February 17, 2009

Hello everyone,

We hope that your winter is going well although we have heard that snow and cold is the usual forecast. Currently we are at Hog Cay, Ragged Islands or Jumentos at position N 22 15.68 W 075 45.26 and the temperature is cooler today as a cold front came through last night bringing north winds.

Last Saturday, Miss Maxine from Duncan Town, Ragged Island threw a party on the beach at Hog Cay. Approximately 15 cruising boats made their way down here to celebrate with her and the local children. Maxine had cooked a turkey, a ham, made peas and rice as well as macaroni and cheese. Someone else from town baked two cakes. The cruisers all contributed something to the feast. Everyone brought cold drinks as the day was hot with little wind. The children had a super time in the water and running
on the beach just like children everywhere. It was great to see them. Quite a few of the locals attended the party as well. One of the gentleman was Cletus, the original Captain C which is now the name of the mailboat that delivers supplies to the island. The party started near 1:30 with the food served about 2 or 2:30. There was so much to eat, we didn’t need any dinner later! As the sun drew lower in the sky, the boats loaded up the kids, the pots and our hosts, heading back to town before dark.
The cruisers remained on the beach for the green flash and then separated to their various vessels, tired from the sun and fun.

Miss Maxine had ordered some supplies for us, to come in on Captain C. But, the ship was late and didn’t arrive until late Friday. Early Saturday morning ( 0700 ) we headed to town in the dinghy. The water was flat calm and we flew the four miles, the last mile and half through a dredged cut. Maxine was busy preparing for the party and didn’t want to take the time to calculate our bill. As well, she had misplaced her glasses and couldn’t see her notes. “You’re not going anywhere for a bit” she said
“Pay me later”. Where else can you get a couple of bags of food and walk out with no money changing hands? She is a very special lady. On Monday, we tried to go in and pay her but discovered that she had gone fishing! Oh well!!

The last few days, we have shared meals with Fran and Mort from Aloto, John from Zafu and Karen & Klaus from Lucky Touch. On Sunday night, John had everyone to his boat for a lovely fish dinner. Then last night, Karen & Klaus invited us all over for paella with lobster,conch and fish. She had made a lobster bisque ( from the meat left in the heads and antennas ) as well. Fran brought along a blueberry crumble and I contributed some homemade bread. It has been very nice to share meals and I have been
racking my brain for something that I can make that will feed 7 people. It has to be something that I still have all the ingredients for in my depleted stores!

Speaking of which, our time here in these remote cays is limited. There will be a brief respite from the wind this week and we will run to shore and get some more supplies from Miss Maxine. Then, we will look for the right winds to head further north. A good part of the Port Stanley crew will be in George Town on the 25th and we will try to get there as well. Our general plan is to head to Long Island, re-supply, do laundry and then go to George Town. Once the visiting is done, we can head off again.

To where? Well, it will be early March by then and we will work our way north in the Exumas, then to Spanish Wells and on to Abaco with plans to cross to the US before the end of March. By Mid April, we will be back in Tillsonburg.

Until we see you, take care. Hugs to all,
Heather & Murray