The Jumentos

The Jumentos are a long chain of small uninhabited islands south of the Exumas not often visited by cruisers mostly because of the lack of food and water and any services.  To get there, you have to navigate the difficult and shallow Hog Cay Cut which we had to do near high tide.  The wind and waves were completely different on the south side of the cut.  We caught 3 large barracuda on the way south. And then for about an hour, there is no sight of land but we first came to Water Cay just before sunset and as we were about to anchor, a rain squall hit.  I was a bit nervous as there was a rocky shore on one side and a large coral head on the other.  The wind came and we made a complete circle in about an hours time.  When we later went check our anchor chain, it turns out we had wrapped around a large rock, this is why we held so well in the squall.  This cove is popular with the Bahamian fisherman who clean their catch and toss the fish guts overboard so sharks like to come visit swimming right under the boat…hence, we did not do any swimming here.

The next day we explored Little Water Cay just to the north.  It was amazing to see how the large waves from the last hurricane had scoured the shore of all vegetation and tore huge rocks out and push them well up on shore. We also found a beach full of conch shell fossils.  There was a wreck of an old fishing boat there also.

We moved south about 2 hours to Flamingo Cay where we were surprised to see 2 cruisers and a fishing boat.  The fishing  boat was out of Spanish Wells, a couple hundred  miles away and they were a lobstering boat.  They told us they were primarily rebuilding the lobster shelters and that on a good trip, they could collect 10,000 pounds of lobster.  2 days later, their refrigeration system failed and they had to make a fast return to Spanish Wells before the catch spoiled.

Both of the palm trees at Two Palms Beach had been destroyed in the hurricane so I planted one of the sprouted coconut palms on board on the beach and left a sign asking future boats to give it a little fresh water in the hopes of getting it to grow.  Flamingo also had the largest sea cave we had yet to find.  The pictures do not do it justice, especially with the numerous openings in the cave roof.  When I climbed out of one opening, I saw a large fresh water pond just a short distance inland from the beach.

We had hoped to stop and snorkle one of the 3 ocean holes off Water Cay on the way back ( 12 feet deep around the edge and  unknown depth in the center) but the wind and waves had picked up and with a significant change in the weather coming, we decided  to leave those for a future trip.  We caught another large barracuda and then something large cut thru our line and took the big lure.  Back thru the cut, the wind was barely a whisper and we motored back to Georgetown, anchoring just about sunset.

300 boats

It is Monday afternoon, happy hour at Blu and we are on the upper deck enjoying our tropical punches and overlooking Kidds Cove and our friend Rich on Shampagne.  The other night we had a Northwest Creek Marina get together with 5 boats from our old marina.  We are all going to a "Rake and Scapre" tonight at Eddies Edgewater. 

On the morning cruiser's net, they announced that the boat count was at 297 boats and we know that some had left int he last couple days.   Yesterday we had gone for a hike and on the way back, met to guys in their 20's who are sailing on a 24 foot catamarran, slightly larger than a Hobie.They are on their 6 week leave from the Canadian Coast Guard and trailered the boat to Miami and then sailed it across.  I wish I had taken pictures as no one would believe they can do this trip with such a small boat.They invited us over to their bonfire later that evening.  They had some great stories.

Today we wanted to take the dingy up the island to Prime Island Meats, a real deli and with fresh meats so much better than the local market.  Nice people too!  We picked up Mary Beth off Regina Maris and took her with us.  Also got our propane tank filled.  And bought more rum!!  Can never have too much rum.

We continue to do boat projects, got the bug screens up now, painting is done and today someone offered a water blatter which I bought.  So now we can store an additional 150 liters of drinking water, enough not to worry about with our good friends Tony and Sharon coming next week.  I still need to make up fittins to fill and draw water from the blatter.  I think we will have the boat ready when they arrive.

Time for another drink, living the good life in retirement!