From St Thomas to Great Inagua, Bahamas to Hog Cay, Bahamas......
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| Susan and Jerry in the cockpit of Persephone as we sail along.... |
The downwind sail from St Thomas to Great Inagua went by in a flash with 3 people on board to do watches. Susan easily adjusted to the big swells and wind on the stern and the motion of the boat - her first time ocean sailing. The only thing that bothered her was not being able to see at night, trying to see what was ahead during her watch. There was no moon, only the stars to light the sky and the bioluminescence along the hull as we sliced through the water. The few ships encountered were a long way off and showed up on the AIS screen on the chart plotter.
In the 3 1/2 day sail Jerry caught a tuna and a mahi. Can you see the mahi jumping?
Are we there yet Captain?
Land Ho! Great Inagua in sight!
Most of The Bahamas are hard to spot as they hardly stick out of the water. Great Inagua has a light house.
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| Approaching Great Inagua |
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| Lighthouse at Great Inagua |
The anchorage off the government basin is very rolly with the sea swells coming in. We launched the dinghy to come into the basin to clear in. Being a Sunday, we found no government offices were open. We did find that we could bring Persephone in and tie to a government pier for $10 a night which would be better than staying at anchor overnight to clear in the next day.
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| The government basin with the mail boat at the dock unloading and another sailboat nearby. |
Our Monday morning started by learning that customs is using an online Click2Clear system for anyone checking in. We were amazed at the number of sailboats that showed up to clear in coming from Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic! Great Inagua is usually a very sleepy port with few arrivals per month. The friendly customs officer came to the government basin to help everyone navigate the online pages required. The immigration officer arrived as well with papers to fill out. Our Covid test results from St Thomas were logged and we were able to have the 2nd required Covid test here at the clinic right next to the government basin. Sheena, the aliv cell phone company representative, met everyone at the dock as well. We bought a mifi plan to be able to log in to record our required week of daily health surveys for Covid and to be able to update the blog.
After leaving the government basin we rounded the corner and anchored at Man-O-War Bay passing the Morton Salt facility on the way.
While anchored at Man-O-War we had to opportunity to snorkel. Here's Jerry with a lobster on his spear.
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| Jerry swimming with a lobster on his spear. |
It was a long way to swim to the dinghy! He tries to keep the lobster out of the water to avoid having to share it with the opportunists that may be nearby. Here's a video of the same - getting a lobster is work!
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| Jerry's lobster! |
One last video - a silly happy birthday song for Jerry, chocolate cake with ice cream from the freezer! Here's how to keep ice cream in Persephone's new freezer - put the ice cream in a zip lock, press it flat and put it against the freezer box. First time ever for ice cream on Persephone!
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| Susan enjoys paradise - chocolate cake, wine and the sunset. |
Our next stop in The Bahamas: Hog Cay, part of the Ragged Islands where we spent most of our season last year.
A couple more mahi onboard..
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| Susan is the first to spot Ragged Island and hollers "Land Ho!" per Captain's instructions. |
We anchored next to our friends Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket at Hog Cay. Dinners together, games, sunset drinks at the "yacht club" with the other boaters who came in, hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, reading....life at Hog Cay.
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| Donna, Jerry, Jerry, Karen and Susan the photographer awaiting sunset before dinner aboard Persephone. |
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| From the cave on Hog Cay looking to the west. |
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| Susan on top of the world on Hog Cay hike. |
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| The shoreline at Hog Cay. |
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| Susan, the photographer, enjoying a morning paddle. |
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| Sunrise around the corner from where we're anchored. |
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| Sand dollar on the bottom in clear water. |
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| How many crabs and lizards to make these tracks! The only road or highway on Hog Cay. |
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| Sea grapes almost ready to pick. Once ripe they are tasty and tart with a chewy skin. |
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| Sea ray from kayak |
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| Around the corner from where we're anchored - just before sunrise. |
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| Susan and I have spent hours every day hiking along Hog Cay. |
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| A view of Hog Cay from the northern end. |
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| Susan searches for treasures. |
Susan and I search for glass floats in the dunes behind the beach. We really searched, digging through piles of debris, looking under trees, sometimes crawling on hands and knees, pushing our way through shrubs and branches....
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| Another view by kayak |
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| Lots of plastic trash and shoes on the beach |
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| At the south end of Hog Cay - we've been marking "Baby Head Trail" for many years. |
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| The new baby head trail marker on lower right. |
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| Possibly a home made pull toy from Haiti? When you don't have money to buy toys make your own. |
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| The axles really turn - even after the ocean voyage to the beach. |
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| Resourceful. Clever. |
One of the resident nurse sharks here (we named it Florence) "walked" along the beach with us. Felt like we were taking the dog for a walk. I couldn't get the video to load on this page but you can watch it on YouTube while I try to figure out why it won't work here.
Nurse Shark Video
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| Persephone at anchor at Hog Cay. |
Our plans are to head up the Ragged Islands/Jumentos making our way to Georgetown where Susan will fly back to Maine. What a treat to have so much time to spend with my sister! Lucky!
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