The Raggeds and Jumentos

We all love being back int he beautiful Bahamas.  We love the beaches, the clear blue water, the abundance of sea life, and so much more.  We have caught up with some old boating friends and have met a lot of new ones.  

The wind was predicted to die down to light and variable so we took advantage of it and headed to the Jumento Cays and the Raggeds.  Our first few nights were at Water Cay where we spent time diving on the three different blue holes just west of the cay.  We are all still floored by the amount of fish and sea life living there.  It is like swimming in an aquarium.  The trigger fish are the funniest because as they swim by they turn sideways so they can put an eye on you then flip over and put the other eye on you.  They seem very curious about us as we snorkel in the water.  

Paul spearfishing

Queen Triggerfish

The next stop was Flamingo Cay where we snorkeled around the island, especially the bight on the north side.  Nicholas and Samantha both practiced with Paul’s spear on the beach.  They both have grown an interest in spear fishing.  

Practicing with the spear

Grouper we shot

By this time the wind was predicted to blow like crazy for the next week so we went out the cut at Flamingo and trolled down to Johnson Cay cut to head to Hog Cay.  We know from previous experience that this is the most comfortable place to be when there is crazy wind blowing.  Along the way we went through a school of tuna and caught one on the hand line and one on the rod.  Paul was pulling in the one on the rod when a BIG shark came up and ate it!  Paul quickly tried to pull the hand line in but again the shark was much quicker and ate the other one too.  The kids got to see it all and we were amazed, I felt bad.  It is like watching a car crash, you can’t help yourself.  It was very cool in a gruesome sort of way.  

We stopped at Man-O- War Bay as we worked through Johnson Cay cut and Paul shot a fish or two.  It is hard for me to remember now how many and where he shot them but needless to say we had fish and lobster for dinner pretty much every night.  

While we stayed at Hog Cay the wind blew out of the northeast through southeast at 25- 30 knots.  We were very comfortable and able to get off the boat each day for hiking, snorkeling, fishing, beach time, and bon fires.  

Nicholas speared his first fish while we were visiting here.  It was a lion fish.  There seemed to be an abundance of lion fish at each of the little coral heads in the anchorage.  I didn’t feel bad at all getting rid of them mostly because they don’t have a natural predator and eat pretty much all the other reef fish. I feel like it is our duty to get rid of them so they have at least one predator,  us!  Oh, and they also taste delicious.

We turned around and started to head back north when the wind died down but then had a major leak in the sea water strainer which then caused the engine to start to overheat.  Paul was able to get it back together with parts that we have aboard but we decided it was a sign to head back to some civilization.  We stayed again at Hog Cay and Paul fixed it again and we found out our friends on MadSam were arriving in Long Island in a couple of days.  Wow!  Were we excited.  We quickly headed back to Long Island where we caught up with MadSam and Alibi II. 
Nicholas had his birthday here at Long Island where he is now a big 8 year old.  Both Samantha and Nicholas are growing up before our eyes. 

Birthday Boy

We look back at pictures and videos when we first started our trip on the boat and are amazed.  I love that we have been able to experience life with them every step of the way. 

So now we are back to bon fires at the beach, work parties, and spending time with our friends.  Yay!!

Work party at Erskins