Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 Just another lovely day!  Although a bit on the cool side with the north wind blowing.  It was 71℉ this morning!!!  BRRRR.  Jerry came over for a visit and Ralph & Leslie stopped by on their way south to the reefs.  We got suited-up and followed them.

 

Fun few hours on the reefs....a pretty queen angelfish.

 

And a small reef shark buzzed around for a few minutes but didn't come any closer.

 

Some lovely coral.

 

We were tickled to see a school of permit fish.  These are rather large although kindof hard to see that.

 

They swam around the reef rather lazily....Duane made an attempt to spear one - he dove down deep and came up under them unawares.....his spear just barely missed.  I understand they are very good to eat but we've never gotten one.  Once they knew they were prey, they quickly darted away and we saw them no more.

 

Lot's of fun wildlife today - a nice ray.

 

It was such a beautiful day.  The crews from Freedom, Life of Chill and Discovery were on the reef as well.

 

Back to the boat with our take for the day.  Guess what I had for dinner??

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We had a relaxing day - started out a bit spooky when our watermaker exhibited a broken fitting.  We can't do without the watermaker!!  But Duane had a spare and the problem was quickly solved.

Jerry and Donna came over for the afternoon - we had a good time playing a couple of card games - 5 Crowns and Cover Your Assets. 

That's it for the day - just watched a silly DC Comics movie Blue Beetle and a light supper because we snacked too much while playing cards!

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 Beautiful day from the start....the mail boat had arrived so many in the anchorage boarded their dinghies and headed to the airport & into town for groceries.

Bill & Michele from Freedom wave as they pass.  We are really pretty well stocked from last weeks mailboat and the items brought over to the Hog Cay cruiser hut so we didn't go into town.

 

Leslie and Ralph had invited us over to dinner so I got busy making my twisted bread sticks and cinnamon roll combo.

 

First, the savory breadsticks using 1/2 of the dough.

 After rising, ready to go in the oven.

 

All done!  

 

 

And then the cinnamon rolls using the other half of the dough.

And all done!  I sampled one....delicious.

 Then it was time for a snorkel since we hadn't been in the water in over a week because of all the high winds.

 

Just lovely calm warm water.

 Just another relaxing snorkel.

A strangely curious ocean trigger fish was hanging around.

 

We saw several lobsters but none were very large so we left them to grow up!

 

Another lobster.

 

And as often happens, it was quickly evening and time for fun on Now & Zen.  

 Ralph blew the conch horn as-is the custom at sunset.  We were treated to a green flash.

Yummy chicken sausage dish and my rolls were a definite hit!

Cori from Hi Flite announced on the VHF that there was a rocket launch scheduled at 8:10PM from Cape Canaveral so I think everyone in the anchorage was out on their deck to watch.

 

Really neat-o to see.  Amazing that it is visible to us so far south.

 And then we woke to a beautiful sunrise.

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We decided that we should go back south to the Little Ragged Cut to be prepared for some clocking winds over the next week to 10 days.  Better just to get a spot there because most of the boats in the lower Ragged Islands will be looking for shelter...

Jerry and Donna led the way - we just put up the main sail and had a lovely start with brisk winds on the beam.

 

Lovely water....

 

Now & Zen brought up the rear - by the time we turned eastbound the winds were strong and on our nose so we all dropped sails and motored the final stretch into the anchorage.

We had a little trouble finding a good spot to anchor - there are 11 boats in the relatively small anchorage now!!  Chris from Dragonfly came over for a chat - we'd not seen him since last year.  Fun catching up.  Jerry from Bluejacket came over for a visit too but I forgot to snap a photo of him.....

In the afternoon, we took the dinghy to collect some firewood but I forgot to take a photo, believe it or not!!

Leslie and Ralph wanted to do a campfire - so they got busy with the Saw's All cutting the driftwood we carried over into smaller pieces.

 

Sundown was a well-attended event - all 11 boats came in for a bit of socializing. 

 

We even were treated to a small green flash even though it was a mostly cloudy sunset!

 

I had left items marinating for dinner - a steak for Duane and a tuna steak for myself.  I tried something different - I had read about using baking soda to tenderize steaks.  I did that for Duane's steak before putting it in the marinade.  He said it was lovely so I'll put that in the arsenal.

Hog Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

After some stretching and strength exercises for my back issue we went on a nice long trail walk.  You'll note that the anchorage has cleared out considerably!

View from the cliff back looking south (our dinghy is in the center of the photo).

The view from the trail. This is the most scenic trail, I believe.


Although the winds have abated somewhat, the ocean is still pretty angry!

 

Always mesmerizing no matter how many times we see it....we do often just stop and stare....

 

We have been noticing lots of beautiful blooms that we've never seen before.  I'm assuming it's because there has been an unusual amount of rainfall so far this year.  Normally these plants have greenery - but often look parched and no blooms.

 

Several have seed pods we hadn't seen before.

 

And the sea grapes were all lovely and robust.

We connected to the "Creepy Baby Doll Trail" - all the creepy dolls were still hanging around, haha.....

Back to the boat for lunch and a restful afternoon.  My back is somewhat better but still painful in certain positions.....

Since the boat count has dwindled we decided we could go to the sundown gathering at the cruiser hut for the first time this season.  It was just lovely with just a few couples attending.  Lovely day!