While in the Ragged Island our dinghy tried to escape on its own; it was 9:00 pm when we realized that it was no longer tied to the back of the boat. Ann had decided to take it to the beach for a 8:00pm walk but the engine wouldn't start so I pulled her in and failed to notice that the line was just tossed around the cleat instead of being secured down. Fortunately the evening had little wind and we had the help of our 3 other boating friends and located it in about 10 min. It is frightening thinking of not having your vehicle that enables trips to other boats and to shore for walks and breaks from the boat. There are many advantages to traveling in a group; you really depend on others and they also depend on you.
Our stay at Long Island has been eye opening in that this island has a great mixture of supplies and remoteness. We've toured the island by car with Pete and Dee from WindLass seeing great churches in Clarence Town and the Columbus Monument at the north end. At the south end we took a tour of Hamilton Caves which was very interesting. Ann especially enjoyed the bats, cochroaches and termites that we saw; there were many shrill sounds coming from her. Today and yesterday we moved from the salt pond area around the great shallow areas west of the island to the southwest corner. Tomorrow we will push on to the Acklins. We plan to continue traveling toward the Turks and Caicos providing that the weather cooperates and our boat is ready and willing. It is hard to believe we have been gone for 3 months. We will probably be back to Oregon the middle of May.
While in Thompson Bay, Long Island we are sorry we have been remiss in doing blog enteries. We have been busy catching up with friends, doing laundry, going to restaurants,updating our accounts and taking care of business via internet, doing boat projects like varnishing the teak and reprovisioning our food supply with fresh fruits and vegetables and getting gas for the dinghy, diesel fuel and water. We actually spent more last month for water than fuel. Water was .30/gal and we needed 120 gallons. We managed to use only 4 gallons of water a day while in the remote Ragged Is and Jumentos. It is also amazing what you can make with canned foods. Ann can be a very creative cook using salsa and a can of corn along with some leftovers to make soup and it was very good. Very little food goes to waste on the boat.
Yesterday we arrived at Dollar Harbor, a little sheltered area in the middle of tidal flats, at dead low tide and were unable to enter. We then continued a little farther and anchored out against the shore. Today we continued on towards South Point where we anchored about noon after starting at 6AM. The reason we started so early is that we were concerned that the weather might change forcing us to continue all day to the Acklins which we were prepared to do given the early start. We received the forecast via SSB enroute and decided to stay overnight. The wind is expected to begin clocking (a clockwise rotation) mid-day Sunday which will be just fine for our trip to the Acklins (they lie southeast of Long Island) but would not be good for this anchorage. We have these type of little decisions quite frequently.
Beachcombing today yielded many pretty shells and a sighting of 7 flamingos and a man catching and releasing 3 bone-fish and he was a fishing guide on the Deschutes River in Bend; what is the chance of that! The beach was otherwise deserted until some folks showed up with 3 ATVs from the town of South Point. Otherwise it was paradise.
Our weather has been pretty mixed with some rain which the islanders need for recharging their cisterns and watering their plants. We've had a lot of wind lately in the 20 knot range which kicks up the seas such that people tend to stay put which is fine. Ann organized a great beach party in Thompson Bay, Long Island which was attended by about 50 people. We have made so many friends that we will see on and off as long as we are cruising.
Yesterday we said goodbye to two boats we cruised with from Georgetown to the Ragged Islands and Jumentos for the past 31/2 weeks and Long Island, plus another boat we had met in Normans Cay and shared an day of snorkeling and cleaning conch; we met up with again in Long Island. Plus there were other friends we had met up with in other places. So currently we are cruising with WindLass, Pete and Dee who we met last year and met up with in Georgetown. They had met two other boats near Key West and made the crossing to Nassau together and traveled together from mid Dec. until now. It is hard leaving people behind but we keep up with some people through our single side band on a station called Cruiseheimers at 8:30 every morning and we can keep track of other boating friends along with making contact with them through the net. Ann is the primary user of this connection; she has also been the one getting up at 6:30 am to listen to the weather reports from the guru Chris Parker.
So what else do we do, you might ask. Ann is quite the baker and has taught other cruising ladies the fine skills in bread baking, caramel roll creation plus learned to make tortillas from another friend. Ann also enjoys attending the local church service and getting to know the owners of the restaurants and people in the town. Any new person seems to be a friend quickly with her. We also have dominoes and dessert here frequently; she has earned quite a reputation as a baker. Dominoes is the main game but the other night we had a singing contest with the judging based on team effort and lyric knowledge, surprisingly the quality was not horrible. Nearly every night we get together with other boaters. It is amazing that the people at home that we have lived next to for 20 years have never shared a drink or meal with us. H..ere we know people for 2 hours and we get together with them; just a different way of life. We have also found that our cabin makes a sweet dance floor for two, very romantic! It is quite amazing this life without the big screen and cable, we tend to read and interact with others instead of gluing our eyes to the newscasts and sitcoms. I think we are more content not knowing what is going on in the states; ignorance is bliss. We enjoy hearing personal news from home so don't hesitate to email us. We can't always respond quickly but will do the best we can.
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