Blue Heaven Rendezvous: Roughing it in the Ragged Islands

While I worked on my baskets, Al tried to find out why we cannot hear people far away on our VHF radio when other boaters can and a problem of lots of static when we call. So once again he went up the mast to check the antenna. Peter and Michael hauled him up this time, so I got a break.

Michael and Peter get the job of cranking.

Al up the mast again.

Unfortunately Al saw nothing wrong at the top of the mast so back down he came to search out other possibilities. Later he replaced some connector wires and people said it sounded better but we still cannot hear those who are far away. This is a problem that is on going and so he will continue to try different things.

Jamming at the Hog Cay Yacht Club

We moved closer to shore to anchor hoping it would help with the rocking. It got better but more due to the fact the wind changed to a better direction for us.

Later that day we went in to the “yacht club” for heavy hors’deurves and music. Some of the gents brought their guitars, tambourine, harmonica and saw. It was a good time.

Us with our addition to the Hog Cay Yacht Club.

We took in our addition for the “yacht club” like all the cruisers which was a buoy we found on the beach. We added our boat name, our names, the year, a sketch of a sailboat and on the back our motto. It is: “Dark clouds are things that pass, the blue heavens abide always.” We discovered the saying on the back of a Salada tea bag no less!

After a true down pour of rain in the early morning which was great because it gave our boat a good wash down which is what it needed, we went with Michael and Robin from Seabiscuit to hike the trail from the south beach on House Bay.

On the other side it was a beautiful beach with loads of live conch in the shallow waters and a few palm trees that you don’t see often.

Small conch all over the shallow waters.

Another beautiful beach.

We had a nice long walk so came back to the boat to just chill the rest of the day. We read and I worked on my baskets. We also watched a movie after dinner.

The weather guru predicted the winds were going to blow, and they sure did along with a lot of clouds. They were 20 to 25 knots. We never got off the boat. I hooked on another project, worked on my baskets and read. Al spent most of the day reading.

It still was blowing strong the next day so I pulled out my jewelry making supplies to organize, as well as my sea glass. In the afternoon, Marilyn and Carl on Discovery, and Chris and Karen on Synergy braved the waters and came by dinghy to play Sequence on Blue Heaven. The ladies were champions once again. It was close to the bitter end. There was a late afternoon “burn” on the beach so we went in. It felt good to be on solid ground.

Another dreary day dawned, three in a row which is highly unusual. Wind was still up and we had a few squalls but nothing strong. I went to a boat named Cookie Monster to work on jewelry. We each learned something new from each other which was very helpful.

The chefs at work on the grill.

I made a pasta salad for a potluck dinner on the beach. They had the fires burning for what meat you wanted to cook and sides and desserts were brought to share.

Hermit crabs come out in masses!

Close up of Mr. Hermit

It was amazing once all the food was brought out, the hermit crabs came a looking. They were not scared of people that is for sure!

Sunday dawned and the sun came out finally. We hiked another new trail where we came across a stone wall which had to have been built many years ago, a pond and wild goats.

Was the wall for Hogs on Hog Cay?

We only saw goats on Hog Cay.

Once in awhile you will find a pond.

We hiked the beach on the other side but not much was found. I am a bit disappointed in the lack of shells down on this island.

After hiking, I made veggie lasagna and Robin and Corbett from Cookie Monster and Howard and Lois on Chrispamel a Canadian couple who were anchored next to us, came for dinner. Robin brought a Caesar salad made with cabbage which was great and Lois brought a dessert called a “Cranberry Orange Duff” which was a cake made in a pan set in boiling water and tasted like a moist scone. It was great also. It is wonderful sampling all these new recipes.

I believe we mentioned that it is difficult getting food, gasoline and water in these islands. There is one small store in Duncantown, Ragged Island but you really need to order ahead to get the things you need. Maxine the owner has not been around because she was helping her sick daughter in Nassau. She returned with the boat on Sunday, and so she announced she would be over with the food that had arrived to the beach at the “yacht club.” Now cruisers who had been there prior to our arrival had placed orders, but she said she would bring what extra she had. Almost all the cruisers were in at 8:30 am to see what they could get. People were much more civilized than I expected. No one took all of one food, they shared what was left to buy. I got a dozen eggs, a green pepper, 3 oranges, 2 tomatoes, 2 limes and a carrot. I felt like I hit the jackpot! The clincher was that she did not want to deal with collecting money. She said to come to her store on Ragged Island and pay. She had no idea what you took, she just trusted you to pay. With it still blowing quite a bit, not many were ready to head to Ragged Island but she said, “Whenever you get there, you get there. (Imagine a store in the states doing that!)

This is the easy part up through the mangroves to Duncantown.

First Edition, SeaBiscuit and us had decided we were going to town even though it was rough. What an adventure! Even with foul weather gear on we were still wet over much of our bodies when we arrived at the dock. A Bahamian man came to greet us and gave us hugs, jabbering away in his Bahamian English which we can barely understand. We politely shook our heads as if we knew what he was saying and thanked him for the welcome.

Walking Duncantown

We saw more goats than people!

We went to Maxine’s store which carried some can goods and cleaning supplies. She had brought all the produce to the beach. We paid our bill and got a pint of Pistachio Almond ice cream with spoons and had ourselves a treat! The main reason we came was because First Edition was having trouble with adding data to their internet plan and they wanted to go to the phone company to see if they could fix it. I thought I would have them add our money to our data plan as well. When we got there, the door was locked!

Phone company office locked up! What a disappointment!

We had heard that the person who runs the office was Maxine’s son, so we went to her to ask where he was. It was Election Day and he had a role in that so he was at the police station. We went there and he came out and tried to help them even though it was his day off. We left in our dinghy to go back before they were finished so that I could make dessert to take to First Edition for dinner that night with them and Dick and Nancy on Blue Bay whom we were glad that we got to know better.

The next day while I was down in the cabin I heard some strange sounds coming from our refrigeration. I called Al down and sure enough the electronic controller for the fan wasn’t working. He brain stormed with the men in the anchorage and finally disconnected the fan from the controller and got it working again. It is good we had planned to head back to Georgetown because we might need to have someone look at it, or order a part.

Look at the strata of blues in the water!

While Al worked on the refrigeration I went hiking with Robin and Corbett and got some great shots of Blue Heaven in the anchorage. I also loved this natural piece of artwork that was on the path. I thought it worthy of a picture.


Nature's artwork.

That afternoon Monkey Man came around selling his seafood. We got two red snapper and a lobster tail for $20. He filleted the fish for us too. Can’t get seafood any fresher than that!