2/24 Having missed check in the evening before, we went to the office to complete the task. While there Don got advice on diving and we visited with fellow cruisers on the deck overlooking the beautiful surrounding cays. After Nina and Adrien dropped us at Nemo, Don set about putting patch #2 on the dingy. While that dried Adrien picked us up for some snorkeling at the Ranger's Garden just off the mooring field. Beautiful!! For a small coral head, it had a large variety of reef fish, coral and sponges. Not to mention several huge lobsters, you could certainly tell they had been there awhile. I wanted to get a closer look so was forced into practicing free diving, what a work out! Another glorious sunset closed the day followed by another peaceful night's sleep.

2/25 Almost sacrilegious in such a beautiful setting, I spent several hours cleaning the boat while the generator ran. Don checked engine parts. Afterwards we followed Adrien and Nina to Butterfly Beach for more snorkeling and a picnic on the beach. Leaving the Rocks behind we set out for Emerald Island for another round of snorkeling and a chance to try out Don's dingy ladder. The small reef was worth the trip, gorgeous! Don's dingy ladder was also a success, allowing us to haul ourselves back in with little trouble. Unfortunately, dingy repair #2 was not entirely successful, and we somehow lost the "good" sponge. Will have to work on it again sometime. Just back to the boat when we heard shouts of NEMO and looked up to see Barry and Linda from Mardi Gras. We met them at Great Harbour Cay Marina, ran into them briefly in Nassau, and invited them aboard to catch up on their travels. No sooner had they left then Nina and Adrien were over to surprise us with clam cake dinner to celebrate our days of traveling together, cementing a new friendship. They were staying in the park for the week to wait out a weather front and we were setting sail for Eleuthera in the morning as that was the way the wind was blowing.