I woke up a bit later than usual this morning and found out we were anchored next to the Rockwell House which is now some sort of hotel or resort. Breakfast was served and afterwards Joe swam to shore to go for a jog. Ryan D. and I followed a few minutes later to explore around the house. We walked up to it and for a while it seemed deserted. There were tables and chairs set up in the front patio area and the swimming pool looked like it hadn't been used in a while. There were also the remains of a gazebo which now stood on its own little island but at one point must have been accessible by hotel guests via some sort of bridge. The damage incurred by the weather was definitely noticeable. Finally I thought I saw someone upstairs and then we heard some laughing. I quickly glanced at a window and caught a figure as he / she hid out of sight. Interesting.

By now Joe had returned from his jog and told us a bit about the house including that it was built in the 50's and that it has deteriorated because of the rough weather. He also pointed out a rock not too far out in the water where we would be going for a snorkel. The clouds started to look dark so we headed back. It started to rain almost immediately after we got on board. Everyone went below deck with the exception of Tina, Ryan D. and I who decided the fresh water felt too good to pass on. This was our second fresh shower of the week.

The rain didn't last very long so Joe got us moving towards the rock. Wayne pointed out that we should look for the tunnel and try to get through it to the other side of the rock. We jumped in and headed for it. It was so shallow we could stand at most points so we had to be a bit careful. Once I reached the rock I saw what must have been hundreds of fish floating near it to avoid the current which was a bit strong. I kept going around only to run into schools of easily thousands of various kinds. It was amazing.

I ran into Greg who had already found the tunnel. Ryan D. also ended up there. Greg was the first to go through it as Ryan and I watched. We were a bit skeptical about the length and time it would take to go across given the surge until Ryan P. showed up and offered to do it so we could time him. 11 seconds. With that, I decided to go under. Halfway through there were other openings in three or four directions but there was not enough light to see too far in. Since it was my first time I really didn't look too hard anyways since I was more preoccupied with making it to the other side. It wasn't difficult at all even with the surge. I did feel my fins hit the roof as I passed however, so there definitely wasn't much room in there.

Ryan P. was waiting for us on the other side. Ryan D. appeared a few seconds later and we decided to go back through it. I started to go first only to almost run into Greg as he was crossing at that very moment.

After the tunnel excitement I started paying more attention to the schools of fish. There was a deeper portion with some smaller ones swimming around so we started playing around swimming through them while Ryan and others who had waterproof cameras took some snapshots.

Once back aboard, the weather wasn't giving any hints of improving. It made it particularly bad since it was keeping most of us below deck and it was preventing me for taking any pictures. We had lunch and then Joe moved us to our last dive site which was another 40-50 ft. reef. By now we could see lightning in the horizon so not too many people wanted to come any closer to the water. That left Joe, Wayne, Greg, and I to do the diving.

Greg and I jumped in and as soon as I made it to the bottom I saw a flash of light from the surface which made me nervous at first. However, the dive turned up to be a really nice one. There was plenty of light and things to see so we started swimming around.

I let Greg lead and we started going in all kinds of directions. It wasn't maybe ten minutes into the dive that I figured I had no clue where the boat was. Regardless, there was so much to see that I decided to worry about that later. We both had brought flashlights which we were using to look into coral and plant openings. We found a nice-sized sea urchin hiding in one place and also saw a couple of sea cucumbers which are pretty disgusting looking things. Greg touched one with his knife and it shriveled up to less than half its original size.

Greg then signaled to head back because he was running low on air. I thought it was weird considering we both started with the same amount but now he was down to maybe 1000 psi while I still had almost 2000. We surfaced to look for the boat and started swimming towards it. However, we were a bit far and kept getting off course. Then Greg signaled he was almost out of air, so I gave him my second regulator which we now realized was not easy to use by another diver because the hose was somewhat short. Greg then decided to swim at the surface the rest of the way.

After the dive Joe took us into Bimini where we would be staying the night. We watched as a seaplane landed and then we came up on the marina which had whole docks missing possibly as a result of recent hurricanes. We finally docked and were told we could walk around the city. Laurel, Linda, and I went for a walk and looked for a place to eat but all the ones they recommended were closed. Finally we found a small diner (name?) where we got more conch fritters and some delicious coconut shakes.

The plans for the evening were to do some dancing and celebrating at the Compleat Angler, the famous hotel and bar that has hosted and entertained the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Hart. It was still raining now but fortunately the bar was about two blocks away from the boat. The building is actually very cozy. The downstairs area consists of four main rooms with easily hundreds of photos and memorabilia of all kinds of fishing records and Hemingway clippings. Two of the rooms host bars where you can order the local specialties and the usual Caribbean treats like a Piña Colada. There was a small area set up for the band to play. Upstairs there are the twelve hotel rooms where it seemed obvious there would be no sleeping going on until the music stopped below.

We ran into Luke and John who had already finished a pint of rum and were starting on the frozen specialties. Luke had managed to get a hold of a cuban and showed us his lack of expertise at taking the a big puff which gave everyone a good laugh. He followed all the coughing by claiming it was his first cuban. Linda then took a puff and managed it with utmost expertise to which Luke replied Obviously it's not your first, baby. It was at this point that his personality changed from the quiet kid we'd seen all week long to that of a wild and crazy party animal.

The band had a great Caribbean sound. Laurel and I danced for a bit along with Joe, Isabel, Danielle, Ryan and others while Linda was busy getting all kinds of attention from the men in the crowd. There was a good sized crowd in the place, mostly fishermen who obviously were very attracted to the few women around. We then realized we hadn't seen Luke in some time until Greg came in explaining how Luke had come back to the boat and was talking to him when suddenly he started throwing up. Greg mentioned the heavy smell of alcohol and cigars but really didn't want to know what had happened.

The gang started heading back to the boat between 11:30 and 12:30 and then Joe pulled us out of the Marina to start our sail back home. We were given our last watch times and a few of us chuckled as we pictured John and Luke doing theirs given their condition. Finally we went below for our last night of sleep on the Shark 14.