We spent a great week anchored in Thompson Bay, Long Island. The winds were howling but we were tucked in very close to shore and seemed to enjoy a completely different climate than the boats anchored out in the bay.

We enjoyed our happy hours at the Sou’ side Bar while chatting to owners, Vanessa and Tyrone, and sipping an ice cold Kalik. We met several friendly locals who were quick to introduce themselves and join the conversations.

The island has a great grocery store and hardware store both of which are easy walks from the dingy dock. Beside the grocery is a liquor store which has added a tiny bar on the side. They host happy hour events on Wednesday and Friday evenings at which time they serve two beers for $6, along with snacks and free shots. Needless to say, everyone attends, it is a great place to meet other cruisers and island residents. At one such event we met Roy and Louise from Ottawa who are building their winter home on the island. They invited us along with Jos and Erica from Endless Summer to join them the next evening at their home.

We rented a car with Jos and Erica to do some land exploring. I called it our wild life tour as we saw two wild boar, goats including two very tiny ones (umbilical cords still attached) and two pink flamingos! Tyrone from the Sou’ side bar had told us there were wild boars on the island but “you never see them”.

On Feb 12 we had a breezy departure from Long Island and a salty sail as we headed for Water Cay in the Jumentos. Bob and Diane, s/v Two of a Kind, arrived from Georgetown shortly after we dropped the anchor. We made plans to travel together the next day as far as Raccoon Cay.
We knew there was a high probability the anchorage was going to become pretty uncomfortable early the next morning as the wind was forecasted to switch to the west. There is no west protection at the Water Cay anchorage so we planned for an early departure. What we didn’t plan for was the squall that rocked our world at 04:00 just to get things going. The sun couldn’t come up quick enough for us to get the heck out of there. Anchors up and we were gone out the Water Cay cut to the ocean side as soon as it was light enough to see. No morning coffee, it was simply too rough! We anchored around 15:00 in Man o War Bay at Raccoon Cay right behind old friends on s/v Persephone, called out greetings to Jerry and Karen but we were pretty tired and did not plan to go to shore that afternoon.

The next morning we did some beachcombing with Bob and Diane before departing for Hog Cay Yacht Club, in the Ragged Islands. What a difference a day makes……we enjoyed a gentle sail to Hog Cay. We arrived to find about twenty or so boats in the anchorage. We were happy to see some of the usual gang and looked forward to reconnecting with them at the daily get togethers at the hut on the beach. As the week went on many more boats arrived and by Friday the count was 47. All were here to attend Maxine’s Valentine’s day party. Maxine owns the grocery store in Duncan Town on Ragged Island. Maxine along with some other local residents prepare food including curried goat, fried grouper, Bahamian mac n cheese, rice dishes and salad which they transport to Hog Cay to share with the cruising sailboats. Prior to the buffet style lunch, appetizers of conch fritters were served. I mean mounds and mounds of conch fritters! They were so good! After the lunch there is an auction where items donated by the cruising sailboats are auctioned off to the highest bidder. The money raised from the auction goes to support the local school. The Duncan Town school was destroyed by hurricane a few years ago and the new school is scheduled to open later this year. This year the auction raised $2300 for the school!

With so many boats in the anchorage we’ve found there are a few musicians. The jam sessions have been large, fun and taken me outside my comfort zone but in a good way. Our jam band included guitars, harmonicas, ukeleles, tambourines, shakers and even a trombone player!

Our friends Rick and Susan s/v C Language are here! Rick loves hunting as much as Paul does and Susan loves hiking as much as I do! We’ve slipped into the usual routine of the boys heading out in search of lobsters and Susan and I in search of beach treasure! Some of these hikes have turned into full day shifts of 8 or more hours. That usually finishes me off for the evening! Several of the cruisers maintain the trails on the island and have made new trail loops so it’s a hiker’s dream with lots of variety.

Cindy from m/v Bookend has taken it upon herself to teach Majong to several of us. I had never heard of the game before and thought I’d give it a try. Day one I was completely lost. The 2nd day I thought, ok it’s a little better but not sure it’s my thing. The 3rd lesson I thought, ok I get it now, still not sure it’s my thing but it was much more enjoyable. 4th time now I get it but not sure I could ever teach anyone else to play and I don’t even want to see how thick the instruction book is for that game!

We’ve done two bucket brigade laundry sessions since we’ve been here. There was no laundry at Long Island so it’s been a long time since we’ve done laundry! I can see why man invented the washing machine. But hey you do what you gotta do. As for the drying, well, there is lots of deck space to run clothesline around and no shortage of wind and sun to get that job done.

Maxine has been kind enough to bring groceries to Hog Cay to sell, saving us the dinghy trip to Duncan Town. We were able to purchase potatoes, onions, eggs, romaine lettuce and limes. She has also taken bread orders which will be a real treat later today when she delivers that fresh homemade bread.


We had planned to head north to Georgetown but a front was approaching so we took the decision to stay a little longer and moved a little further south to a very special anchorage in between Big Ragged and Little Ragged Island. We needed high tide to get in and out. There was plenty of room once inside the anchorage.

Our friends Greg and Glenda m/v Paradigm Shift (formerly s/v Ti Amo) arrived and kindly brought us some groceries and a few other items! s/v Bright Ayes and River Rat also arrived in the anchorage.
Bright Ayes got everyone playing early morning Bacci Ball, 08:30, just to get the days started! We had several pretty hot sunny days so playing early in the morning was a good idea!

Paradigm Shift hosted a really fun game night with the crews from Bright Ayes, River Rat and 2Outrageous. We had 2 game tables of Rummikub going. One for the boys and one for the girls. Lots of laughs!

After 38 days spent in the Ragged Islands it was finally time to head north to Georgetown! We had one long day of very salty sporty sailing, followed by a poor nights sleep in a rolly anchorage at Water Cay, followed by another long day of much more enjoyable sailing to finally arrive at Georgetown, Exuma.

We will spend a week here turning our two person 2 Outrageous into a four person boat. Our friends Ken and Janet Reid are flying in on March 26 to join us for a couple of weeks. I’m sure there will be some adventures to write about as we sail from the bottom of the Exuma chain north to the Abacos……


SHARKS aka “The Men in Grey Suits”
We and particularly me spend a lot of time in the water. I am most always on the prowl for food while Laurie enjoys the gentler aspect of snorkeling on pretty reefs in the sunlight with calm water and crystal (Gin) clear water. As such, many people ask us about sharks.
Firstly, there are sharks in the Bahamas, lots of sharks, many varieties, actually I believe all the sharks hang here with the exception of the Great White….
Nurse sharks abound and are friendly relatively harmless. We see them often and are of no concern.
This year I have had a few sightings of the more “real” variety. (Bull, Black Tip, White tip, Hammerhead) a.k.a “Sharky Sharks” These guys rarely if ever “attack” but I can assure you they can be intimidating to say the least. And they are plenty capable. Most always I spot them when hunting on the outer reefs, in cloudy and sometimes turbulent water.
The last couple of weeks down here have provided some up close and personal experiences for me in witnessing both “normal” and “abnormal” shark behaviour…
My fishing partner (Darcy from SV New Ambition…Saskatoon) and I had spent a couple of hours looking for prey in some challenging conditions when we decided to go to a spot I knew that would be calmer and clearer to check it out. Had not been there this season. We rolled out of the dingy into a crystal clear aquarium bustling with all manner of fish. I was just getting sorted out to start looking into the cracks and cervices for the elusive lobsta. I turned my head and saw one of the boys. Side profile about 30 feet away, minding his own business…or so I thought. (All of this happened over the course of a couple of minutes) Just as I was starting to backpedal towards my chum and dingy, the shark turned and began to swim directly at me! Well, that is not normal behaviour I thought. I had to gently poke him with my spear and redirect him away from me. It worked and off he went….for about 10 seconds when he turned again and repeated the drill! Now it was getting interesting. In true Canadian fashion, (don’t have to outrun the bear, just have to outrun you) I passed off the shark to my buddy while I got into the dingy. Darcy also had to fend the shark off and quickly jump into the dingy. Unnerving to say the least. The culprit we determined to be either a White tip reef shark (bad) or an Oceanic White Tip (worse) approximately 5 to 7 feet. Not sure what his intentions were but if it was to get us out of his house….it worked.
Over the next few days in various locations we saw Black Tip, Bull and Lemon sharks, all behaving normally, as in just kinda hanging out.
In the end, we are in the shark’s home, they are always around even if you cannot see them, and up close and personal encounters are rare and actual attacks almost unheard of.

23 46.30 'N:76 06.29'W
2023-02-04

We spent twelve days at Lee Stocking Island enjoying everything this beautiful place has to offer.
Snorkelling, hunting lobsters, gathering coconuts and conch, beach walks, hikes and more snorkelling.
It really doesn’t get any better than that! Paul has been very successful with his lobster hunting. He hasn’t missed one yet!

The Cookie Monster crew was with us most days for our snorkelling adventures and they were able to give us a quick refresher course on cleaning conch. It’s a messy job but wow is it tasty!

A few days were pretty breezy but after a couple of failed attempts we finally made it to the elkhorn coral reef on the sound (deep) side of the island. We were able to spend the whole morning snorkelling this spectacular reef. This is certainly some of the very best snorkeling in the area.

We were joined in the anchorage by s/v Shambala, with Suky and Suzie on board. They were kind enough to bring us a grocery order allowing us to further delay any reason for us to head to Georgetown. s/v Dagny surprised us one afternoon as they pulled in and anchored beside us!

On one of our snorkelling trips Paul found a beautiful horse conch shell! We brought it back to the boat and let it sit in the sun for a couple of days. I scrubbed it and shined it up a bit then left it to dry in the galley. s/v New Horizons, Stuart and Karen (Bath Ontario), arrived from Georgetown and invited us to dinner to share the tuna they caught enroute. It was a fun evening of good food and some dominoes! When we returned to our boat, I noticed some sort of goo on the counter in the galley. I was about to accuse Paul of making a mess when out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. Well, there was a crazy looking creature about 6 inches long with legs, claws and a very slimy body sliming around the galley counter. We were so shocked we didn’t think to get his picture before getting the tongs and tossing him overboard. It was a baby hermit crab who had obviously been occupying that horse conch shell. He was pretty good at hiding inside it for all that time!

On Jan 23/23 we finally picked up the anchor and headed for Cat Island with Cookie Monster, Dagny, Shambala and Happy Together. We had a nine-hour salty sail with some fishing but no catching and arrived at New Bight, Cat Island about an hour before sunset. Two of a Kind was in the anchorage!
We headed to Cedel and Crystal’s fish shack with all the crews to enjoy dinner, some ice-cold Kaliks, and some Bahamian rake n scrape music by Bo Hoggs and the Rooters. The group consisted of Cedel and Crystal (after cooking our dinner) joined by Pompei on accordion.

The next day was a little of everything weather wise….. sun, cloud, rain, more sun, more cloud, more rain. Open the hatches, close the hatches, open the hatches, close the hatches. It was one of our divide and conquer days. I headed to do some laundry at Gilly’s Laundry depot. Wonderful laundry, super clean and great working machines! Paul went to the grocery store to get our crunchy stuff!
With these jobs completed we joined Dagny at Duke’s conch shack for some tropical conch salad and more cold kaliks to wash it down!

The next day we moved the boats a little further south to Old Bight and anchored in front of Rollezz Villas Beach Resort. Proprietors Yvonne and Carl made us feel so welcome! We enjoyed a fantastic dinner that first night with all the crews followed by a bonfire on the beach. I was coerced into getting my 6 string out and playing a few tunes around the fire. Not something I usually do but I had fun and no one threw anything at me so I guess it was okay!

We spent almost a week anchored by the resort. We got to know the owners, staff and customers over the course of those days. They were all so kind and seemed genuinely happy to have us there. They joined us for our daily late afternoon Bocce Ball tournaments, snorkelling, dinghy adventures and also for a couple of games nights in the dining room. The resort hosted a potluck dinner for the boaters and resort customers which was another fun night followed by some games of Sequence and cards. The beach extended about 3 miles north and 3 miles south of the resort offering a great place to get our steps in and pick up some shells along the way. We had a completely unobstructed view to the west offering some spectacular sunsets and were even rewarded with a couple of green flashes!

The anchorages west side of Cat and Long Island have unobstructed views to the west. Sunsets are always spectacular and we are treated to the rare “Green Flash” phenomenon. When atmospheric conditions permit, at the very second the top of the sun crosses the horizon, a brilliant small, green flash occurs. Almost impossible to photograph (like dolphins, whales etc) I refer to it as a Lizard winking! Calabash Bay (Hog Cay) offered us up the best we have ever seen

We can’t believe the run of fantastic weather we have had for January. Only one cold front and the rest of the time has been sunny or a mix of sun and cloud with the occasional rain shower. The temperature has been steady at between 79 and 81 degrees. Gil of sv First Love commented that in absence of bad weather none of us sailors can decide where to go or what to do!

On Jan 31/23 we sailed to Hog Cay, Long Island, with Cookie Monster, Two of a Kind and Shambala.
Another day of fishing and no catching! Paul is now referring to this season as the curse of the Mahi Mahi. We need to break the curse!

We tucked in close to the beach and waited for the Whistling ducks to arrive. Robin on Cookie Monster had told us about the nightly ritual of the ducks but actually seeing it is quite something. Whistling ducks are only found in two places in the Bahamas. Hog Cay (a small privately owned island) and Great Inagua. Just before sunset the ducks come marching out of the shrubbery (hundreds of them) to stand on the rocks at the edge of the water and seemingly watch the sunset. They stay there whistling away until after sunset then I’m not sure where they go.

We found a couple of spectacular reefs to snorkel near the anchorage and of course the daily bocce games continued!

Decision time. Stay or go? If we go, where to? Our engine alternator has been on the fritz for the past 3 weeks. It needs a new bearing. Spare doesn’t work but allows engine to run. We have one being brought in from Canada but not sure when we will actually get it. Paul has been trying to reach the Napa store in Georgetown to see if they have the part but they never ever answer the phone. Fox Auto in Salt Pond, Long Island answered and had the part! Decision made! Off to Salt Pond we go!

We anchored in Thompson Bay, Long Island late afternoon on Feb 3/23. Blasted ashore in the dinghy to get the part before the garage closed for the weekend. Success! Paul had the new bearing installed in the alternator, the alternator installed and tested by 08:30 this morning! Our generator will be grateful.

We did a grocery run this morning to replenish our crunchy stuff and expect to hang here for a few days before we make our next move! Where to? Georgetown, Ragged Islands, Lee Stocking..who knows. Paul’s 2023 motto is don’t plan past yesterday at 430, saves disappointment!