Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 Sortof an uneventful day.....Bluejacket invited us over to play some games in the afternoon.  It was fun but I didn't take any photos.  

A couple of our little clan left the anchorage - Spirit (although there was a spot on my camera lens that I was unaware of that blurs the photo)

 

And then Now & Zen departed.

 

But then Messhugga threaded there way into the shallow anchorage.  So we're still in our little Covid-free bubble of boats that have been here since December.

 

 

It was business as usual for the spectacular sunset.  A few jackets were in order as it was a breezy 70 degrees and we're all chilled at that temperature!

 

Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 With light winds we were able to snorkel the barrier reefs just south of Ragged Island.

 

I love these little bluehead wrasse that you see on the reefs often.

 

 

The coral was lovely.

 

 

 

One of the "rocks" out near the reef.  We snorkeled on either side of this little island.

 

 

A pretty queen angelfish stayed still long enough for me to get a nice photo.

 

This is a wonderful healthy stand of elkhorn coral.  Much of this type of coral is dead all over the world.  (Much argument about the cause but most agree it's warmer ocean temps and water polution).

 

 

There was so much elkhorn coral that it was actually hard to get a good photo!

 

Back to the boat, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some bread making.  First, bagels because we were out of them.  Then a batch of cinnamon rolls to take to this evening's planned cookout.

 Jerry from Bluejacket went ashore early and got the fire going for the BBQ.

And near sundown the 6 boats gathered on shore for a great cookout with some of the best pot-luck dishes I can remember.  Leslie even made me a pot of vegetarian baked beans that were like candy!  We all chatted until well after sundown and only went back to the boats after the no-see-um's decided to make their presence painfully known.

 

Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

 Busy day!  First we went for a snorkel in the morning for a few hours because the wind had finally abated.  A reef shark was on the prowl - he saw me and swam away. 

 

 

Lovely school of blue tangs and little video of them swimming along.

 

A little hollow area in the reef was teaming with fish.

 

 

It was actually a little chilly - about 70 degrees as opposed to the 78 we've been used to.....so we headed back to the boat after only 2 hours.  We took the dinghies back on the ocean side since the wind had calmed things down.

 

Ed got a monster lobster!

 

 

And we wasted no time - a quick lunch and then a walk into town for some fresh veggies.  The 2 mile walk across the runway and up the hill at the Doppler Radar tower.

 

Unfortunately, there were no passing cars or dump trucks this time so we had to hoof it all the way.

 

Coming into the little town.

 

We found Maxine out back cleaning conch.  She told us to give her a few minutes so we went to Hilltop bar and had a cold beverage.  Soon she had cleaned up and opened up the store for us.  We all, of course, wear our masks around any Bahamian.  They don't appear to wear them here.  (There still have been zero cases of Covid here).

I got a drink at Maxine's for the walk back - a "Goombay Fruit Champagne".  It's bottled by Coca Cola Bahamas.  Not sure it's available anywhere else.  Sweet and refreshing but not something I think I'd want everyday.

 

 

 

The road takes us by the airport ramp.

 

 

The ramp is empty.  There's not a lot of traffic at this remote airport - the only plane we've seen this week is the one that brought the cell tower repair guy.

 And here is the "lounge" - rows of chairs under a small tree/bush!

 

Duane and Jerry in deep conversation on the walk back to the dinghies.

 

 

Here's my haul - Maxine said the mailboat didn't bring several items she ordered from Nassau - many of the things I wanted - lettuce, green peppers and cabbage.  Maybe next time in about 2 weeks.

 

 

We did go ashore for sunset - but once the sun was low I was too cold!!  I believe it got down to 68 degrees last night.  Brrrr.

Little Ragged Island

 The winds stayed in the 20-25 knot range most of the day so we just decided to stay on board.

The usual chores - washed a couple of loads of clothes.  Clean sheets, yay!  You won't believe how quick they dried in the sunny wind - about 10 minutes.  I used extra clothespins to make sure I didn't lose any clothes to the wind!

 

 

Other than reading on our Kindles, the only other productive thing that was accomplished was some bread baking.  Hope the winds calm enough for some exploring tomorrow.

 

Little Ragged Island, Bahamas

Back online!  We saw a twin-engine plane fly into the airport on Ragged Island yesterday morning and we were told that the technician was working on restoring cell service.  But around 4pm, we saw the plane leave and still no internet.....but then around 9pm all our devices came back to life.  

But 2 days without internet was actually just fine!  

 

Unfortunately, I had notice some of my stitching on the dinghy chaps has disintegrated  in the harsh sun.  I must confess that I ran out of the very strong/UV resistant polyester thread mid-way thru the dinghy chap project a year and 1/2 ago.  I don't know why, but I was in a hurry and ordered thread from Amazon to get it the next day.  (Sailrite, my normal supplier is pretty slow about shipping - so I would have waited 2 or 3 days for a shipment from them - plus they don't do free shipping....) OK enough excuses.  I screwed up.

 

So I got to spend an entire day at the sewing machine.  I top-stitched every single seam (With excellent V92 Thread if you're interested).  I guess 6 hours of sewing on salty canvas is my punishment for bad judgement.

 

 

Finally finished with the sewing project, at low tide we wandered the nearby sandbar that is dry at low tide.

 

The silky sand looks sort of alien.

 

Thousands of sanddollars!  This one is alive still.

 

The white ones are dead.

 

Pretty view back to the anchorage.

 

The usual sunset gathering.

The next morning Duane and I went on a 3 mile loop on Little Ragged Island.  The seas had built up and the waves looked to be maybe 10' or more.

 

 

There was no trail, we just slogged thru the scrub.

 

A cool termite mound suspended on an dead tree.

 

We hiked to the top of a crest hoping to go all the way across the island.  We stopped and had a sandwich sitting on the rocks here.

 

 

Had to watch out for prickly things!

 

In the end, we decided to head to the same shore and walk back, not getting all the way across the island.  Maybe some other day.

 

Just a beautiful sunny day!

Back to the usual sunset hour - Jerry walking the flats with us.

 

 

Neat little tidal pool.

 

Yesterday's sunrise and warning!  Bad weather ahead!

 

 

 But the clouds cleared and we actually had a nice day.

 

We went in to watch the sunset with our little 5-boat-family here.  Everyone was ready for the "blow" that was forecast.  According to the weather we got on the radio, the winds would be 35-45 knots.

But as is often the case, the forecast wasn't entirely accurate.  I don't think we saw winds much more than a 30 knot gust.  So all is well!