Water Cay - Times Three

We decided that Raccoon Cay is a good place to wait out a blow. The holding was fantastic and there is a lot of swing room. We saw more animal life down in the Ragged Islands and that was encouraging. We had a sea turtle swim right up to Hold Fast, lift up its head, as big as any human head, and go back under us to forage. Sharks and rays were nothing new, but much more bird life, lots of terns, sand pipers, Spanish and mourning doves, mocking birds and other fish hunting birds. Of all things, we saw goats walking on the beach, nanny's with their kids.
It was also the furthest south we have been. We pulled out the Stellarium product to review the night sky. The Southern Cross was visible at about 2 am, however the almost full moon combined with the constant cloud cover from the weather never allowed us to view that famous sailors' navigational aid
In summary, the Raggeds and Jumentos are fairly solitary cruising. It is not for those cannot produce their own water and in essence be self-sufficient. There is no help out here, some of the passages are just hard work and all the anchorages have surge. These are primary hunting grounds for Bahamian fisherman and they will be sharing many of the anchorages. If you keep all that in mind when you visit, then you will not be disappointed in this region.
We left at o-dark-thirty this morning, figuring we would have just as tough a sail north as we did going south. We were pleasantly surprised though and only had a few hours of tough going. At Man-O-War Channel we started the engine to get us through a three knot tidal current with a tricky coral reef passage. I went down to do the normal engine rounds and the rough seas knocked my head right into the engine door fastener. It hurt like the dickens but made me laugh when I realized I now had a 'nit' on my noggin like Lucky Dog back at OYCM. Hopefully, mine will go away.
Our plan is to head back to Thompson Bay tomorrow and I think we mean it this time.
Love to all,
Dena

Posted via Ham radio.
{GMST}23|01.779|N|075|42.915|W|Anchored|Water Cay{GEND}