Northern Ragged Islands

Summer solstice, today, June 21, is the longest day of the year. At noon, the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer. I found this pretty ironic since we were there at noon yesterday, not even knowing that second fact. Thinking about places in the Arctic Circle getting nearly 24 hours of daylight, I was curious what that meant for here, so I looked at the sunrise and sunset time for today at Topic of Cancer Beach, since the sun was right above it on the longest day of the year- the day lasted 13 hours and 33 minutes. It's just about 10 hours less than what the Arctic Circle gets!

Ben and Moose did some repairs and changed the generator oil.

Nearby, there were two fishing boats. One of the tenders, with two guys, came by our boat to chat, then asked if we would trade them fish for beer. Shucks. This was one time we were bummed that neither of us drink beer and we don't have any on board. We offered what we had- water, ginger beer, and Goombay- but they said they had all that on their boat, and that they really wanted cold beer. They were out here from Long Island (Bahamas) for about another week and have been here for 10 days already.

Ben and I both realized we missed out on stocking up on beer for these important swaps! Down here in the Ragged Islands, there isn’t much, so the next time we come across a liquor store, we will buy a few cases to keep on hand.

We played a lot of card games today. I taught the girls Spit/Speed and Slide from my summer camp days. Looked up a few other games and tried those out too. Some were better liked than others.

Originally planned to play at the beach but when I was reading reviews- due to the fishing boats (fish scraps being thrown into the water) here, there are some resident bull sharks. We will not be swimming here. 

Tomorrow we start moving further south a few days at a time, with plans to head to Acklins & Crooked Islands on Wednesday. 

HUGE waves to take on the beam in the morning on our first journey south, behind the Crooked Islands. Taking waves on the beam means they're rolling under us, one hull at a time, creating a sideways rocking feeling that also feels like you're going to tip all the way to the side before the wave starts to roll the other side. If it were following or head-on, it wouldn't have been as bad. Ben thought they were a max of 6 feet. I thought a max of 8-12. It was only bad when we weren't behind an island, for about 30 min to an hour at a time yours truly donned the ever-fashionable (but life-saving) life vest and had the phone in a dry bag. I was literally ready for anything, except for sharks. 😂 The kids and Hattie were hunkered down on my bed with their own cuddle buddies. Moose came up to the cockpit every now and then with a damage report for us. Mostly this consists of things jumping or sliding around and falling off of shelves or countertops. When we are expecting big waves, we usually put things away, but we weren't expecting these to be that bad for that long.

Anchored at Buenavista Cay and another catamaran was there. Daryl was very welcoming, waving to us as we pulled in to anchor. We later found out he had seen us coming in on AIS and tried hailing us on the VHF, but we didn’t ever hear him.

We went to the beach to play in the sand and get off the boat. With the way the tide was, there was a steep drop just past where the waves were rolling onto the shore, which kept everyone close and easy to keep an eye out for sharks as we weren't that far from more fishing boats.

Daryl and his dog, Bandit, came to the beach and we met them and chatted with Daryl for a bit. Bandit 🐕 was a cute doodle mix dog that reminded us a little of the Grasshoppers' dog and a little of the Baldners' dog. They started in Fort Lauderdale end of December and are headed to Panama Canal to get to the South Pacific, no timeline. He is just waiting on the winds to take him on his sailing catamaran. 

Daryl needed help seeing if his AIS and VHF were working accurately, so Ben was able to help with that once we were back on our own boats. He has the same plan as us for tomorrow, so maybe we will run into them again. 

Tropic of Cancer Beach 23° 26' 22''N

Ben got a notification indicating that his SD card had landed at George Town Airport via Bahamas Air. He took the tender in to the dinghy dock and got a taxi to the airport and back. He got that all set up and then changed the filter on the water maker and added automatic freshwater flushing so he doesn't have to do it manually every 3 days anymore. That's a win! He updated the charts, but somehow it made the autopilot not work again. He finally got it to work at the start of last summer and now this update with the new SD card messed it all up again! So frustrating. He emailed Raymarine to get some technical help.

The Baymahni charter SV pulled into our anchorage. Whoever chartered it went snorkeling at one of the shipwrecks in the cove. We figured if they came in, the winds must've died down a bit to make it a tolerable trip just a little bit south.

Picked up our anchor and headed south to the Tropic of Cancer Beach for the evening. Looks like it will be a great place to stage before crossing over to Long Island in the morning.

Giant cave on the island we anchored behind. It is called Turtle Island, I assume it got that name because it kinda looks like a turtle from the side (head to the left, tail to the right, shell in between). We came at low(er) tide and there was a little ridge of rocks to the west of us, so Ben put out the sea anchor, which is the orange bag-looking thing with a white buoy that he explains best in an Instagram story I've posted.

Took the Chicken out to look around after dinner. Looked like the cave went all the way through to the other side and when we went around to check it out, the waves were too big for the tender, so we turned back. 

Got up on plane on our way to the Tropic of Cancer Beach- no one was there. Walked up to the hut that has a worn out paint marking of the actual line and took some photos. Actual line is 23° 26' 22''N (or 23.4394°) and runs West to east, which is most of this coast, as it sits on a WSW slant. Decided to come back to the beach to play tomorrow morning.

Got back into the Chicken and returned to the Cartermaran for the sunset.

Slept in a bit this morning. Got sunscreened. Ben took us back to the Tropic of Cancer Beach so we could beach all morning while he replaced the blower in one of the engine rooms.

Last summer during our Ryan Trahan YouTube series, we found out his wife, Haley Pham, was writing a book. It was released in March of this year and I bought it. Bear really wanted to read it, but I wanted to preview it first to make sure it was appropriate for her. So, the kids encouraged me to bring the book (that I started reading the other night) with me to the beach. Earlier this week, Bear finished reading the last physical book she brought with her, so she is hounding me to read, finish, and give her Just Friends.

Moose and Roo dug and built in the sand, while Bear floated in the water, and I read. Moose built a multi-level/room fort. Roo built a hockey rink with players, nets, and of course, a moat.

Roo likes placing our stickers, so she and I ventured back to the hut from yesterday to find a good place to stick it here, on the Tropic of Cancer. I wanted to find a place that wouldn't be worn by wind and had better chances of sticking. The main post looked like it had been painted a few times, so I also avoided that. Found a flat part of the roof, just above the words Tropic of Cancer, and told Roo to put it there. She climbed onto my shoulders and had to reach way up to do it, but she was successful! While she was up there, she asked, "Here?" and I laughed and told her she was covering my eyes and just to do her best. I tried to get our "in process" of stickering picture, which somewhat worked out.

Ben came back to get us around 1 and we prepped to pull the anchor and get underway. We didn't want to leave right away this morning because the waves looked better starting at 2 pm. So, we are en route to the Ragged Islands- a very remote island group with a population of 40 people. (This is a change of plans from yesterday. We decided that with the way the wind was trending, it would be easier to get to more islands by going counterclockwise than clockwise.) Ben was messing with the charts and computer stuff and magically got the autopilot to work! Hooray! No Raymarine intervention necessary. 

Cruised around the southern tip of the Exumas and even further south to the Ragged Islands. Anchored after dark, but we all got to watch the sun as it set over the ocean while we were underway. 

George Town and Crab Cay

Pulled the anchor a little before 7 to get to the fuel dock at George Town- Exuma Yacht Club. Couldn't get ahold of anyone there so we just pulled in. Ryan greeted us and told us we have to book a slip on Dockwa before he could top off our fuel. Ben asked if he could do a landing fee and he said yes. Turns out he couldn't... so we paid $200 on top of fuel and are staying here tonight. It was something like $7.?? per gallon- he didn't really know how much he was charging, but really... where else can we fill up with diesel here?! Not much of a choice.

Moved over to our slip. The Grasshoppers got the rest of their stuff together and still had time before they had to leave, so we chatted and played some Uno- Encanto.

Found out that JJ's has some good breakfast, so when the Grasshoppers were ready to go, we walked with them and waited until they got their taxi. Of course, Lori and I both cried. We had so much fun together and with our families. It is so sad that they had to say goodbye to the Cartermaran forever. Over the past 6 years, they've joined us 3 times, for probably close to a month and a half total. Twice in the Bahamas and once in Canada.

Ben and I went to JJ's and had some fun reminders of friends back home along the way. We got a breakfast sandwich. It was basically a grilled cheese with an egg and some turkey- yum.

Checked at Ambree's (DHL), which was just upstairs from JJ's, for a micro SD card update. She said she would ask the people in Nassau to put it on a plane instead of a boat to get here sooner. The boat delivers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays- sometimes Fridays. Fingers crossed it gets here sooner than later. Although, there are worse places we could be "stuck" waiting for this. I'm imagining that after tonight's stay at the marina we will just anchor out and enjoy the beaches and sandbars here until we hear back from this office.

Went to Top II Bottom to look for some boat parts. Wound up with that and then some. Then set off to the grocery store. They had everything on our list except for bread, bagels, buns, and Goombay Punch. They told us it all might be on the truck today so to come back this afternoon. 

Brought everything back to the boat, put it all away, and cleaned the cabin. The kids watched a bunch of movies. 

Around 2, we set out to check on the DHL update (she was able to tell them to put it on a plane and expedite it for us, so now it is with a 3rd party delivery service) and check on the breads/Goombay delivery. We heard from a tourist in the checkout line that another grocery store had breads. The tourist said it wasn't walkable, but the grocery clerk said it was. We looked it up and it was just a short walk around the south side of the lake loop, so we did it! 

Wound up getting some coconut bread that the grocer here said is like normal bread for sandwiches and isn't super sweet, so we got 4 loaves. 🤣 We got some buns, bagels, and Goombay and were on our way. There was an ice cream shack that we walked by, so we told the kids we could come back after dinner. Ben found knock-off Crocs at a store on our way back, but we had to confirm sizes with Moose before purchasing. Got him to pick a pair, then checked on the hours of the ice cream shack we walked by earlier to ensure we would be back to get some in time.

Put away the groceries, round 2, with just enough space cleared in the freezer, made dinner, and then scurried out to get ice cream. She closes at 7 and it was 6:20. 

Dominique owns the little shack and makes a few flavors of ice cream every night. Some are your typical flavors, but others were creative and different. She let us try as many as we wanted before we ordered. Ben and Roo got coconut, I got Caramel Nut (with homemade caramel!), and Bear and Moose got Cookies and Cream. We all were impressed. 

There were some boat cards up on the Ice Cream Shack's window frame and Moose saw an Endeavour 44. He was excited and said, "That's our boat, but not our boat!" It was Papillon, who we know from our Endeavour group. Ben asked Dominique why she had boat cards up, she said that all kinds of people come to see her and if they have problems or need to contact anyone, she has those people's contact info who can help. How thoughful and kind! Ben gave her our boat card and sticker to add to her window frame. She grew up in Nassau and moved here when she was 19 and never went back because she liked that it is less busy and has less traffic. Dominique has been the most genuinely nicest person we have met in the Bahamas this year.

Got back right at 6:58- after ice cream- with 2 minutes to spare before the shop even closed! (Thanks to all of these little walks, I hit my step goal for the first time since we left Atlantis!)

From about lunchtime on, the bar and restaurant at the dock was a happening little place. As we headed to bed, we could hear the band through our hull, even with everything closed up. Roo was texting a friend and said that a concert was happening right outside her window and she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I guess she isn't wrong about that...

In the morning, Ben left to check DHL one more time before we had to leave the marina. He left at 10:58. We needed to be off at 11. No luck at DHL and he was back on the boat, engines warming up, planning our route when Ryan, the dockmaster knocked on our hull to help us push off.

We traveled only a few minutes outside of the EYC and anchored. Hung out most of the day.

Around 4 pm, Ben decided he wanted to get away from the 3-4 footers that were forecasted for the evening so we pulled in to Crab Cay. We came here a few years ago with the Grasshoppers on their last night. It has an old industrial building on the land and isn't much to enjoy visually, but is mostly protected from all angles- wind and waves. We had the anchorage all to ourselves.

Moose took out the casting net and threw it enough times to wear himself out. He came inside when the sun went down and the mosquitoes got bad. Being protected from the wind isn't always a good thing!

Stocking Island and Man-o-War Cay

Anchor was up a little after 7 am. Making our way to George Town tonight, but going further south first to enjoy Moriah National Park for the Grasshoppers' last day underway on the Cartermaran. 

Lost an oar from the Chicken once we were on the east side of Great Exuma. Ben was ready to say goodbye to it, but I saw it floating behind us. He said he couldn't help get it because someone had to drive the boat amd he was dealing with paying customs for a micro SD card of maps for anything further aouth of George Town. (It was supposed to be delivered June 11th and was still causing issues... being stuck in Nassau.) I said someone would help me get it in! Turned around to go get it. I had the boat hook, it slipped off the hook before anyone could grab it. I hooked it again and this time Keith grabbed it when I pulled it up. I was so happy to save this Canadian Tire gem. (Our oars got stolen off our tender in New Jersey in 2023. We managed without them the rest of that trip, then bought new ones in Parry Sound at Canadian Tire-not just a tire store!- in 2024.)

Anchored and rode the Chicken to Chat N Chill. Upon arrival around 2 pm, we found out they only had chicken dinner left for today. So, we walked along the beach to the south, to another restaurant. On the way, we got the pet the stingrays, which is what Lori wanted to do more than eat at Chat N Chill anyway. Roo found a swing she wanted a mini-photoshoot on. Ben walked back to bring the Chicken to the shore at the new restaurant. 

Wound up at Baymahni- a restaurant at a resort that is only 8 months old. I asked because I didn't remember it being there when we visited in 2022. While we were there, we decided this location was less chat, more chill, which is more our vibe. We had conch fritters for an appetizer for the table. Luke, being silly, said he remembered this conch in the water, looking at us with his eyes, earlier this week. All of the guys, and Lori got Mahi Tacos. I got shrimp tacos. Bear got a cheeseburger (her go-to... she doesn't like seafood). Roo got chicken wings. Sasha got a poke bowl. 

Got back to the Cartermaran and set off for Moriah National Park and agreed on Man-o-War Cay instead. It was a little closer for our morning trip to the marina.

The sandbar here stretches for a few miles and we came just after low tide, so we got to enjoy it for a while before it completely disappeared. The sand was so silky smooth and had hardly any coral in it, so we didn't even need our water shoes. 🤩 We found sand dollars and sea stars, as well as a white crab that Roo spied and some sort of jumping fish lizard thing that stung Roo. (She is okay!) 

Ben brought us back to the Cartermaran and then dropped everyone but Roo off to snorkel at the rocks by the boat. The current was too strong to get us there just by swimming from the boat. 

There was an underwater cave that tunneled under the rocks to the other side and it was full of fish. There were also giant sea urchins in there, so we didn't attempt to go through.

When Sasha jumped in, Lori spied a little fish (the size of a quarter) who was swimming around Sasha. At some point, this little fish friend swapped and started swimming with Luke. He was with Luke the whole time we swam. Bear and I would see it every now and then and giggle at it. Maybe it thought Luke was its dad?! When Luke got out, the fish went back to Sasha, then to Lori, and when Lori got into the tender, the fish jumped into the water. Not sure if it was on her or just was jumping to say bye. It made us sad to leave our fish friend all alone and so far from its house and family where he started swimming with us. 😢 

Got back to the Cartermaran, Keith flew the drone and got some footage of the 5 of us in the Bahamas on the Cartermaran. Took some Final-Grasshoppers'-Bahamian-Sunset-on-the-Cartermaran pics before going in so they could ensure everything got hung up to dry and pack. 

Roo lost her tooth just in time for Lori to bring it back home for us. Then the tooth fairy can visit when we get back!

Anna Beach, Gemstone Cave, & Rudder Cut Cay

Yesterday's decision to anchor where we wanted to start today meant that we all got to sleep in. Most of us took Dramamine since it was very rolly last night, so it was very fortunate (for everyone except Ben) that we had extra time!

Ben dropped the 8 of us off at the beach. Bear and Moose went snorkeling around the caves with the Grasshoppers. Roo and I found a place, only exposed due to the lower tide, to build a sandcastle in the shade of the cave. (These caves were very photogenic... enjoy below.) She said it was her best one yet! There was a wasp nest in the cave in the next alcove, so we just avoided that spot. We weren't there very long. The snorkelers didn't see a ton and turned back after they realized how far the next beach area was.

Once we were all back on the Cartermaran, we had to decide if we were going to take that hike to Gemstone Cave since it was only a mile or so further. We heard some thunder, so Ben looked it up and it was moving away from us (again, thankfully!). Most of us were okay either way- going for the hike or skipping it- but Sasha really wanted to go, so we put on shoes (some of us with socks), grabbed a few flashlights and headlamps (thanks Google reviewers who stated that a cellphone flash isn't sufficient), and went.

The trailhead is close to shore, but it was a very rocky, coral-filled area and we couldn't beach the Chicken there, and we could beach it just a little further south. We knew the tide was going out, so we didn't have to pull it very far on shore to anchor it. Those without socks hopped off first and those with socks jumped off the bow, competing in a long jump contest, so our feet didn't get soggy before our hike.

Along our beach walk, we came across a squishy blob. We didn't figure out what it was, but some thought it was a conch out of its shell. The kids wanted to put it back in the water so it could live, but it just oozed around when it was touched or lifted, so we left it.

The trail wasn't very clearly marked, but the reviews on Google told us to look for certain things hanging along the way so we would wind up in the cave and not the beach on the north side of the island. We also knew we had to take a right fork at one point, so followed one and realized it didnt go anywhere. When we went to turn around, my feet were entangled in a thorny vine and each time I lifted my foot to walk, I tripped and pulled nature's barbed wire into the back of my ankle. This happened several times before I managed to break free. My ankle was pretty beat up by the thorns- Jesus-style.

Ben remembered that he had a map he could use (Google) and took the lead navigating us using the blue dot, the real-life trail, and the location of the cave. It wasn't too much further.

Upon descending into the cave, the temperature dropped dramatically and a stench started to reach our noses. With our lights lighting the way, we could see where to walk. We found the water and Ben walked right in and said it was about 50°, so the rest of us took off shoes and cover ups to dip in. I only put one leg in because I wasn't sure what was in the water and didn't want to get a wicked infection in my new cuts. Lori, Sasha, and Moose swam into the deeper area around the corner, with their way illuminated by Ben and Roo from a higher point in the cave. Bear and Luke found a bat with their lights and it kept flying around to avoid the light, while I kept ducking down to avoid the bat.

Our hike back was uneventful. Bear spotted a snake, and fortunately Moose didnt hear her. Lori and the Grasshoppers stopped with her to look at it. I took some fun photos of the Cartermaran with the plants and rocks in the foreground. We didn't see the blob creature on our way back so it either moved or we missed it. My guess is we missed it, due to the change in the tide.

Evidently the tide was going much lower when we were hiking because our tender was completely out of the water. It took everyone except the 2 youngest kids two big lift-and-walks to get it in the water. Some of us had to sacrifice dry socks and sneakers for this. I also was quickly reminded of the cuts on the back of my ankle, once they were submerged in the water. Ouch!

With no more stops in mind, we went on our way in the Cartermaran past Cave Cay where we stayed in  saw so many turtles in 2022, and wound up anchoring for the night in a bay off Rudder Cut Cay. This is a private island (part of a group of islands/islets here owned by David Copperfield) and has No Trespassing signs posted, so we couldn't go on the beach, but Lori and the 4 older kids snorkeled from the boat and around the rocks. They saw a giant stingray, lots of fish, beautiful corals, and got to swim with and watch a sea turtle eat just a few feet away! That was Bear's highlight. The current was pretty strong around the corner so they didn't go much further before turning back.

As we were eating dinner, we were watching a woman swim off the back of the sailboat in our cove. We were shocked because their boat was anchored near the strong current and the kids just were telling us how strong it was while they were snorkeling. At some point, a man on the boat threw a life vest to the woman in the water and he went in after it. That didn't work so the teenage daughter got their SUP and headed out. We were getting worried about this rescue situation going wrong, so Ben hailed them on the VHF a few times but they didn't respond, probably because the only kids left on the boat were 2 kids and the other 3 were trying to rescue each other... Ben and Moose dropped the tender real quick and went out to help them. The man told Ben that when he saw our tender launch, that's when he knew they were going to be okay. 😳

Cleaned up dinner and watched the last of the Canada trip videos. At the end, Lori was saying goodbye to us in Mackinaw City and she said something along the lines of, "We will watch this video in the Exumas," and we all laughed because that's exactly where we were watching from!

Today's lesson was when you're unsure, just go! Like we found out yesterday, you make better memories in new places than you ever will trying to recreate the old ones.