Counting Blessings!

Most of you will know that we normally head for Canada during the hurricane season to work and refill our cruising kitty for the next season. Of course we had made a contingency plan to cover the possibility we did not get a contract, what we did not expect is Murphy's meddling and taking full advantage of the situation.

I had already booked my nursing practical hours I had to complete to be able to write my finals and had a time limit so was unable to postpone them till the following year I still had to go to Canada, alone. The problem would be that on contract our accommodation is covered under André's contract. Our expenses are living expenses only! 

Blessing number one came in the form of our friend JJ who offered me his second bedroom for the extent of my stay! Thank you JJ.

After many years out of nursing, especially General nursing, I confess to being just short of terrified to enter the field again. Blessing number two came in the form of Peggy and Natasha from the nursing school. Peggy is amazing she is so patient and confident and made me feel so too. Then she chose my tutor to work with in the form of Natasha! I worked side by side with her every day for a month. What a fantastic experience. She patiently and calmly guided me back into the field. Her knowledge and experience were invaluable to me and my learning curve sky rocketed in that time. Natasha I still hear your voice in my head 😇

The next couple of months I was to work with one of the RN's in the unit and Peggy and Natasha in their wisdom once again chose a superstar in Christine. It is very difficult to explain just how much her support meant to me. Her and her dream teams patience in answering my questions as I worked to refresh my nursing knowledge was invaluable and I loved every minute. There are no words to express my gratitude for their professionalism, patience, kindness, friendship and for making me feel part of the team. 

Dream Team

Dream Team Girls on Margies Birthday 

Although glad to be heading back to Rat Catcher and André I was sad to be leaving them. 

As the days flew by to my flight home, Hurricane Matthew had some ideas of his own and was speeding towards St. Augustine, André and Rat Catcher. A direct hit was predicted and Andre was running around doing his best to prepare his beloved boat for the worst. Two days before I was to fly in he and the town was given notice to evacuate. With a heavy heart he packed up Lulu in the rental car and headed North West out of the zone. He had been unable to find a pet friendly hotel and was planning on finding a shelter. On the way he decided coffee was a necessity and stopped at Dunking Donuts, right next door was the Holiday Inn, who had already told him on the phone they were full. Inspiration drove him to walk in and ask again! Blessing number three they did and he settled in to wait out the storm. 

Destroyed building and dinghy!

At the last moment Matthew turned away from the coast and instead of a direct hit he passed St. Augustine 30 miles offshore. The devastation was nothing like it would have been with a direct hit. Blessing number four, Rat Catcher survived with no damage at all. None of the South African boats in the yard were damaged either. There was only very minor damage from the pieces of flying building that broke apart to a couple of other yachts. 

Murphy, as I had mentioned was taking full advantage of our no new income situation. As we had been taking the sails down in preparation for the season we discovered they were de laminating. They might have lasted another season with a push but as we had the boat on the market and the sails are so important to our voyage we had to replace them? We discovered Ullman sails in South Africa would replace and ship them to us at about half the cost of replacing get hem in USA. Blessed!

Then the anti foul which usually lasts two to three years had not held up and to keep the boat in pristine condition she had to be redone. Contingency fund is being eaten fast by Murphy.

Next Andre noticed the boats battery bank was using lots of water and overheating and gassing. Luckily he noticed it. A boat in the yard burnt out while we were there because of the same problem. Murphy Murphy Murphy! We had to replace our entire battery back of six golf cart batteries. We were blessed Andre was alert and awake and noticed the problem before they exploded and caught alight!

Our anchor chain was badly rusted and we had been nursing it carefully but once again with the boat on the market and the chain being literally our life line when on anchor, it had to be replaced.  We were blessed by our friends on Vagabund, Zack and Magda! They had a spare chain they had not used and gifted it to us! Thank you both so very much!

The sail drive seals needed replacing but thanks to google and good friends like Alan on Alley Cat Andre managed to do them himself. What a huge saving of about $600 per side! 

Shortly after I arrived back, André flew out to South Africa. He needed some dental work on a previously replaced tooth that kept falling out and it was cheaper for him to fly to SA and have it done than have it done in USA. He was able to visit our families and get his tooth fixed before flying home.

I took advantage of being alone and spent hours each day studying for my NCLEX. My nursing finals exam I last took 32 years ago. Passing it would allow me to be registered and work in Canada. I had booked my exam for 15th November in Jacksonville. Luckily I was able to go to the exam center there instead of having to fly back to Canada! I chose the 15th as it was our 30th wedding anniversary and it had obviously been a lucky day for me in the past! After two days of gut wrenching terror I was informed I had passed! Blessed again! 

Finally Rat Catcher was prepared and ready to sail. We set out from St. Augustine on an overnight sail to Fort Pierce, then on to Fort Lauderdale where our blessing came in the form of Michelle and Tony Bennett. On the way down our house battery overheated and died!

Andre had made friends with them in St. Augustine while I was away. They have an apartment on the ICW near Sunrise Bay anchorage and invited us to use their dock to get ashore and offered us a car or to drive us around if we preferred! But that's not all, these two angels took us under their wings.  They invited us into their home, drove us around getting supplies we needed as our house battery had died on the way down. Murphy again!. We had a wonderful evening out as they introduced us to their favorite restaurant. Our last night there as we did our laundry in their home as they fed us on Pizza and wine. A fantastic evening. Thank you both so much we are looking forward to seeing you on the water. 

Murphy even lost all my blogs I had written and was about to post lol. I updated the app I use to do the drafts and the update wiped out my last few on the Canada trip, the hurricane and the restocking. Must have meant to be! So this is a rewrite!

That was not to be Murphys last. On the trip over the hinges to the heads seats disintegrated!

Murphy, give us a break!

Cayo Guillermo

 Leaving Puerto Da Vita we did a few short day hops anchoring at the end of the day. In Cuba you are allowed to anchor I'm some places and they call y on the radio to find out who you are, how many people aboard, here you came from and where you are heading. You are allowed to snorkel around your boat but you are not allowed to use your dinghy or go ashore!

Our overnight stays had us anchored off of Cayo Confites and Cayo Paredon Grande. Cayo Paredon Grande has a yellow and black checkerboard lighthouse and a LONG beach. In the morning (before we learned of not being allowed to go ashore) we dinghyed over to the small slip from which we had been waved to with shouts of 'Holla' when we anchored to see if we could look at the lighthouse and / or walk the beach. A smiling man in brown khaki uniform walked down and greeted us as we neared the shore. We asked permission to look at lighthouse and was the beach. He was very apologetic and explained it was all 'military zone' and we could not! 

We have found our broken Portuguese learned in Brasil works perfectly here, in fact we have either improved since Brasil or our pronounciation is nearer to the Spanish as they understand perfectly. As and soon as we try talk Spanish they try speak English and we get along perfectly. One thing I noticed is if your pronounciation isn't perfect they listen and ask you to repeat till they work out what you are trying to say. Then with a smile they correct your pronounciation and respond. They love practicing English and in many places they greet you in English with 'have a nice day' or the like. 

Rat Catcher in Guillermo

Compared to Puerto de Vita where the Marina is surrounded by local residences and you are not allowed into the resorts in the nearby town at all except into the lobby to use internet, Cayo Guillermo is side by side resort. There we found we were allowed into all the resorts to wander around, use their pool and we could even get dinner. A buffet with a large selection of delicious meals and deserts and INCLUDING drinks of your choice (wine, beer or rum) was CUC10.00 each. That's about US$10.20. We ate there twice after walking the beach, wallowing in and lounging around the pool and using Internet. There is not free internet in Cuba, you buy a card for CUC2 which gives you an hours connection and you can only connect at a hotel. 

Cayo Guillermo is famous for its pink Flamingos we were privileged to see flocks of feeding in the mangrove pools and for being described by one of Cuba most beloved heroes Ernest Hemingway in his novel 'Islands in the Stream'. We had heard of 'Playa Pillar' (Pillar Beach) apparently one of the best in Cuba and we unfolded our bicycles and set out for the 11 km ride up island. En route we saw the pink flamingos and spotted the Dolfinario (Dolphinarium)

The Dolphinariums in Cuba are open aired areas fenced off in the waters of the mangroves. One is allowed to stroll through and see what is on offer without paying if you don't want to have a Dolphin encounter or swim with them. We took a chance and strolled in, they were between shows and we were alone except for the security guard aka Dolphin trainer. Seeing no-one else was around he encouraged us to enter the restricted area. Then peeping up the wooden paths over the water to ensure no one was coming invited us to join him on the dolphin platform. There we got our own private dolphin show. He explained the Dolphins here had all been caught in nets and nursed back to health. It seems very well managed and the career obviously loves his charges. So I was priviledged to be kissed by a Dolphin. We took turns kneeling on the platform as he called the Dolphins up to have their back scratched and get their reward of fish. He laughingly told us if one forgot or refused to give the treat they Dolphins simply refused to do anymore tricks till they were rewarded again. 

Dophinarium entrance

Dancing Dolphins

Playa Pillar was nice. We confess to having seen better beaches but not in Cuba and their pride in their beach is obvious! Everything is carefully controlled. The car guard took charge of our bicycles, they were not allowed in the resort and we walked on wooden raisd paths over the mangroves to the resort and the beach. There we swam in tepid water lazed on diamond-dust fine white sand and watched the other beach goers.

Statues like this all over Cuba different stances

Cuba! Puerto La Vita

Puerto la Vita

Confession is that I was a little apprehensive to arrive in Cuba. Although we were reassured by some, the 'stories' were many and varied. Usually by those who have not yet been here it seems! 

I was expecting 'Cuban communist humorless officials'. I was expecting to be boarded and the entire boat searched and dug through. Some stories said any fresh fruit, vegetables and meat would be confiscated. My tiny garden of Catnip, Cat grass and Cilantro would most certainly be removed and or destroyed! 

We finally set off from South Side Bay, Ragged Island just off Duncan Town at 1500 hours. We had planned an overnight sail as the stories told of being left waiting for hours, even left anchored overnight off the entrance of the bay as you were not allowed ashore or to interact with anyone until the formalities had been completed.

We had an 'interesting' sail in the true Chinese curse way 'of May you live in interesting times' lol Wind gusting at 25 knots, seas on the port  beam had us rolling like a monohull and pitching and yawing at the same time. Slewing down the side of a three meter swell only to be bounced up the next; four to five seconds behind the first.

We started out with one reef in the main and the Genoa. By sunset we were way to far ahead of time and our ETA was to be about 0100! No good we couldn't navigate the shore in the dark and would not be allowed in anyway! We had planned to arrive at about 0800 when their day started! We dropped the main and finally had only a tiny handkerchief of jib up and heading just off the wind to slow us down. As the sun came up we were 5nm off the coast and turned and headed for the entrance. We called into the Guarda Frontera on the VHF, were asked a few questions and told to head into the channel. 

We were met by a smiling young man in a small motor boat who beconed and led us to the anchorage. He won my heart by gesturing he had fallen in love with Lulu who was on the foredeck with me watching what he was doing. In the bay he indicated we should drop anchor and then he sped off. When he returned with the Doctor he asked if Lulu maybe had babies as he would like one. Floating cattery now that's a new idea. :) 

We decided we both needed a quick shower if the Doctor was on the way. Sweaty, smelly bodies did not seem polite to present to the Doctor for the 'examination' we were expecting. Andre was dressing and I had just soaped up on the sugarscoop, when the dinghy arrived with the white coated Doctor on board. I quickly rinsed dried a little and went to greet him (don't worry we bath in swim suits so he wasn't horrified) 

Dr. Rolando

What a nice man, we both greeted him in Spanish and he was very pleased to note we spoke and understood Spanish although we had been told his English was excellent. We explained we "habla pocinto eSpanol" ( we speak on a tiny bit of Spanish)  His English is not bad at all and we chatted away. The 'examination' a one page questionnaire of our details and about four questions, have you had headaches, have you had a cold, have you had a temperature. Do you think you are ill or have any disease you could spread? That's it! Oh and he took our temperature with an infrared thermometer. He was a little surprised ours were 'so low' at 35.6 deg. I reminded him we had just had cold showers and he was quite happy! The day was already hot so I guess he expected them to be a little higher. His only other concern was when we had last been in Africa due to the diseases and the recent outbreak of Yellow fever in Angola he said!

That done we chatted and laughed while he waited for his lift back to the marina. He swapped Facebook and emails and asked us not to show the authorities he gave it to us, as they wouldn't like it!? He recommended the best cigars, rum and the best places to change money. He explained that the Carnival was starting in two days and would be right outside his home, that he wouldn't sleep for four days of the carnival and we should not miss it. 

With our Q (quarantine) flag down and the Cuba courtesy flag flying, with his permission, he was collected from the boat and the Immigration official dropped off. Another very nice handsome young man named Adil. He too was delighted we could or attempted to speak and understand Spanish. He took great pains to explain that all these procedures were normal in Cuba and we must please not worry. He sat quietly filling in our forms as we docked in Mediteranean style mooring. That means we hooked onto a buoy and reversed to the dock and tied on. 

I told him I was concerned about Lulu (whom he had met and fussed over) and the dogs and he put me at ease. He informed me the dogs would now be coming and to take care of her.  I popped her into her travel case and onto the helm seat in the shade where she peered curiously at the goings on. The dogs were both Cocker Spaniels and the first one searched for drugs "drogas" and the second one for explosives "bombas". The handlers were very serious not engaging with us at all, well trying not to. The first man obviously was in great pain and I had to ask what was wrong. He told me his knee was hurt and I offered help but was refused with a grateful smile. He had work to do! The dogs are beautiful and so intelligent. His every command was understood and despite what must have been overwhelming cat smells for them they sniffed every corner and found nothing they informed us! All was good!

While this was going on I noticed one of the men snorkeling the bottom of the boat! He too was happy there was nothing suspicious and gave us the nod.

Then Adil gloved up and asked me to accompany him as he searched the boat. Once again apologizing and explaining it was normal in Cuba I must not worry. I said we had no problems he was welcome to check anywhere. He just glanced into most of the cupboards and when I pointed out those he had missed he smiled and said it was fine. 

We were told the vet would be there too and when none arrived we thought they had changed their mind. We were exhausted and decided to catch up on some sleep. We had just begun to doze when we heard 'Hola, Hola' (hello) and the Veterinarian and the Agricultural official arrived! 

The lady vet was friendly and after checking Lulus papers asked to see her. I was amazed as she turned Lulu onto her back in her arms and she lay there lazily for a few minutes while her tummy was tickled and her mouth examined. 

The agricultural official and shy quiet smiling man had a cursory check at our fresh vegetables and my plants and declared them passed! 

Our mooring was next to new friends we met in George Town Bahamas, Fabio and Michelle and Sade the Labrador on sailing vessel Delphino. Fabio speaks Spanish and told us when the Doctor was brought back to shore the dog handlers asked him if there were animals aboard our boat. His answer, in Spanish, was "yes a cat, as big as a horse". 

The vet was very amused that the two boats with animals were next to each other and a dog and cat were neighbor's. 

Janet the Marina manager was very friendly and helpful. We needed to get Pessos (CUC) and we planned to share a taxi with Delphino. This was our introduction to Victor. Most Cuban men we have seen are shortish, between 5'5" and 5'9 and wirey to athletic. Victor must be 6'3" and built like a tank. His taxi is a little lime green Lada. With three of us piled in the back, if it had any suspension we squashed it, and one in the front, he pulls his seat forward to give us some leg room. The result is he drives with his knees up next to the steering wheel, almost plugged into his ears.

Cuba has two currencies. Both are called Pessos but you have CUC (pronounced Cook) which is what is used in the tourist areas and then CUP aka Nacional's (Nationals) which is what the locals use. CUC1 is US$1.09 and CA$1.23. For CUC1.00 you get twenty Nacional's. One thing we found amusing is they have CUC3.00 notes. So the saying 'as strange as a R3.00 ($3.00) note' doesn't apply here. 

Local Pub.

That evening we wondered into the streets behind the marina to find a store in a house whom we had heard sometimes sold vegetables and eggs. Delphino needed supplies. The tiny lady we met there did not want to accept their money for the eggs and insisted it was a gift. These amazing people have so little and are so generous! Our stroll took us past the locals bar and we decided to pop in for a beer. Our request for 'Frio Cerveca', was met with shakes of heads. No cold beer only room temperature, which was baby bath warm. We had one anyway and soon attracted the attention of all the 'strange' people in town. The locals were laughing and showing us 'mad' signs (the international rotated finger circle on the side of the head) to indicate those talking to us were not all there. Despite that he sold us mangoes, he ran off to get after making sure we understood we were not to leave till he came back. The mangoes he brought us looked like he had picked them up off the ground but we took them anyway. On our walk back to the marina we were greeted by a man in English who informed us he was the local school teacher. He also told us he had heard we thought the mangoes had been picked up off the ground (news travels fast in the streets), he assured us they were not they were a kind of mango that had black spots on them and were sweet and tasty! They were!

Janet had also arranged a Dentist appointment for André who's tooth had fallen out when he sneezed in Bahamas. That was our destination on day two. Victor once again collected us and with his knees plugged into his ears drove us to Guardalavaca. We were told by Fabio a direct translation of Guardalavaca means 'watch for the cow'!  

Fabio, Michelle and Alison in Taxi

The dentist was excellent and in no time had André's tooth glued back in and did he a clean while he was at it. The total cost was CUC20 for the tooth and CUC35 for the clean! Can you imagine the equivalent of about US$55 total for an hours treatment!! Had I known I would have had a check up and clean as well.  We had to go to the Pharmacy downstairs to pay which he explained the money went to the government he saw none of it and bring back proof of payment which he had to then sign and stamp. A small note on his desk informed us 'Tips were appreciated and welcomed'. We duly complied. 

That evening we returned to the little store as Delphino had organized for more eggs and bread. Once again she was very reluctant to allow them to pay. They settled by 'gifting' her the money! Of course we had to visit the bar again. We had decided that we were all going to try the rum! To our surprise they had cold beers for us. After their effort had had to first have beer! On ordering a rum each we discovered Rum in the bar was free! It was a watered down version but no wonder no one needed cold beer. We managed to pay by buying coke, 50c, to put it with and were gifted with a tot each of undiluted rum, which was not usually free!

Victor fills the space.

There were no 'locos' in the bar that night but young strong men who it seemed had come down to the bar to see the strangers. We had great laughs and rum and headed back to the marina! 

Victor and his Lada Taxi

The 'Carnivale' had begun and Victor arrived to collect us at 1630hrs. We were told the best time was about five and we planned to make the most of it. We arrived and looked for the building the Doctor lived in! We were all a little sadened and amazed to see the apartments! They would not have been out of place in a slum anywhere in the world. Run down, old and the surrounds dusty and unkept!

Doctors home

We spotted the Doctor on his balcony and he waved and gestured drinking. He arrived with his lovely wife Marietta and asked if we minded if they joined us! The 'Carnivale' was more of a fête! The dusty square bordered by apartment blocks had been set up with beer and food tents. A few stalls selling 'made in China' hair baubles and other small items. We wandered around watching people and sipping cold beers. The 'amusement park' for the children was a time warp to the 1960's. Old hand operated Ferris wheels and rides. 

The Doctor knew of a good restaurant and we set off to find it! He told us that they were normally paid a commission for bringing people there but because we were his friends he had told them to not do that and charge us special prices. We all (six of us) ate delicious fresh cooked fish with vegetables, rice and beans, drank beers and shared a bottle of wine. Then they presented the total bill: CUC26.00. 

Marietta and Rolando

We could not believe it. The menu had marked the fish dish at CUC15.00 each! There had to be a mistake! When we queried it we were assured it was correct! 

A fond farewell to the good Doctor and his wife saw us back to the marina.

Carnival Vendors

The next morning check out. We were once again searched and boarded by the customs man and the 'Drogas and Bombas' dogs and given the go ahead to leave!

Jumentos, Double Breasted Trouble

We think we found Paradise then  we get to a new anchorage! Double Breasted is one of those. A shallow bay with 1 meter below the keel surrounded by shell filled beaches and reef teeming with fish what more could we ask.

One thing we have seen a lot of here are shark and we agreed, being so far form any medical assistance, shooting fish for supper would be done with care and with a plan.

Heading out to a small island we dropped back into the water free diving. As usual, the 'meet and greet' committee here in the islands is a huge Barracuda we call Barry for normal size and Baba for the huge ones. Well a Barry greeted us with his evil smirk, trailing behind us like some sort of stalker.

 I confess Barracuda scare me more than shark. When a Shark shows interest and you swim at him giving him the 'what you looking at' attitude, he usually responds with an 'oops didn't notice you, sorry' attitude and swims away or at least turns away. When you give a Barracuda the same look, his response is more of a 'you, I'm watching my lunch, what you going to do about it?' attitude. He keeps coming with that horrible grin on his face like he has a secret you don't want to know about.

Anyway, we were swimming along, me looking for shells, searching under rocks for kreef and watching out for lurkers. I spotted André hanging under a rock and saw his spear hit target. I was a little uncomfortable to see it was a good size Nassau Grouper! The dinghy was far away!! 

Thinking the plan would be to put the fish on the stringer as soon as possible, to get it away from us, as we returned to the dinghy, I swam to the float, grabbed the stringer and handed it to André. 

Then I casually turned to keep watch and looked straight into the face of a five foot shark about five meters away swimming at us with a goal in mind!  I reached back blindly and frantically patted André on the shoulder. I believe I literally felt him jump out of his skin and back in. I couldn't help chuckling, scared as I was. 

Thinking he was still busy trying to thread the stringer through the fish I swam at the shark smacking the top of the water and he eventually turned away. As soon as I started swimming back towards André he came at us again. I repeated my water smacking charge at him till he turned away again.

I glanced back to see if André had got the fish away from us yet, only to see him about 10 meters away swimming with said fish on the spear above the water. I never knew I could swim so fast backwards still making charges at shark when he got too close. My final charge and he seemed to swim off. I finally caught up to find we had other followers hoping for a bite of our fish. A huge Snapper and a Jack as well as smaller fish. 

I confess to feeling a little like a chameleon as we swam around the island and back to the dinghy. I kept expecting Mr Shark to appear and couldn't wait to get fish out of the water, then I felt much better.

We swam a little longer but decided to move over to another reef. Got ourselves some kreef for dinner starters and headed back to the boat for sundowners.

Jumentos - Paradise found!

Water Cay
We lifted anchor from Thomson Bay, Long Island just before 0800 hrs, hoisted the sails and set our track for Water Cay, Jumentos. We managed to sail about half way before the wind dropped and we had to motor sail the rest of the way.

Just after four that afternoon we dropped anchor off Water Cay. Gin clear waters beckoned and we had no sooner settled the boat when we went in to check the anchor and explore. Two large Remora had take refuge under the hull, their funny upside down heads and mouths looking for scraps. We snorkeled over then walked the length of the beach and got back into the water to swim back across the bay to the boat.

Showering on the sugarscoop I glanced down to see a big Nurse shark hovering under me. She swam through between the hulls and over to the shore where we could see her fin in the shallows and she went looking for dinner.

Such a perfect evening called for a braai / bbq and as the meat cooked we lay on the sun bed on the back of the boat chatting. Once again I glanced down to see a huge Hammerhead shark swimming lazily by. At least twelve foot / four meters long he was spectacular. The first hammerhead we have seen in the wild. We jumped up to grab cameras in the hope he would turn and do another swim by but no such luck. As we were watching we heard a blow and a huge head appeared. It was so large for a split second I thought it was a seal, then realized it was a huge turtle. He eyed us then ducked under water to surface about five meters closer then ducked down and disappeared.

By this time the sun had gone down and we had switched on the spotlight to shine down into the water. Two beautiful blue needle fish swam into the light and under the boat when there was a splash and bang under the sugarscoop and the needle fish leapt up and away. We realized the huge turtle must have been lying under the boat and he and the needle fish had scared each other. We watched him swim away into the darkness.

Jumentos - Duncan Town

The Ragged Islands are simply out of this world.

From Water Cay we stopped at Flamingo Cay, Nurse Cay (what can I say), Bona Vista Cay, Hog Cay and Ragged Island's Duncan Town. 

This place is spectacular! We met up with our friends on Panache, Ryana and Island Explorer but most of the time we were alone at an anchorage or the bay was so big we felt alone despite having friends nearby. stunning.

Photo credit Ursula Du Toit; Island Explorer.

 In Water Cay we went out in the dinghy to snorkel and had the weirdest sensation. The water was like glass and gin clear. The sky and sea blended into each other on the horizon making it difficult to see where one ended and the other started. As the dinghy got onto the plane we got the peculiar sensation like we were airborn. Freaky funny out of control feeling as we sped along to the dive site.

Water Cay has two 'Blue holes' a few miles off the anchorage and the stunning Triggerfish reef. The reef and the shallower blue hole Andre and I free dived. The reef lived up to its name with hundreds of Triggerfish swimming around. We learned how aggressive they can be on a feed. Not toward us but the prey. André shot a fish that got off the spear and the Triggerfish went after it with a vengeance. 

Nurse Cay was another favorite. A tiny little bay with 2 meters of water virtually to the shore. We tucked in let out just enough chain to allow us to swing without touching sides for if the wind changed and went ashore. Walking the beach looking for shells, snorkeling and lazing in the shallow water. Heaven!

The boats all met up again in Hog Cay. It was a beach for 'Talking heads' and we took advantage. Our friends on Purrfect arrived from Cuba and we all got together for a braai on the beach. The local's have built a Boma or what they call a Tikki Bar for the cruisers to use and we took advantage. 

Duncan town is about a half hour dinghy ride down a channel in the mangroves. This is the only settlement in the Ragged islands. In its time a thriving Salt industry keep it busy but since the decline of the salt industry the few families who stayed support themselves from the sea. 

Well known in town is Maxine and her husband who own the small store which is restocked from Nassau, brought in by the mail boat. The main problem is Maxine never knows how many people / cruisers will be in town so she can't order ahead. But she is very willing to place and order for you that will arrive in a week.

We also met Cephas who owns the Ponderosa Bar. Although the it was Mail boat day and everyone was unpacking supplies, Cephas opened the bar for us to sit in the cool, use their free wifi, drink beer and chat to locals.

We met the infamous Edward who lives on Bona Vista and was visiting his children in town. What a character he had us laughing at his stories and antics. His curly blonde hair and huge smile are not forgettable. We promised to visit him on Bona Vista.

I was wondering around town and noticed a man staring at me curiously. I waved and said hi and he was astonished. With my tan he thought I was a Bahamian woman and he couldn't figure out who I was. In the tiny town of 40 or so residents he was trying to work out who the new woman town was. Lewis and I got chatting. He is a fisherman and lived on the island all his life. He and his friends were fascinated that we sailed all the way from Africa. Later that day on his way out to check his traps he stopped by to see Rat Catcher to see what boat would sail all that way. He had found some mollusk he didn't use in his traps and kindly allowed me to choose some beautiful shells. Thank you Lewis.

We sat out some weather in South Side anchorage off Duncan town and then upped anchor and headed North. 

Conception Island

We had heard Conception Island was not to be missed so as soon as the weather allowed we sailed out of George Town eastward and made a stop at the northern tip of Long Island for the night. After a quick morning snorkel at the nearby reef which established there was not much to find; we lifted anchor and set off for Conception Island.
There was a long rolling sea and we pitched, yawed and rolled our way across to the West end anchorage. After a quick lunch we set out to the nearby reef, it was 15h00, an hour before low tide and the Fire Coral heads were breaking the surface as the swell rolled in. Perfect conditions below water with coral heads like mushrooms surrounding us.
We had just started swimming towards one when a call from André stopped me and i turn to find him holding up a large Crayfish / Lobster. Not even 3 minutes into the dive and dinner was taken care of. The first Coral bombie we dived on a large Nassau Grouper peeped out of his cave. A bulls eye shot from André’s hawaiian sling and dinner waas set!
We spent another two hours exploring the reef. It seemed to have been damaged and broken in the last hurricane but was re-establishing itself and was teeming with colourful reef fish of all sizes.
Le Maitresse crew, Rosaire and Neena joined us and we headed for the reef in the anchorage to explore.
A few minutes into the dive and once again huge Crayfish were spotted in the reef. My ace hunter once again did his thing and we had two for the pot. He was no sooner on the dinghy in the bucket and returning to the same hole in the reef another Lobster had taken his place and was added to the catch. Unbelievably we went back and found a third in the same spot. Each person had their appetizers provided.
Then strolling across the sand another Lobster giving Rosaire his first oppotunity to use his hawaiian sling. it was fn and a learing experience but this one got the chance to live anther day by wedging himself into a small tight space under the coral.


Dinner was on Rat Catcher, freshly cooked Nassau grouper. As is our custom we then take the carcass of the fish when it is filleted and tie it with string to hand beneath the boat. We love watching Ray and Shark feed off it. Nothing appeared immediatly but not long after we had eaten the squeek of the line on the handle indicated something big and strong had it in their mouth. Grabbing a spotlight we saw a large shape in the water that swam off as we aimed the light at him. lifting the carcass all that was left was the head with the line tied through its jaw. We had given up watching and just settled down chatting when a ‘ping / snap’ sound drew us back to the line.
The first time ever the stgrong line we used to hold the fish carcass to the bpoat had been snapped like a piece of string. Sadly we never saw the perpetrator but it musty have been a big boy!
Neena and Rosaire were very very careful climbing back into their dinghy for the ride home.