July 17 - 18th
We fueled after the tanker left Sampson and journeyed north up the bank side to Compass; it was a short easy trip but a bit of a challenging entrance to the marina. The marina is very small; the island is a fair size and quite interesting yet uninhabited. We walked up a steep hill and whined our way back down a thickly vegetated path that opened at the base onto the Atlantic and a very large crescent shaped beach with such soft pink sand. With Tucker's help, the Marina's proprietor and island conservationist, I made a swim ladder for the dinghy. This ladder was an issue that needed to be resolved, my beached whale look as I drug myself up out of the water to the top of the rubber tubes was one that had not only worn me out, but was most unflattering. We met "Scallywag" with their two boats from Ft. Myers and snorkeled with the sharks and many other beautiful fish species. Two very large barracudas arrived at the edge of the marina, it was mating season and concern of their aggressiveness sent all anglers to their poles (something not normally allowed in the marina). Dinner that evening was pasta and meatballs on the deck with Citronella candles and Mosquito coils burning. Upon docking at the Marina, Wil had gone to hook up the water hose to learn the water maker had gone out the day before therefore the restrooms, showers and water were not available. We decided to depart the next morning continuing north back to Nassau for a night before heading off to the east.