Monday, March 18, 2024

Buenavista Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 A lot more boats are heading north....Now and Zen sailing away....

 

And after breakfast we decided to sail up to Buenavista Cay for a change in scenery.  Lovely sail.

 

Made bread along the way....sortof a habit, always looking forward to that first crusty slice with butter, haha.

 

All alone!  We'll be staying in the Raggeds for a week or more longer waiting for some winds to shift around but all of our close buddy boats are gone now.



Sunday, March 17, 2024

Hog Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We played bocce ball again at 8AM to start the day with Bright Ayes.  They left afterwards to start their trek north.

In the lat afternoon we went on a nice 2 mile hike.

Pretty views back to the two Mantas left in the anchorage.


 

About 10 boats left heading north....it's that time of year!

 

Just pretty views from the ocean side.




Back to the cruiser hut for sundowners....no sundown view since it was too cloudy like it's been for a while now.  Ralph and Leslie are heading out tomorrow so we said our goodbyes for the season.  We'll stay south for a while yet and just enjoy the remoteness. 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Hog Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas


 

We started the morning with another game of bocce ball. 


Good fun and a lovely way to start the morning.




In the afternoon Jerry and Duane got busy in the cruiser hut to repair a bench that was broken during the Valentine's party.  Maxine had sent over a long piece of treated lumber for the purpose.

Guy from Trouble volunteered to go get his portable skill saw making things much easier.

Nicely fitted.

All done!


 


We relaxed at the cruiser hut for a couple of hours of conversation.....and well after dark we were treated to a very nice long SpaceX rocket launch.  We could see the fireball in the sky for well over a minute.


Friday, March 15, 2024

Hog Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas



 We had a lovely short sail with just the mainsail up going to Hog Cay.

 

 Since we didn't get a chance to cook all of the conch fritters at the party last weekend, I used the batter that Maxine had frozen to treat the anchorage to fresh fritters in the late afternoon.

 

 Almost everyone in the anchorage came in for some social time.



And everyone enjoyed the fritters!

We stayed until well after dark, chatting around a nice campfire.  Susan from C_Language even brought some color sticks that turned the fire blue/green but I failed to take a photo.  Nice day.


Edit: one of the other boats in the anchorage send this photo of the campfire!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 So we have cruised the Bahamas for seven winters, and we’ve never played bocce ball. It’s a pastime of lots of cruisers. Not sure why we haven’t, but we fixed that shortcoming today!The cruisers from Bright Ayes and Rascal invited us for a game on the beach.




It’s a simple game, good fun!



Pretty sandbar. 


Just a nice day. We will probably go back to Hog Cay for a few days of east winds, then start the inevitable slow movement north as spring approaches!


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We went out for a nice snorkel even thought the wind/swell is a bit rough.  A queen angelfish being shy as usual.


I hovered around the coral head and eventually got a better photo as the fish swam around.

 


A nice triggerfish.

 

A little bit of coral that is still alive....but clearly struggling.

 

A ray leading the way over some grass.

 

And a pretty young French angelfish.

 

A lovely day.

 

Back at the anchorage, a few more boats moved over from Hog Cay but not so many that it feels crowded like a month ago.

Duane speared on nice lobster.  I forgot to take a "whole lobster" photo.



I just boiled it and set it to chill for a nice lobster salad for dinner.

We're still watching an episode or two (they're only 30 minutes each) of the weird series Atlanta most nights....a nice relaxing day.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 We moved over a few miles to the cut....a sortof dreary day but warm.


 

We did nothing of note!!  Only one other boat in the anchorage for a change!!!  Bob and Diane from Two of a Kind stopped over for a nice chat. 



Monday, March 11, 2024

Ragged Island, Bahamas


Donna announced on the VHF that it was time to tear down all the shades and get the cruiser hut back in it's normal configuration. Lot's of folks came ashore to do the work.


 

Easier to take down than put up!!!




That chore completed we chatted a while at the hut, then decided to lift anchor and go to a more remote location.

On the way out of the anchorage, we passed the large yacht Missing Link - it is owned by Jack Links jerky company.  We have not met the folks but other cruisers have met them.  The son of the owner is onboard with his family and they are reportedly very nice.  I include this because it's not often that we see a 150' yacht here.

And there was a local fishing boat slowly motoring north with it's small fishing fleet in tow.

We anchored all alone near a lovely little beach on the west side of Ragged Island.

In the late afternoon, we took the dinghy around to go to Duncantown - very shallow water at low tide!

Always fun to breeze down the "small boat channel" into town.
 

Duncantown

 

We had heard that Latoya would open the Fisherman's Lodge for the afternoon so we wanted to go - we've walked past it many, many times never finding it open over the years!  Latoya and Kennedy were fine hosts.  We enjoyed chatting with them - they are cheerful, I just didn't get a good photo....

 

My meal was yummy - cracked conch, peas/rice, baked mac'n'cheese and coleslaw. 


We stopped back by Maxine's store to pick up a few grocery items.
 

After Duane took the photo of Maxine and I, she said "come, come, you must take a photo of me and Duane!". 

 

Back to the boat still all alone in the anchorage.

 

Right at sunset there was a SpaceX rocket launch that should have been visible but our sky was too hazy.  Other cruisers in to the north saw it clearly.