6/4/20

I've been sharing each post keeping in mind that friends and family at home are living a very different life than we are here in the Bahamas.  Everyone within 50 miles of us has been quarantined for the last 2 months or more - one advantage of living an isolated life on an island or on a boat.  We continually look around and count our blessings to be able to be here, to carry on a "normal" life having close contact with everyone.  But paradise doesn't last forever - we will be heading north, out of the Bahamas for the hurricane season that is already on letter C!
Here are some pictures of the exciting things that have happened down here in the Ragged Islands.  Sorry, no pictures of us doing laundry in buckets, scraping the growth off the bottom of the boat (all that grass growing on our bottom paint would slow us down!), snorkeling, reading, making baskets, cooking, cleaning, playing backgammon, sailing between Hog and Double Breasted Cays, walking, picking up grocery orders from the mailboat, fixing stuff that breaks.... you see only the parties!

Starting with Donna and Jerry's 51st wedding anniversary.  Who know they'd be celebrating in the Ragged Islands!  I made a banner that you see behind them at the Hog Cay yacht club, everyone brought food to share, and after watching the sunset we celebrated their anniversary by playing guitar, singing songs, enjoying a beautiful bonfire.

Donna and Jerry's 51st wedding anniversary celebration at Hog Cay

Plenty of food for the anniversary party!  Look closely to see the anniversary cupcakes I made.

Onto the next party - a birthday party for Gary who is the head of the Royal Bahamian Defense Force unit stationed at Duncan Town.  If you look in the picture above you'll see Gary with his arm outstretched and talking.  The boaters navigated to Duncan Town by dinghy.  It's a couple of miles from the anchorage up a narrow channel to the dock.  It was hot and humid but we were all dressed for the rain showers we'd had all day.

Arriving at Duncan Town, Ragged Island.

A short walk up the hill to a place called the Ponderosa where they have a kitchen/bar/pool room.

Here's the front of the Ponderosa which used to have a second story.  The hurricanes a couple years ago really ravaged Duncan Town as you may remember from previous year's posts.

It was a wonderful night with about 30 cruisers and 20 locals celebrating.  We brought side dishes to go along with an endless supply of meat and fish the Bahamians cooked on the grill.  We left the party around 9 pm - it was pitch black out when we walked back to the dinghy.  No starlight, no moonlight.  It made a challenging trip by dinghy back to the anchorage for us.  We had only flashlights to help guide our way home looking for the land that formed the sides of the narrow channel.  We learned that the others used their smart phones with charting and tracking apps on it to find their way back.  Maybe someday we'll get up to speed with available technology!

This next picture is the top of Avalon's make-do mainsail that had to be repaired.  Avalon is a 55' Peter Wormwood design catamaran built to sail fast.  Conor from SV Grace brought his sewing machine over to Avalon and with help from Andy and Ryan they patched up the mainsail with hopes that it would last another month while new sails are being made to pick up in the US.  You'll see the names of the boats Avalon, Calico Skies, Delos, Ada, Persephone, Zinzi, and Grace with signatures and art work.  We called this tight-knit group the "kid" boats.  Kids meaning younger than us.  Most of them in their 30s.  We used to be "kids" when we started cruising!  We were pleased to be the old folks in the kids group.

The "kids" working on the mainsail art.

The top of Avalon's mainsail with our group's afternoon art project.

Picture taken on a walk on Hog Cay looking north towards the anchorage with the remains of a stone wall in sight.

I love when the wind goes away and I can kayak in flat water.  Here's a picture of coral and fish taken from the kayak.

More clear water pictures taken from the kayak.

More coral and fish

The first celebration in this post was a 51st wedding anniversary party.  The last celebration was a wedding!  Conor and Stephanie from "Grace" had gotten engaged when they sailed to Panama and were planning on organizing a wedding back at home upon return.  Until Covid.  They decided to get married on Double Breasted!  Dustyn from "Ada" is a pastor and performed the ceremony in the chapel the group built on the south end of Double Breasted.  Charli from "Avalon" had a perfect dress for Stephanie to wear.  I played guitar and sang with Bill and Grace from "Calico Skies" - Can't Help Falling in Love.  Bill and Grace also played and sang with Branden from "Ada" on his ukelele - Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  It was just a perfect day with wonderful people all contributing to make the day special...memorable...unique.  A reception was held after the wedding at the Double Breasted yacht club shown in previous posts.  Fish tacos, music, drinks followed by dancing aboard Avalon.  Us old folks left the kids at midnight to continue their dancing into the wee hours of the morning.

Avalon with all the guys on board for a fishing/bachelor party.  You can see that Andy's make-do mainsail is not the sail that came with the boat.  He already shredded that first one.

The wedding chapel on Double Breasted

Arriving at the wedding by dinghy

Conor and Stephanie with Dustyn at the wedding ceremony.  The dinghy is ready to go with a just married sign and fish floats on rope to trail along behind.  Brian and Karin of Delos, being professional videographers captured the whole ceremony on film for Conor and Stephanie.

Fish tacos and a glass of red wine

Conor and Stephanie in the throne at the yacht club.  Like the sign?

Everyone took the opportunity to have their pictures taken!

After resting the day after the wedding everyone is making plans to head back to the US, some leaving tomorrow, others finishing up tasks before sailing off, all heading off in different directions back to the US.  All with the hopes of meeting up again somewhere, sometime, somehow....maybe in Maine?  We will start heading north through the Bahamas and then maybe onto Beaufort, NC.  We'll watch the weather and sail accordingly.  You can see where we are by using the SPOT link. 
Take care!  Stay healthy!
Karen & Jerry