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28 January 2013 | Hog Cay, Ragged Islands
Val
We started the New Year off well by making bread on New Years Day - always a popular occasion on Windrush once the sweaty work of it is over! It smells sooooo good and we tend to overdo it a bit eating the fresh bread rolls. Early the next morning saw us heading out of Georgetown along with 'Sam the Skull' and 'Countess Cosel' (Bernie, a German friend who as a young man escaped over the Berlin Wall to start a new life in the West) heading for the Jumentos. We had a great sail and arrived in time for the guys to go fishing - of course - afterwards congregating on Windrush for drinks and eventually all staying for a supper of freshly caught hogfish. Buenavista Cay the next day where we met up with our friends Bill and Mara from the big sailing cat 'Puddlejumper' who came over for drinks - nice to see them again, and the first time this season. We ended up staying in BVC for 3 days - what's the hurry?! Barbara and I amusing ourselves with swimming, beach walks and burning garbage and making bread - a very satisfying way to pass the time of day! The guys of course went fishing when they could and when they couldn't we did boat chores and always gathered in the evening for drinks. The next week we headed for Hog Cay ( now into the Ragged Islands south of the Jumentos). Hog Cay is the last island before the Ragged Island where Duncantown is the only town in the Jumentos/Raggeds chain. Bruce taught a class there at the school last season. Unfortunately Ragged Island and the school, were hit quite hard by Hurricane Sandy - but as always, they are survivors.
Our first day at Hog Cay, our friends Barry and Susan on 'Nighthawk' arrived. They had made the decision not to come cruising this season and stay at home in BC. But the weather there hadn't been very good so after some particularly bad weather they said "the hell with this" and were soon on their way south! Before Christmas there had been very few boats in the Jumentos besides Sam the Skull and ourselves, but now the crowds were starting to arrive and we met up with friends and acquaintances from last season. And so the time goes by....... drinks on this boat or that boat, gatherings on the beach for garbage burns (AKA cocktails and snacks) etc. Bruce and I left the group for a few days to go up the islands to Raccoon Cay to spend a little time by ourselves. It was a fantastic sail up to our new anchorage, which we had all to ourselves for a couple of hours! Our rum supply was replenished while we were there. The sailboats 'Discovery and 'Synergy' arrived from Long Island where they have a liquor store, so as we were getting low on rum we had asked Karl and Marilyn on Discovery to pick some up for us, which they very kindly did. Bruce and I went spearfishing together one day, which was lovely. I shot a nice crawfish - unfortunately we didn't take a picture of it before we ate it! Later that day, we had 2 visitors to the anchorage who arrived while Bruce was going after a lovely big grouper on a small coral head right by the boat - 2 big bull sharks! Luckily Bruce did hear me yelling to him in warning from the boat and he got safely out of the water. They did circle our boat and around the other boats in the anchorage for quite a while, so we warned the others boaters in the anchorage of their presence. We decided to give up on the grouper and let it live a little longer. A few days later off Double Breasted Cay, Bruce shot a very big crawfish - said he just couldn't pass it up! It was big enough to cook the legs and body as well as the tail to make a very tasty crawfish salad for sandwiches.
The following day we arrived back at Hog Cay just in time for me to attend a get together on the beach for anyone who wanted to learn how to make baskets etc by weaving palm fronds. I had learned how to do this last season but never really got into it, so I decided to try again this year. Bruce and I left the group again after a couple of days and dropped the anchor at the south end of Ragged Island in South Side Bay. It was lovely there. Very peaceful and only 2 other boats! We got together on Windrush with Mary and Dick, a couple from one of the other boats - 'Blue Bay'.
I made us all conch fritters as a snack - tasty, but I still don't have the recipe quite right. I guess I'll just have to keep on trying! Bruce and I went fishing together quite a bit, but this time I rowed the dinghy and Bruce did the fishing. Good exercise for me and I can keep an eye out for Bruce. No bull sharks this time, just an inquisitive small reef shark. It was really great fishing around this anchorage. Loads of crawfish, though Bruce didn't shoot many as we really didn't have room to keep them. He did get a lovely big Margate though which we shared with Nighthawk and Sam the Skull one evening after returning to Hog. We dinghied into shore after a couple of days in Southside and walked through the bush to the road and then walked to Duncantown to try and use the internet - we weren't too successful though. While we were there, who should appear but our friends John and Barbara from Sam the Skull. They had received some bad news from home in Scotland. Barbara's Dad had died and they had tried to get to Georgetown for her to catch a flight home, but because of the bad weather they'd had to turn back, and so they were in Duncantown trying to contact family. They didn't manage it on the internet but did get through on the phone at the new Batelco station. After another couple of rainy, windy days in Southside we returned to Hog Cay in time for a cook out on shore which was fun. Two days ago, as the wind had settled down we were able to have a haircutting session on deck - now we both feel and look much smarter and cooler! Bruce and I then went ashore together and had a long walk over to the ocean side to see the waves which were still in 'rage' from the stormy weather. Yesterday, Barbara and I went ashore to look for the right kind of palm fronds to do our basketry with, so that was another long walk. Last evening John & Barbara (Sam the Skull) and Barry & Susan (Nighthawk) came over to Windrush for supper and we ate the big Margate Bruce caught in Southside. It was a lovely evening together.
Tomorrow, quite early, Windrush and Sam the Skull are pulling up the anchors and moving on.