23 30.68 'N:075 44.65'W
Change of Plan

It is good to have a plan. As long as you are willing to change it, that is. This is especially true for cruisers. Our plans typically revolve around weather. We waited as long as we could for the weather to cooperate long enough to set out on our planned circle route adventure to Long Island, Conception Cay, Rum Cay then on to the Ragged Islands, Jumentos Cays then finally back to George Town. It wasn't to be. What to do but try to complete the circle in the opposite direction!
We set out on the morning of Feb 7 for some great flat water sailing on Exuma Sound from George Town to the East side of Hog Cay Cut. The wind was dropping as we sailed along, by the time we reached the anchorage it was calm. To be able to anchor on the ocean side is pretty special and very unusual. Paul and I were able to enjoy some nice snorkelling before the Ti Amo crew picked us up in the big boat for a great early dinner at Santanias restaurant. Mom's bakery, right next door to the restaurant, had hot from the oven coconut bread. The bread was so hot I had to leave the bag open on the table to cool then fend off a little bird who was attracted to the delicious bread!
We caught high tide early the next morning through the Hog Cay Cut then motored south toward the Jumentos Cays. We made a pit stop to snorkel one of the blue ocean holes near Water Cay. There we found some very pretty coral, trigger fish, large schools of jacks and a couple of reef sharks lurking about. The current was pretty strong so the snorkelling was a bit of a workout.
We had a very sporty sail south the next day to Buenavista Cay where we spent three days. We found some great reefs to snorkel right around the boats. Paul speared a couple of nice dog snapper which are aptly named for their rather prominent canine teeth. Tasty fish!
Persephone showed up for a quick overnight pitstop on their way to Ragged Island. Gerry kindly went over the chartbooks with Paul giving him some great intel on good snorkel spots for us to try.
We continued south to Hog Cay on Feb 13 where we were really surprised to find twenty-three boats in the anchorage! Usually only five or six boats would be here at any given time. Maxine's Valentines day party was planned for Feb 15 which was the reason for the crowd. It was a great party including locals from Duncan Town, fishermen from Long Island, crew from the mailboat and crews from the boats in the anchorage. A traditional Bahamian meal was served including curried goat, fish fingers, turkey, ham, mac n cheese, peas n rice and salads. The meal was followed by a rather rowdy auction where items were donated by the cruisers with all proceeds going towards the rebuilding of the school in Duncan Town. Duncan Town was basically destroyed by a hurricane in 2018. When we visited last winter we were told the government was trying to have the town condemned and move any remaining people out. Now, however, with a new government in power the plan has changed and they are allocating resources to rebuild the town. It is happening, slowly. There is a solar farm being constructed at the southside of the island. The cell signal was fantastic, which was a first, other years we had no service in the Ragged Islands. CBS recently did a documentary on solar in Bahamas and it covered the remote village of Duncan Town.
We spent a month be-bopping around the Jumentos Cays and Ragged Islands with Ti Amo. The days settled into a lovely routine of boat chores, hiking, snorkelling/hunting, social gatherings at the Hog Cay Yacht Club (Tiki hut on the beach), eat, sleep, repeat. All the while the winds were blowing strong at 18 to 25 knots from the east but we were well protected and only occasionally with a wind shift would we need to beeline it to Southside Bay on Ragged Island to find some northwest protection. There are not many anchorages in that island chain with protection from the west, southwest or northwest.
We reconnected with friends from Persephone, Blue Jacket and Panorama at Hog Cay. We also met many new friends from all over the world. Paul and I took a little side trip northbound to Raccoon Cay with Persephone and Blue Jacket where Paul enjoyed some great hunting with the two Gerry's and I had a couple of great beach / snorkel trips with Karen and Donna. Karen and I bushwacked our way through the island from one side to the other trying to locate the overgrown trail. We did find it eventually but poor Karen ended out coming in contact with some poisonwood. This evil plant is the Bahamas version of poison ivy but worse. I managed to avoid it although I'm not sure how. We definitely should have been wearing long pants for that hike.
It wouldn't be right if we didn't experience a six degrees of separation event at Hog Cay. I swear there is something magic about that beach. My friend Heather Denvir has been asking me since our first trip to the Bahamas if we ever run into her ex-husband Jeff and his wife Brenda. So here we are, year four, at the very bottom of the island chain, 50 miles from Cuba and I'm chatting to a lovely lady on the beach. Finally, I ask her what is the name of her boat. Seldom Silent. I say, wow, I know exactly who you guys are! We've been on the lookout for you for four years! I should have known we would find them at Hog Cay!
Paul had several very successful lobster hunting trips. We have been eating as much as we want and have our limit in the freezer. Paul did some maintenance on his spear, straightened a bend out of it and replaced the rubber sling. Since then he's hit everything he has aimed at! He also found some large conch during one of his hunting trips. After a little refresher course on how to clean / prepare them we were enjoying cracked conch and a new specialty conch fried rice! Cleaning conch is no small feat. Its messy, nasty and time consuming. We have found that cooking it in the pressure cooker yields very tender results.
I got sharked...big time! We set out on one of our snorkelling trips to a spectacular reef at the south end of Ragged Island. Paul as usual was into the water and off in search of a fish or lobster to shoot. I was behind him and quite a distance away. Of course, it was windy and there was a bit of a current so I decided to turn around and look at the reef a little closer to the dinghy and there he was. The guy in the grey suit, white shirt, black tie between me and the dinghy. Now, I know all the stuff I'm supposed to do. Stay calm, see if he is twitchy, try to identify what kind of shark he is, but hell, he was way inside my comfort zone! Way too close and I didn't stay calm, didn't watch to see if he was twitchy. I did pretty quickly identify him as a black tip reef shark and a big one at that. I started yelling to Paul (the guy with the weapon) to come save me. Paul did escort me back to the dinghy. (essencially saved my life:) paul) The shark was gone at that point and Paul went back to hunting. I spent a few minutes recovering my breathing and heart rate before forcing myself back into the water. I knew I had to get back in right away or the sharks would be playing head games with me for the rest of the winter. On the upside I didn't see another one that day and Paul got the biggest lobster yet!
My regular hiking partner Glenda and I enjoyed several successful beachcombing trips netting record numbers of sea beans. Paul made a very special find of a large old hand-carved wooden spoon. It's a keeper! Probally from Haiti. VooDoo?
After a month we had to concede that mother nature was in fact not going to cooperate with our plan. It was time to give up and head back to Georgetown. We were completely out of all things crunchy including our latest craze, alfalfa sprouts. My buddy Janice from Folly had given me some seeds and instructions for sprouting. I think those little miracles allowed us to stay a few days longer! I am hooked. You can have crunchy greens within three days of starting them. I want to try sprouting other kinds of seeds. I hear broccoli is really good.
On March 3 we had a sporty sail northbound in 20 to 25 knot winds to Flamingo Cay. The ocean swell was hooking around the tip of the island and rolling through the anchorage making for a rather uncomfortable night but oh well at least we were safely anchored. Near the anchorage was a stark reminder of the worst that can happen. What remains of the boat is lying against the rocks. A very recent total loss.
We had two more fantastic sailing days arriving in George Town on the evening of Mar 5. Early the next morning I lugged our month's worth of laundry to Miss Lee's. Paul went for fuel, gas and propane. With those chores complete we hit the grocery store for all the crunchy stuff we could carry. The store was well stocked the only complaint would be no apples. We found everything else we wanted.
All that accomplished then it was time to move the boat over to the Sand Dollar Beach anchorage and prep the boat for you guessed it another high wind weather event. This time we expect to be trapped on board for three or four days. As I write this it is day three with no sign of the wind decreasing. In fact, we were clocking wind gusts of 38 knots this morning.

Living the dream baby!