We're now on our way to the Ragged Islands, a place that we try to visit every year for a month or so, this will be our sixth year coming down. Seems there's more boats coming down here every year but it still isn't as crowded as other locations. The first day we make it as far as Rocky Point where we anchored for the night then it was on to Flamingo Cay for one night and finally on to Hog Cay where we will spend most of our time. There's already 7 boats here but more will be arriving before long, the locals at Duncan Town put on a Valentines party for themselves and the cruisers every year, it's becoming very popular as word gets around among the cruising folk, this year it will be held on February 20th. Hopefully the weather will be good as there isn't a lot of places down here to hide when a cold front comes through, the way this year has been so far makes me doubt it though

We moved on to Black Point once the weather cleared up, there's a great laundry there that we always visit and we have a pile of it to do. We spent one night there before moving on, there is yet another cold front coming and we need to find another place to hide. We decide to move to Rudder Cut Cay where we know of a really secure spot, there's a narrow entrance cut into a pond and although it's privately owned by David Copperfield we figure he wouldn't mind us anchoring there, besides we never got off the boat and there isn't anyone around. We spent 3 nights there and apart from a stiff breeze you would never know that a cold front went through, it is that well protected.

Next morning we moved to Staniel Cay to anchor off of Thunderball Groto, there's a neat cave there that you can swim into with all kinds of tropical fish, it's also where they filmed the James Bond movie Thunderbolt way back in the day with Shawn Connery. We stayed there two days getting fuel, water etc. before moving on, there's another cold front on it's way and we want to be safely tucked away before it's arrival. We head over a short distance to anchor between the Majors, a place where we have anchored many times waiting out weather, a few boats are already there but luckily they are no where close to our favorite spot where we know that the holding is really good. In total 22 boats showed up and most of them anchored away from us except for one, and as usual we suspect that he is to close. Sure enough when the weather turned foul and boats are being swung all over the place, he's coming within a few feet of hitting us at times, we thought that he would have moved but no, all he does is to come out of his boat cabin, look around, shrug his shoulders and go back inside again. We spent five days wondering when are we going to touch, luckily we never did but we we came really close at times. Maybe we should be more assertive and voice our concerns but we are not that way, I would hate to tell people how to anchor but when our safety is involved maybe we should. Lots of boats did drag anchor but we never did move a inch, one boat that we saw drag at least 3 times decided to try his luck anchoring directly in front of us, he stayed put but it made for a couple of worry some nights.

Some Remora ( shark suckers ) that were hanging around the boat

Next we headed down the Exuma chain of cays to anchor at Shroud Cay for two nights and then on to Little Pipe Cay where we stayed for two nights, a nice anchorage and we would have stayed longer except the wind changed direction, we started to roll and it was getting uncomfortable. More bad weather is coming so we went around to anchor in Pipe Creek, a much more protected area except for the tidal current that runs through there. The bad weather did come with a vengeance, one squall came through that must have been around 50 knots with very heavy rain, we heeled over so much from the wind that we thought we would be knocked down, it's the most that the boat has ever tipped. Anyway after awhile( that felt like forever) the squall passed and things returned to normal. This happened during the afternoon, which is strange because it usually happens to us in the middle of the night when it is very dark, you can't see it coming and it suddenly hits like a freight train going full speed. We slept well that night knowing that if we hadn't dragged anchor during the squall then we must be securely anchored.

The weather has calmed down for awhile so we are on our way to Nassau to wait out some more bad weather that is coming, we have to get a phone card, some booze and a few groceries, Nassau is a good place for that. The weather turned out to be not as bad as expected, we had some rain and wind but nothing excessive. There were a few boats anchored out with us but it wasn't crowded, which makes me wonder why some people have to anchor so close. There's all kinds of room but still some chose to anchor as close as they can, you just know that when the tide changes and everyone swings around that they're going to hit. It must be the herding mentality, the same as when you park your car at a mall far away from everyone, you come back to find other cars parked next to you. One boat did drag across the harbour, the guy is sitting on the boat and yet hasn't a clue what is going on. He came to within a few feet of us before he realized what was happening and even then he had to be told that he was dragging. Anyway, as soon as the weather cleared we were out of there, not our favorite place to be.

We went to Devil's/Hoffman Cay to anchor, we have anchored there a few times with fair results but you must be sure the anchor is in sand and well buried. The very first time we anchored in that area, we' dragged when the heavy wind switched direction, it was 3 in the morning, raining hard and the night black as coal, we had an anchor alarm set so it woke us up , lucky we were able to reset the anchor before going onto some rocks. We know of other folk who have dragged there also, one couple ended up onto a sandy beach, they were able to get off again with no damage being done.
This year was not completely without incident. The admiral had told me earlier that she thought that the snubber had fell off the anchor chain but I refused to believe her since it was dark , raining and I didn't want to go outside. Again, around 3 in the morning we heard lots of noise as the chain was rappidily being pulled out of the anchor locker, it's blowing like stink, pouring rain and very dark. I had visions of everything going into the water and we not being attached to anything but being blown onto who knows what. A rapid dash to the bow revealed that all the chain was let out and the nylon rode that was attached to it was rappidily disappearing, I managed to get the rode onto a cleat to stop any more from running out, with help from the engine and our electric windlass we pulled in the rode, reattach the chain, and everything is under control again.
Lots of other boats were damaged that night, some people clocked the wind at being over 60 knots, one person said he seen over 100 knots, all we know is that it was very windy, the anchor held and no damage was done to us. We heard of only one personal injury and that was a guy who damaged his hand while handling the anchor gear and had to be taken to the hospital in Nassau. Such is the joys of cruising, it isn't all fun and games.