Buena Visa The Ragged Islands

We had been traveling with Dawn Rae and Kia Anne from Long Island up to Lee Stocking Island. We did lots of beach combing, collecting more sea beans and seaglass. We had a fish fry on MiJoy after one of the local fisherman from Long Island, Roger, returned from The Raggeds with lots of fresh hogfish and grouper. Neither Dawn Rae nor Kia Anne had eaten hogfish and enjoyed the feast. Dawn Rae is heading for the US soon so they were needing to head north. We went north with them to Lee Stocking Island where we did some hiking and snorkeling and Mike managed to spear three more lobster on the last day of lobster season. We celebrated Easter on MiJoy with pork tenderloin cooked by Mike, Stacie brought a lovely salad and Tanja provided vegetable medley. I baked a white cake with with icing and had sprinkles the color of pastel. Closest thing to Easter eggs that I could come up with.

We said goodbye to our friends as they headed north and we went south. We stocked up on fresh vegetables and bread and headed for the Jumentos and Raggeds, our favorite chain of islands in the Bahamas. This chain of islands is very remote, with most of the islands being uninhabited. A small percentage of cruisers go this far, which the furtherest cay in the Raggeds is approximately 65 miles from Cuba. It has pristine waters and beautiful coral reefs and great fishings/snorkeling.

The weather was picture perfect as we headed to the Jumentos. It was almost like glass on the water, which I enjoy but without wind, you don’t sail so you motor. (Captain is always disappointed when the sails are not out) As we were traveling, you could literally look down 20 to 30 feet and see the bottom. I have a picture in Photo Gallery showing the view as we traveled south.

We arrived in Water Cay and spent the night. There were 2 other boats in the anchorage. We headed for Buena Vista the next morning. We were having some furling issues with our main sail so we stopped in Flamingo Cay and Mike worked on it for about 30 minutes. There was 1 boat in Flamingo Cay. The main sail roller furling was stuck and it was very difficult to move the sail in and out of the mast. Mike was able to fix the issue and we headed for Buena Vista. It was another very calm day but we did motor sail with the main and gybe sail out.

We were hailed on the radio by Freedom, Brian & Kim, friends we had met a couple of years ago. They picked us up on their AIS (automatic identification system) and they were heading south to Buena Vista also.

Buena Vista is the Cay where one man lives on the entire Cay. We met Edward 3 years ago when we cruised there and are always fascinated by his stories. Edward lives alone on the island that has been in his family for many generations. He has chickens, dogs, peacocks and goats along with salt ponds. Edward has a family that lives in Nassau but he choses to live most of the time on Buena Vista. The last year we visited him, he was in the process of building his house. Unfortunately the hurricane last year destroyed his home. Edward was on the island when the hurricane hit and tied himself to a tree for 2 days waiting for the storm to pass. He said his dog stayed right with him and never left his side. Several days later, he was rescued and taken to Nassau. There was a Nassau newspaper article written up about him and his experience. Edward told us that his father had survived many hurricanes over his years and always said “No woman is going to run me off my island”. (That obvisously was before they started naming hurricanes after men and women)

When we arrived ashore to see Edward, he came out to help beach our dinghy. He remembered us and immediately started telling stories about us visiting him 2 years ago, which included the bird sitting on Mike’s shoulder and me taking their photos. (photos in our previous blogs). Edward also mimincked the harmonica and Mike pulled his out of his pocket. (Mike had given Edward a harmonica several years ago to learn to play) Edward went inside his little house and retrieved his harmonica and they played “You are my sunshine”.

There were 2 other boats in the anchorage that came ashore, Freedom and Paul on Sobrist. Paul Trammell is in the process of writing a book about sailing solo. He heard many stories about Edward and had came to interview Edward. Paul has published 2 other books which currently are on Amazon. Edward also mentioned that his son in Nassau is working with someone who wants to write a book about Edward’s life history. Edward has many interesting stories, which includes how his family acquired the island, his past drug running days and rescuing his brother in the jungle from the Columbia drug lords. (sounds like a James Patterson novel)_

Edward had 2 peacocks, male and female. The male was absolutely beautiful and put on quite a show while we were there, strutting around showing off his feathers. Edward said he will loose his feathers in a couple of months. (see photos in gallery)

We had a peaceful evening in the anchorage and the next morning moved our boat north about 2 miles Northto Nurse Cay to do some snorkeling, spearfishing and beach combing. Within 30 minutes, Mike had speared 3 fish and we had a great fresh fish dinner for supper.

Around 1pm, we pulled up anchor and headed south for The Raggeds. We have never been to The Ragged Island, which is about 65 miles from Cuba. It took us about 2 1/2 hours and we arrived in Hog Cay, which is North of The Ragged Island (Duncan town) There is 1 other boat in the anchorage. Duncan town was devastated by the hurricane last year and the town of about 80 people has been diminished to 10. (so we’ve heard) We will dinghy over in the next few days and explore the town and the many beautiful Cays nearby. We’ve seen some incredible coral and look forward to snorkeling and taking pictures.