Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 We woke to a sortof grey day. 

Now & Zen just after sunrise.

Since it was relatively chilly this morning - 70 degrees - I decided baking biscuits would be a good idea since warming up the salon area wouldn't be terrible.  I make "buttermilk" with  evaporated milk and a tablespoon of vinegar.  It curdles the milk instantly and gives it a real "sour" taste.

 

 

And if you have biscuits, you gotta have gravy!

The winds did howl during the day, but in the afternoon we put the dinghy down and went for a nice shore walk on Little Ragged.

 

 

It's really hard to tell scale in photos but there is a 30 or 40 foot drop off to the ocean.

 

 

Duane's in the red shirt standing on the cliff edge.

 

 

Another cute ghost crab.  Strange that they don't run away like other crabbies.  He just stopped walking and stared me down!  

 

The middle of the island is mostly this salty marsh/pond.

 

 

Several momma/baby goats were seen up on the hilly rocks.  They are definitely "wild" - they scamper away as soon as they see us.

 

 

Back to the boat under threatening skies.   Nice to stretch our legs on the 3 mile walk.

 

Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 Woke to a beautiful sunrise with What If in the foreground.

 

 

The water was just calm and clear - Now & Zen

 

 

Bluejacket

 

New friends Russ and Carol on Spirit 

 

 

We're off to the reef to take advantage of the last no-wind day for a while.  There is a "blow" coming this afternoon.  Duane can't go snorkeling for a few days because he has an eye infection.  Luckily, our friends on Roam had a brand new tube of eye antibiotic/steroid.  It's working wonders and Duane will be back in the water in a couple of days.  So I hopped a ride with Ed and Cathy.

 

 

At the reef, Cathy throws out the dinghy anchor.

 

We're in a cut just south of Little Ragged Island.  We normally wouldn't get to come out to these lovely reefs because it's open to the east winds and ocean swells.  But today is almost dead calm.

We were not disappointed!  Lovely coral.

 

 

A nice Nassau grouper.  (They're protected right now for spawning - season opens Feb 28th)

 

 

An ocean triggerfish.

 

 

A porkfish.

 

 

More lovely coral.

 

 

Pretty queen angelfish.

 

 

We three teamed up - Cathy and I spotted the lobsters and sent Ed down deep to retrieve them.

 

 

Pretty successful - we had about a 50% capture rate.

 

 

Some of those critters were hiding deeper than others.

 

 

Another grouper.  Seems like they're abundant in off-season.  They'll all be in hiding starting March 1st!

 

Russ and Carol from Spirit were also out on the reef.

 

 

After more than 3 hours in the water, we were all wrinkly!  Back to the anchorage.

 

 

The wind is picking up a bit so we had good timing.

 

 

The haul from today.  4 nice lobsters.  We'll grill some tonight.

 

Later we all gathered on a little wind-protected little bay.  Roam is anchored about 1/2 mile away but Michelle and Clark dinghied over to join us.

And we were treated to a beautiful sunset with a small green flash at the end!  

 

Settled in for a windy night and next couple of days. 

Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 I spent the afternoon baking bread and making an artichoke dip to take in to happy hour on the beach.  Was so busy, I forgot to take any photos!

Everyone in the anchorage has been in the Raggeds for a while now so we aren't too concerned about Covid exposure.  

 

The usual gathering on the beach.  Donna has a wonderful aluminum foldup table that she brings from the boat.

 

 

This is Tugboat, one of Clark and Michelle's dogs.  As usual, dogs always seem to gravitate to Duane (who is pretty ambivalent about dogs!).

 

 

 

I took couples photos - Clark and Michelle from Roam

 

 

 

Ralph and Leslie from Now & Zen

 

 

 

Donna and Jerry from Bluejacket

 

 

 

Ed and Cathy from What IF

 

 

Russ and Carol from Spirit

 

 

And the lovely couple from Sojourn!

 

 

A fun gathering - and nobody needed to go back to the boat and cook dinner since we were all happily sated.  Pretty sunset and a nice little green flash over the clear horizon.

 

 

And a simultaneous pretty moon-rise!