Ragged Islands Back to Georgetown
09 February 2018 | Hog Cay
Today, Sunny, Breezy, Winds 15-20 ESE
We finally have good internet access here in Georgetown after spending the past couple of weeks in the Ragged Islands/Jumentos. My last blog entry was centered around the damage that hurricane Irma did to Duncan Town on Ragged Island. However, in spite of Hurricane Irma, we managed to have a wonderful time during our visit in the Jumentos.
We spent a week or so at Hog Cay where we did some lobster hunting, hiking, shelling, and meeting other cruisers during happy hours at the Hog Cay Yacht Club (a huge grass hut). Ron was pleased that his lobster hunting skills are improving. He got four lobsters on his first time out. Not to mention our friends Jerry and Jerry, the hunting duo got 12 lobsters. While the men were busy hunting my friend Karen, from S/V Persephone, and I had a nice time snorkeling as we watched all of the beautiful fish swim in and out of the coral heads.
After leaving Hog Cay we started moving back North and anchored at Double Breasted Cay along with Blue Jacket. They picked us up in their dinghy and we into shore to find a path that took us over to the ocean side of the Island. To our surprise, the sandy beaches were mostly blown away from Hurricane Irma leaving behind a lot of just plain rock. We were not able to do much shelling or sea bean hunting. However, I did manage to get a few hamburger beans and a really pretty orange float.
The following morning, we moved further North to Buena vista Cay. We took the dinghy and picked up our friend Jerry from Blue Jacket and went out looking for more lobster on the south side of the island. I went along to do some snorkeling. The coral heads were beautiful with lots of colorful fish. Ron got two more lobster and Jerry got two lobsters and a Hog fish. Then we moved over to the North side of the island and Jerry got another lobster. When we dropped Jerry off at his boat, his wife, Donna was very happy to hear that he speared a Hog fish. Hog fish is her favorite fish because it is very tasty.
The wind direction changed a little, so to get better protection, we moved back south to Racoon Cay. On our way we decided it was time to try to figure out what was going on with our VHF radio. It was not transmitting or receiving for more than a couple of miles. Once we got anchored in the bay Jerry from Persephone came over for a morning visit. He and Ron made a plan for the day. First, change the zincs, which are sacrificial anodes attached to underside of the boat's hull. Then, start working on the radio. Ron put on his scuba gear and went under the boat and changed two of our three zincs, the hull zinc and the shaft zinc. After that we ran Jerry up the mast to check out the radio antenna connection. It looked like the connection on the top of the wire needed to be replaced. Then they checked the wiring behind the inside panel. They replaced the power wire to the radio. The repair resulted in the radio working a little better. Thank you, Jerry. While at Racoon Cay we continued with our morning Beach Body on Demand 21 Day Fix exercises on one of the beautiful flat beaches. We also did some more lobster and Hog fish hunting. Later in the day I took my friend Karen's kayak out and walked on several of the beaches along the west side of the island.
On Sunday, February 4, we sadly said our goodbyes to Blue Jacket as we headed north to Water Cay along with our friends on Persephone. The winds were blowing ESE 14-18 making the waters a little rough but the sailing was great. When hailing other boats on the VHF, we realized our radio was still not transmitting and receiving very well. So, once we anchored in Water Cay, Jerry from Persephone came over to our boat and we hoisted him up the mast again to do some more diagnostic testing. The final diagnosis was that we need a new antenna. Our daughter Erica will be bringing us a new one when they visit us this month in Georgetown. Hopefully, this will solve the problem. Not having a good radio is a safety issue that we want addressed before we have to cross back to the US in April.
After leaving Water Cay we arrived in Georgetown on Monday, February 5th. We have been busy with grocery shopping, doing the laundry, cleaning the boat, exercising on shore, water aerobics, playing volley ball, basket weaving and having fun with other cruisers. The other night we participated in a 25-dinghy boat happy hour rafting. It was a lot of fun.
We will be here in Georgetown in the Exumas Islands for a few weeks. We are anxiously waiting for our daughter Erica, son-in-law Robert and the two grandsons Ethan and Eli to visit us on the 17th. We plan on being really busy having fun so you may not hear from us for a little while. Until next time, we hope this blog entry finds you all happy and in good health.