Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Island, Bahamas

 With the wind almost zero, went for a snorkel out the cut to the exposed side of the outlying islands with Jerry, Dee & Nicholas.

The water was pleasant and deep.  No wildlife was taken by us but Jerry got a lobster.

Enjoyable snorkel but not a huge amount of coral.

 

In the evening, Dee & Nicholas came over to Sojourn for a nice chat and sundown.  Dee was trying to film the anticipated "green flash" and Nicholas is denying that they exist.....(we didn't see one today but we often really do).

Caught a silly photo of Nicholas sporting a dome that they'd offered us to protect a Starlink antenna when we get one....(it is much too big for our boat so they'll pass it on to a bigger boat somewhere).

 

Back to Meshugga thru a calm anchorage.

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Island, Bahamas

 We loaded up and left for a snorkel south of Little Ragged since the winds have died.

But about a mile into the trip, I saw people on the shore of the uninhabited little island.  It appears they probably paddled, yes, paddled this homemade boat from (likely) Cuba.  We took the dinghy close enough to ask if they were OK.  One young man waved us off and said "no thank you".   I hated to do it, but called the Bahamas Defense Force.  There is no reliable water source for a couple of hundred miles so these people are in danger.

 

Back underway - jumped in to lovely calm water.

 

I was watching several ocean triggerfish swim around when one swam up very close to me - very unusual as they are usually pretty skittish.

 

Busy little reef.

 

Queen angelfish

 

A school of blue tangs

 

Duane got 2 nice lobsters.

 

This is a terrible photo - there was salt water apparently on the lens of my underwater camera and I didn't realize it.....the Bahamas Defense Force was rescuing the refugees when we returned....I'm sure they'll be sent back to where ever they came from....

 

 

Jerry going back to the boat in the lovely calm water.

 

Jerry's catch - a nice hogfish!

 

Our two lobsters - ready for the freezer.  I'll grill one of them at our Christmas gathering/cookout on the beach.  Note the different color of the lobster meat.  We've noticed this before.  Once cooked, they'll both be bright white meat.  No idea what makes one "pinkish"....

 

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Island, Bahamas

 Mid-day, we went for a nice snorkel just at the cut east of the anchorage.

 

Very nice coral but only saw one lobster - who lived another day!

Since the winds are calm and the firepit area buggy, Mushugga invited all of the boats in the anchorage over for sundown.

 Up on their top deck, there was a hint of a breeze and no bugs!

 

Everyone brought a snack to share.

 

Fun chats.

 

There's always boat discussions going on -  Nicholas explaining some wiring.

 

The calm anchorage.

 

Lovely sunset with a nice green flash at the horizon!

Little Ragged Cut, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

 The three boats, Sojourn, Bluejacket and Bedouin went to shore in the morning to walk into Duncan Town.

Walking towards the runway.

 

At the new airport terminal building, we met a Bahamas Defense Force policeman.  Very friendly.

 

He offered to give us a lift into Duncan Town in the fuel truck.  Literally a lift, because the tailgate lifts us up!

 

Chris and Mandy

 

And Duane & I rode in the back.  Donna rode in the front.

 

The view on the ride

 

Jerry had walked a different path to take some garbage to the dump, so the truck stopped and gave him a lift as well!

 

Approaching Duncan Town.  Nice not to have to walk up that steep hill!

 

The truck dropped us off and we bid them a cheery goodbye.  We saw Myron out near his house and stopped to say hello.  We last saw him last winter when he gave us a tour of his pigeons.

 

And Donna got to visit with Myron's wife Charlene.  Nice folks.  They told us that the construction workers are all off-island for the holidays so it's very quiet in town.

Then we walked on towards the new school/hurricane shelter.  I thought I'd show some of my photos in order over the past 4 years -

The school building as we first saw it in winter 2018/19 after Hurricane Irma demolished many of the structures & houses on the island in2017.

Following are photos of the progress over then next few years.  It takes a long time to build things in the out islands as all materials have to be brought over on the mailboat.  A crew of over 50 construction workers are brought in from other islands to do the work.  As there are no hotels on the island - they first build a "dormitory" type building for housing that you see on the left.

And construction of the main buildings began. 

This is progress winter of 21/22.

And this is now.  Getting very close!

The view from the school over the salt pond.

 

 Walking back towards town - another before/after - the clinic building was badly damaged in the storm as well.

This is the new & improved structure being built to replace it.

 

Hopefully once all this construction is complete some of the former residents will return to the island (the population now is about 50 without the construction workers).

 

No offer of a ride for the trip back, so we hoofed it!

 

The new terminal building was open and gloriously chilled with air conditioning!  We took a nice long break and enjoyed it.

 

In the evening, Meshugga arrived!!  Yay!  The evening sundown gathering was cut short by the no-see-um bugs....we had a very nice visit on Meshugga, catching up a bit from summer activities.  Will visit much more in the coming weeks I'm sure.