 |
Remember Josh and Katie we met on the beach? Well, they said to stop in and visit and so we did on Wed., Jan. 25. A bonus for us was to be taken on a tour of the cave along the shore of Thompson Bay which actually goes under their house. They had head lamps for all of us to see in the dark cave. There were land crabs in the cave about the size of our Chesapeake blue crabs scurrying to hide among the rocks. Josh says they catch 5-6 and keep them in a cage feeding them good foods like lettuce and veggie scraps. Since the crabs are scavengers, Katie and Josh like to feed them well for a few days before steaming them to eat. The cave had several tunnel paths so we were happy to have guides. |
 |
The cave was home to bats that sensed our presence as we walked quietly. You could hear them chirping to sound their way back to roost on the cave ceilings. There were lots of cockroaches crawling on the cave walls – scavengers of the dark. Back at the house, it was Katie’s baking day. She sent us back to the boat with a delicious loaf of sourdough bread. We left them with a book we thought they would enjoy, raisin bread and some chocolate chip cookies. |
 |
We all heard a May Day call from a few miles out in the ocean off Long Island on Thursday, Jan.26. Three people were later reported picked up by a passing cruise ship and their catamaran washed up on the beach at Long Island. A long beach walk to see it on Friday found the locals had already stripped it for salvageable parts. A man walking toward us was carrying a plastic water tank he had removed. We heard no facts but rumors flew as to why the people abandoned their boat. The rocks and reefs are a rough way for a boat to come ashore. |
 |
On Sat. we departed Thompson Bay with a good weather window and headed across Comer Channel toward the Jumentos, a string of Cays leading down to Ragged Island. Comer Channel is a 6-8’ deep path leading across lots of beautiful water. |
 |
Winds came up to let us sail to Water Cay and anchor off the northern beach. Headphones, the Boat Show marriage savers, still work well. Jay still says after each anchor experience, “Wow- that really works well!” We take turns on the bow and at the helm. |
 |
One shore of the anchorage has thousands of conch shells bleached from the sun and time. This protected anchorage is used by local fishing boats who anchor here to clean their catch. So the sharks and barracuda have learned to check out visiting boats. One small fishing boat did anchor here across the anchorage and we did see one shark swimming around our boat checking to see if we were sharing any leftovers. We stayed in the dinghy getting to shore for a beach walk. |
 |
We dinghied north to Little Water Cay to walk the rocky shore to the ocean side. We were rewarded by finding many heart and hamburger beans. The larger heart bean and the red & brown hamburger beans wash up on ocean shores having floated from Africa and Central & South America. The unique beans are collection treasures among visitors which makes them scarce to find on more popular shores. Few folks visit Little Water Cay’s ocean side. |
 |
Sunday, Jan 29 we sailed on from Water Cay south to Flamingo Cay. We anchored by the southwest beach and climbed the cliff to snap a photo of Priority at anchor and our dinghy on the beach. The Jumentos are known to be more remote islands since there are no inhabitants and therefore no support services like marinas or water sources. We anchored here for three days and saw no other boats. So you need to come well prepared on your boat with food, water and fuel and have good weather since there is little boat anchorage protection from the west. Local phones and VHF radio have no reception so you are on your own while visiting the Jumentos until you reach the bottom Ragged Island. |
 |
We explored Flamingo Cay climbing to the top of the Cay to an abandoned light. Behind Jay you can see more Jumentos Cays toward the south. |
 |
Just under the rock cliff where Jay snapped the photo of Priority at anchor is a cave. Here you see us approaching the cave in our dinghy. Take a video tour of the dinghy drive in cave with us below. The cave was about 80’ in diameter and the cathedral ceiling opening was about 30’ tall. Very interesting to dinghy in and enjoy. |
 |
We stayed anchored for a few days to let strong east winds blow themselves out a bit. We could explore the more protected west side of the Cays with our dinghy. Traveled south to Brig Cay and climbed over to view the ocean side. Strong east winds crashing on the rocky shore and you can see the current flowing in the cut between Cays behind Jay. We enjoyed visiting the northern Jumentos but decided we would head back north. We used Wed., Feb 1 to motorsail back up to Water Cay from Flamingo Cay in 15-20kt east to test ourselves and the weather conditions. Expecting a rough wet ride, it was! The sea state was confused with swells coming from several directions but we made progress to cover the 15 miles to anchor safely back in the harbor of Water Cay. We decided to use Thursday’s forecast of 12-15 kt east winds to return to Long Island. The quiet remoteness of the Jumentos were a pleasant change from the more popular places we have visited. |
