2/21/24

Boat Life:  Exercise is important!  Especially living on a boat in a confined space.  Swimming, snorkeling, kayaking are great but we really like hiking.  There are many trails us cruisers have created on Hog Cay and we have the scars to prove it!  The trails require serious maintenance when we all return in the winter.  Jerry and I spend hours (I got a new saw that's in the first photo - thanks Mom) cutting, trimming, pulling out roots, moving rocks.   Work parties were organized.  We're hot, sweaty, aching, dirty and scratched up when finished....

One of work parties working on one of the trails.

Another day...another trail

Cindy from Booke End shows her battery powered mini chain saw.

Karen and Duane from "Sojourn"

The beginning of Bernie's trail ready for hikers

Two short videos taken from the eastern end of Bernie's trail just before reaching the beach on the east/ocean side of Hog Cay.  The second video shows the east side, turning north, across Hog Cay to the west side where the boats are anchored.

The head of "Creepy Doll Trail"

After the trail work on Hog, we waited patiently for the mailboat to arrive at Ragged Island with a grocery order we had put in.  Here Jerry helps tie up the mailboat, we waited for an hour, they unloaded our box and off we went overnight to Georgetown before the north winds started to blow to be there for Susan's arrival!

Captain C arrives from Nassau with our grocery order onboard.

At Georgetown we anchored near town which has a dinghy dock and easy taxi drop off.  Winds were forecast to be the strongest we'd seen all season on the day Susan flew in.  Our entertainment was the rock barge unloading huge rocks to create some kind of break wall near Kidd Cove in Georgetown.  (This is the same company that dropped an excavator overboard last month...oops!)

This barge was full of rocks when it arrived.

Look at all of the boats anchored in Georgetown!

This is only one area looking across the harbor at all of the anchor lights.

With the wind howling, we were one of the two boats that left Georgetown after Susan's arrival.  The waves coming in at our exit point out of the harbor provided some excitement with one wave breaking over the boat.

An overnight stop at Long Island to see if they might have bananas at the market.  Yes!  We bought 56 bananas, some oranges and sweet potatoes along with all the produce we picked up in Georgetown.  Enough stuff to last for a couple of weeks in the Jumentos/Ragged Islands.

Anchored again at Hog Cay!

At Hog Cay we enjoyed the trails, some kayaking and getting together at sunset with other cruisers to celebrate.  The tradition is to blow conch horns at sunset.  Susan found a conch and now has her very own conch horn.

Jerry uses a grinder, hammer and screwdriver and a Dremel to cut off the tip of the conch shell in just the right spot to make it into a horn.

And now some practice.....

And then we are ready to play at sunset on the beach with Cori.

One of our 5-6 mile hikes on Hog Cay.  Thanks to Ross for sharing his excellent photos!

Karen, Jerry, Gosia, Susan, Jerry, Phyllis

What to do with all the empty bottles cruisers collect onboard?  Make sea glass!

Cori is in the center with a welding hammer breaking the bottles off the edge of the rock into the ocean.

Mike from "Mintaka" entertaining us at the Hog Cay "yacht club" back in January.

Grating coconut found on Hog Cay.

We moved back and forth a few times between Hog Cay, Johnson Cay, and Raccoon Cay (Man-O-War Bay) when the cold fronts blew through with westerly winds.  No protection at Hog from any west component wind!  Johnson Cay has protection from the south and southwest.  Man-O-War Bay (Raccoon Cay) from the west, northwest and north.

Susan and I decided to take our lunch to the beach at Johnson Cay.  We ended up sharing with a couple of curly-tailed lizards that were living in the log we sat on.

No need to bring your shoes to the beach at Johnson.  Here's a collection of mismatched shoes that have washed up on the beach on the ocean facing side of the island.  People have picked shoes up from the ocean side and carried them back to the trail head on the bay side for anyone to use.  Every ocean side beach on any island down here is full of "lost soles".

We had some opportunities to go snorkeling.  Susan and I enjoyed the sights.  Jerry enjoyed finding something to make for dinner.

Lobster and Rock Hind

Never before have so many boats been here in the Raggeds at one time!  Finding a good place to shelter from westerly winds when there's a cold front becomes more of a challenge. 

18 boats anchored here at Man-O-War!!  That's a record number we've seen here.

Every day we go to the beach and walk in the sand along the ocean.  Or make our way through the brush and trees to see if we can find any treasures.

Jerry and Karen on the beach at Raccoon Cay.  Our friends Ralph and Leslie on "Now n' Zen" are in the background sailing north.

Susan walks the south beach on Raccoon.  I'm using a scaffolding that was erected a couple of years ago by Mr. Beast.  A Youtuber who filmed a crazy video from here.  You can see the masts of the sailboats anchored in Man-O-War Bay in the background.

Susan back in the trees looking for an elusive and highly-sought after glass fishing float.

On her third trip to the Bahamas Susan finds a glass float!!  Some people spend years looking and never  find one.  

It's in amazing shape considering who knows where it came from, how it came to be 100 yards inshore of the rocks to land within the rocks and trees!  It was just sitting there - no digging needed.  These fishing floats are blown glass.  There's a book about floats and a Facebook page where I've posted the pictures of this one.  Maybe someone can tell us where it was manufactured.  I can't find any markings on this one.

I will sign off here.  We will be leaving soon when the winds allow to be able to get back to Georgetown for Susan's flight back to Maine on the 27th.  We plan on sailing back to Hog Cay after Susan flies out.  I'll be taking a better picture of this Mahogany tree seed pod I added to our Persephone sign in the Hog Cay Yacht Club....

Wishing you health and happiness!

Karen, Jerry and Susan

SV Persephone