We started our day by moving to a mooring ball closer to the Park Headquarters. Not too much distance-wise, but we are now swimming distance to the main beach, and to the sandbar in the middle of this mooring field. Once we were settled, the girls jumped off the boat and swam the 50 meters to ankle deep water where they had a great time running around searching for sand dollars. Jessica even found a live sea biscuit! As the tide came in, the water deepened and the current picked up, and we headed back to the boat for lunch. We skipped school today, on account of the special occasion. Though they unknowingly had a great lesson in vector addition, under the guise of 'what direction do you have to swim to get to the boat in this currrent?'
After Madeline's choice of grilled cheese on homemade bread, we were cleaning up when we saw our friends on Dharma arrive. The girls quickly jumped in again and swam to the sandbar beside where they were picking up their mooring ball. Their boys soon joined them and the four of them spent a great afternoon paddling kayaks, hanging out at the beach and catching up.
We arranged to meet them on the beach to share cake after dinner.
While at the beach, small rodents began appearing out of the scrub. We quickly recognized them as the protected Bahamian hutia. Picture a cross between a hedgehog and a rat. Same body as a rat, size of a hedgehog, stubby tail. While first amusing, they quickly became very bold, even climbing onto the picnic table where we had eaten the cake and stealing crumbs off the plates!
Once we had said our goodbyes to Dharma, with plans to hike to Boo Boo hill tomorrow to place our boat signs, we climbed into the dinghy. On this clear, dark night, Greg noticed a shimmer behind the dinghy as we left the beach. He slowed down and got out, only to see the sandy bottom sparkle in response to his footsteps. (the cake was vanilla, not rum, and we all saw it, so I guess we're all crazy!). Though we will confirm with the park rangers tomorrow, we think the sparkle was caused by bioluminescence of some critter. What a way to top off another great day!