3/4/20

As I sit down, reluctantly, to work on this blog grumbling about the time involved, I'm thinking of the family aboard the sailboat Delos anchored here at Hog Cay with us.  They are one of a select few who produce videos of their life and adventures at sea on YouTube (see SV Delos).  The time required to capture video and content and then edit on a weekly basis is mind boggling!  And that's in addition to sailing all over the world and now raising a baby onboard!  I'll stop complaining and get to work hoping my efforts are worthwhile and informative for friends and family.  (And if you're on Youtube you should also look at La Vagabonde.  Another well-crafted glimpse, on a weekly basis, of life sailing the world.)
Last post we were heading back to Hog Cay for Maxine's annual Valentine's Day Party.  (Maxine is a true local from Duncan Town on Ragged Island - she has lived here all her life.)  First order of business: clear out shrubbery around the "yacht club" to keep the termite population down.

Clearing out and burning bushes.

Cruisers help Maxine and her crew put up additional shade.

Making progress.

Hog Cay anchorage fills with boats for Maxine's party!

Boat loads of families from Ragged Island joined the cruisers on the beach for the party.  About 80 people in all.  Maxine prepared and brought by boat a feast of curried goat, steamed goat, mac n cheese, fish, peas n rice, ham, turkey and more.  I would have taken pictures during the party but I helped Jerry and another Karen with conch fritters.  Maxine had a 5 gallon bucket of conch fritter batter which we cooked in a big pot of oil over the wood on our make-shift grill and then walked around serving them while they were hot.  After stuffing our bellies the annual auction began.  Cruisers scrounged their lockers to find items to donate to an auction.  Some cruisers came prepared bringing fins, fishing spears, and other useful items to donate.  The cruisers and locals bid on each item - all proceeds going to a fund for the school in Duncan Town.  A new school is being built to replace the old school the hurricanes destroyed a few years ago - they hope to have it open by fall.  I'm sure the funds will be put to good use.

Hog Cay Valentines Day Auction

It was a good cause and a good show!

Captain C, the weekly mailboat for Duncan Town, is anchored amongst the cruisers.  Waiting for their crew to come back to work after the Valentines Day party!

Another view of the Valentines Day Party.

With the winds blowing strong from the northeast after the party and no one leaving to sail away Donna suggested we have another party!  This time we all brought something to put on the grill and a dish to pass. 

What was unusual about this grill party?  A grill party here often involves a grill full of fish and lobster!

I don't see any!  I guess we were all ready for something other than fish or lobster for dinner.

Alexa and her sister put the fire to good use after dinner.  She made me the biggest and best s'more I've ever had!  And wore.

The partying ended the next day when boats hauled anchors and headed out.  Another cold front bringing westerly winds sent us all scurrying to find a protected spot.  We headed north this time to Buena Vista.  And of course approaching cold front means light winds just before the front giving Jerry and Jerry an opportunity to load their gear in the dinghy and go hunting.  Fish, lobster, fish, lobster....  While they were hunting I picked up Donna and Laurie and we went beach combing and snorkeling ourselves. 

This is Jerry and Jerry in one dinghy.  Paul in the other.  Taken from Low Water Cay while we were beach walking.

Donna and Laurie looking for treasures on the beach.

Big Tiger Grouper!

My beach treasures I collect to mark walking trails on Hog Cay.

Back to Hog Cay after the front passes.   Some of the other boats return as well - Donna suggests a pizza party on the beach!  Everyone made a pizza and brought it in to share.

What a variety!  All yummy!

Jaxson stalks a hermit crab dragging a piece of pizza crust away.  It takes him quite a while to actually do it but Jaxson snags the crust from and crab and runs for cover!  Survival of the fittest!

Pizza party sunset.

You probably think all we do is go from one party to another and dodge the cold fronts!  After the pizza party we sailed south to the bottom of Ragged Island for protection from the nw wind coming with the next cold front!  And, another chance for Jerry and Jerry to go hunting.  And another chance for a party - this time Donna and Jerry hosted on Bluejacket with a chance to meet some new people who had just sailed in.

More fish

I tagged along with Jerry and Donna one day on a hiking adventure.  4 1/2 miles of walking around slimy salt ponds, bushwacking through bushes to get to an ocean beach where we found some sea glass but no sea beans.  When we arrived back home we were covered in mud, scratches, big smiles and salt water from the rough dinghy ride. 

Little Ragged Island - Donna and Jerry on our beach walk.

Thanks for letting me tag along!

Then....back to Hog Cay and more 25 knot winds from the northeast!  Each time we move the boat we have to take the outboard off the dinghy, load the dinghy on the bracket on the back of the boat, haul the dinghy onto the cabin top and tie it securely.  We leave every anchorage by hauling the mainsail, hauling the anchor, and sailing off to the next spot.  We haven't used the motor to drive to any anchorage - I open the engine room doors every once in a while to make sure it's still there.  Yup.

When I started writing today's post I mentioned the boat Delos with the family aboard.  They happened to sail into the Hog Cay anchorage and we got to meet Brian, Karin and their baby Sierra.  Jerry decided to make conch chowder and invited them to join us and Jerry and Donna. 

Jerry's prep cook has all ingredients ready for him to make his Goombay Conch Chowder.

From left: Jerry, Karen, Donna, Jerry, Karin, Sierra, Brian

A baby on Persephone!  Donna and I had a grand time!

It was kinda funny, watching Delos on Youtube on their sailing adventures around the globe on the computer during the day, and then having the opportunity to meet them in person in this remote part of the Bahamas.  I'll finish up here, Jerry just started a batch of bread, the Delos family just stopped by on their way to Duncan Town to meet the locals and see the settlement.  Maybe they'll add Duncan Town footage on one of their Youtube productions.   I'm lucky to be able to share our lives with you on this blog.  Hope you'll send us news from your part of the world!

2/11/20

From one cold front to another!  We left Buena Vista Cay, stopped at Man-O-War for a night and anchored at Double Breasted Cay.  Before the front arrives calm weather for snorkeling and kayaking……….

One of Jerry’s many catches (not catch really – speared) – this time another tasty snapper!

Nice beach on Margaret Cay about a mile from our anchorage.  Susan & Ken – I found a conch for you!

Around Margaret Cay heading west.

Love the shades of blue here in the Bahamian waters!

Heading back to the boat – the Coast Guard helicopter passes by overhead.

Hiking on Double Breasted Cay - the ocean is calm (left).  The banks are calm as usual (right).

Sunrise over our neighbor (C Language) at Double Breasted.

 

The water was so calm one morning, we boarded Bluejacket, had Jerry Luh hoist us up to his spreaders where we could see the bottom all around the boat. 

 

Flat calm - good visibility!

 Jerry Luh had lost a fishing spear.  What better way to look for it?   

Here we are!  Up in the spreaders.

Blue sky and flat water.

We enjoyed the morning up in the spreaders while Jerry Luh drove Bluejacket around looking for the spear until the wind picked up.  We didn’t find the spear.  The BEST part of this morning (wish I had thought to bring my camera) was when the dolphins came!  Donna Luh was standing on the bow of Bluejacket and we watched dolphin come and swim right in front of her along with the boat as we drove around.  They stayed with us a for a while, moved off to another area, and came back a number of times.  What a spectacular sight!

 Another cold front was coming so we tried another anchorage - Johnson Cay with good protection from the southwest. 

A view of Persephone at anchor at Johnson Cay.

Many of the islands here are so vulnerable to the wind and seas.  Johnson Cay, along with others, had the sand and rocks picked up and moved across the island from recent hurricanes.  A small swath of sand with rock underneath is all that keeps Johnson Cay from being two separate islands.

Huge rocks (pieces of the island) and other debris like this huge tree were tossed up toward the top of the island 25 feet from the water.

The winds usually pick up from the north and east after a cold front so we hauled anchor and sailed to Southside anchorage, at the southern end of Ragged Island.  Super Bowl Sunday.  One of the cruisers had asked if any of the "establishments" at Duncan Town had the ability to broadcast the Super Bowl.  Latoya thought she might be able to accommodate us.  We joined 4 other couples in the back of a local pick up truck that came to pick us up from the beach at the anchorage.  It's quite a walk into town and the steepest hill I can think of here in the Bahamas.  Latoya made conch fritters and wings while we watched the game on the flat screen tv and chatted with some of the Bahamians.  There are a number of crews here working on building a community center, school, solar panel array to power the town and more.  Seems as the newly elected government decided to put some money into rebuilding Duncan Town!  

Watching the game was memorable - it started with the video about 30 seconds delayed from the action.  Jerry had fun with that and announced what was going to happen before it happened on the screen.    (That was fixed after 10 minutes or so.)  The screen would freeze about 10 times per hour and Latoya would have to reset the station.  Nice moonlit ride back to the beach.  Late for us!

Back to Hog Cay where we resumed our snorkeling activities briefly.  Jerry had no hearing in his left ear after a dive.  We assumed a build up of ear wax as he had no pain or drainage or anything.  But after a week with no change we decided to sail to Georgetown to find a doctor.  Donna and Jerry had decided to sail to Georgetown as well.  Donna had a severe tooth ache and ended up flying home from Georgetown for a root canal.  She should be back in a week we hope!  We had a much faster turn around - Jerry's problem was diagnosed as an infection.  With antibiotics, a top up of our water tanks, and bags of fresh produce we sailed back south.  We were only gone for 5 days.

On the way north we had stopped at Water Cay.  

Water Cay - another example where the wind and water are dividing the cay into two cays.

Which side would you rather sail on - ocean (left/east) or banks (right/west)?

Jerry finds some shade in the artistically sculpted cave with an ocean view.

I can't help myself - every bag I find washed up on the beach must be thoroughly examined.  Maybe someday I will find some gold dubloons or a million dollars inside.  Back at Double Breasted our friend Susan found some paper rolled up in a tube on the beach.  It appeared to be an address for someone in Miami with $10.  It probably belonged to one of the Haitians recently rescued from the area.

Good visibility 8 feet down to see the nurse shark on the bottom.

See the fish on the shark?

And on our way south back to Hog Cay, on the ocean side sailing, we caught a mahi!

Dinner, lunch, dinner, lunch..........

 Sailing back to Hog Cay there was plenty of wind and squalls as well.  And Jerry's baking bread too.

 We will stay here at Hog Cay for a while.  Maxine, who has always lived in Duncan Town, is hosting her annual Valentines Day party here at Hog Cay on 2/15.  There are already 13 boats right here at Hog Cay!

1/28/20

1/28/20

We love it down here in the Ragged Islands! The beautiful water, sea life, remoteness...no boats loaded with tourists going by any anchorages down here!

Taking a lunch break on Hog Cay after working on the hiking trails across the cay.

  The only problem is there is no protection from westerly winds.  Westerly winds come along with the cold fronts that barrel off the east coast.  When those cold fronts are strong enough they can even make it far enough south to the Ragged Islands.  And the only thing we see when looking west from the Hog Cay anchorage - water.  No land for keeping the seas down with a cold front.
So, with a cold front approaching, we hauled anchor and had a lovely sail in 8 to 15 feet of various shades of turquoise water 13 miles north to Buena Vista Cay.  Buena Vista has a little bit of a hook shape at the south end so we can tuck in to try to hide from the seas the westerly winds will stir up.  When the front actually came through there were 5 sailboats and 4 Bahamian fishing boats hiding from the northwest winds.

The calm that usually arrives before the "storm" provide perfect days for snorkeling.  Anywhere down here in these remote cays are reefs and ledges underwater to find fish and lobster.  We load the dinghy with fins, snorkels and masks, spears, weight belt, gloves, water bottles and put on our wetsuits.  We're out exploring for a couple of hours - me admiring the thousands of living creatures underwater.   Jerry looking under each ledge, into every nook and cranny stalking fish and lobster.  Every time we go out (as you'll see in the pictures) Jerry returns to Persephone with a bucket of seafood.  Nothing like fresh fish!  Fried in butter, grilled outdoors, baked.....I have a vacuum sealer onboard so we're able to preserve the excess.

Fish....

Lobster....

More fish.....

Fileting the fish on the back of the boat.

After the westerly winds we sailed north up to Flamingo Cay.  A guy dragged anchor here at Flamingo earlier in January and ended up on the rocks.  (If you want to hear more of the story go to youtube, find trekkers tales, and look at his shipwreck video.)  The guy took what he could off his boat, was rescued by another sailor who just happened to be in the area, and abandoned the boat.  By the time we arrived the boat had been pretty well stripped.  And with the west winds the boat, that may have been salvageable, was ground up pretty good on the rocks.  We salvaged the few remaining parts on the boat which were easy to access as the boat was pretty wrecked.  Anything on the boat would soon be ground to pieces as much of it already was.  We anchored there for the night and watched four local fishing boats, 2 fishermen on each boat, come in on their 25-30 ft cuddy cabin boats.  They all had baskets full of lobster to clean up and put in their coolers onboard.  They use an air compressor with something called a hookah for fishing.  They're able to dive down deep to find lobster while breathing air from a long hose hooked to the compressor.  We watched them clean their catch, shower by dumping salt water over their heads, and settling in for the night. 

Flamingo Cay wreck

2 days before the boat was mostly in tact!  The power of the wind and water!

After checking out the wreck we headed back south to Double Breasted and met up with Bluejacket and the other boats that were at Hog Cay before the cold front.  Double Breasted provides some protection from the south and west and more cold fronts were predicted.
The Bahamian Defense Force had been here in the area for the last week.  A Haitian raft wrecked on the ocean side at Double Breasted.  31 people were rescued and taken by helicopter to Nassau.  Our friend Barbara was walking the beach and came upon a body - one of three found that day.  What a sad situation.   Imagine the desperation required to take to the sea on a sailing raft to escape.  It's amazing any of them survived with the strong easterly winds they must have experienced on the way from Haiti to the Bahamas.  (link to a local new report:  https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/01/27/bodies-found-in-ragged-island-chain/)

Bahamian Defense Force Ship

Bahamian Defense Force on Double Breasted looking for survivors or bodies.

So that's what's been going on here besides our routine visiting, games, reading, cooking, cleaning, etc.  Yesterday, as another cold front passed through, the rains came down.  Jerry was just finishing fileting his catch.  We put up the water catcher to collect water for our tank and Jerry did laundry with water that filled up the dinghy.  Right now the life lines are covered with our laundry clipped out to dry.  Our current plans are to hang out down here in the Ragged Islands.  I'm getting ready to go out to kayak.  Jerry has his wet suit on ready for Jerry Luh to pick him up.  He's asking what I want for dinner tonight - snapper, hogfish, lobster?  Decisions, decisions..............

Heading into Double Breasted after a morning of snorkeling.

Anchored off the west side of Buena Vista before the cold front.

Persephone at anchor.

1/14/20

Happy New Year!

While Karen was spending the holidays in NY and Maine Jerry was in the Exumas in the Bahamas.  He had lots of wind and lots of rain at the end of December.  The nice thing about Georgetown is no matter the wind direction you can cross the harbor to one side or the other to find protection to anchor.  There's also a grocery store for "fresh" produce and water available at the dinghy dock.  He actually used the camera a few times while I was gone to document important events......(and had a written caption prepared upon my return)

Persephone's crew was unprepared for Captain Jerry's wild sail across the harbor in 30 knots of wind and boisterous seas.  Only the princess stands fast.

 Back in NY....

As always, Brian and Deb took good care of me when I arrived in Syracuse!

Maine - Owen’s 16^th birthday – 12/25/19 – Susan made Mom’s cream cheese fudge cake recipe by request.                Clockwise from left: Me, Sydney, Kira, Susan, Owen, Tom, Dad, Mom.  

 

Maine - Our last early morning puzzle building session with our coffee and tea.  And maybe a piece of Mom’s Finnish Pulla (sweet bread with cardamom). 

Back in the Bahamas......After a week at anchor in Georgetown Jerry decided on a lively sail north to the Black Point/Staniel Cay area where Jerry and Donna were anchored on Bluejacket.

Bluejacket and Persephone anchored near Black Point.  Taken from the top of our friend's place appropriately known as the Sandcastle.  I'm sure you've seen pictures each year as we stop to visit Doug and Jean.

A view of Persephone at anchor looking out the glass doors of the Sandcastle.

One more shot of Persephone from the top of the Sandcastle.

My flight arrived a few minutes early at Georgetown, the taxi was waiting and I hopped in and held on tight for the 15 min. ride to Exuma Market to meet Jerry.  Jerry was just tying up at the dinghy when I walked down the dock.  In 15 minutes we were aboard Persephone, had the dinghy and outboard hauled on deck, the sails up and we were on our way out of the harbor.  The winds were light but would be building within 24 hours and would stay 25-30 knots for the next two weeks!  We high-tailed down to Hog Cay in the Jumentos on an overnight sail.  I think this happens whenever I fly back to Persephone - off the plane and off we go!
It was a nice sail and the winds picked up with a squall, as predicted, to rinse off the boat just as we approached the Hog Cay anchorage at 7 am the following morning.  8 boats here including Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket.
We've been here a week now enjoying the company of the other cruisers every day around sunset sitting under the Hog Cay Yacht Club thatch roofed shelter at the beach gazing out at the sunset and anchorage. 

I arrived with a cold so I’ve been wearing a face mask, been banned from the galley, and have almost finished off my bottle of hand sanitizer.  Jerry works forever making all the meals and cleaning up after.  Fresh bread, homemade pizza, scalloped potatoes and ham, omelettes!  We’ve snorkeled a little here within 100 yards of the boat – just long enough for Jerry to bring back and cook up snapper for lunch.

Snapper with rice and carrots prepared by Chef Jerry.

The winds continue to blow and squalls pass but we’re in a fairly well protected anchorage here with spectacular views, warm air, good friends, and some sunshine.  The only inhabitants of Hog Cay are goats and lizards; the nearest grocery store and water 100 miles back north in Georgetown.  Sure is peaceful!  We look forward to staying here for a number of weeks.  And even though we’re out in the middle of nowhere we have wifi and we look forward to hearing from you!

Karen and Jerry