Now, that's a big fish!

April 5 ... Time to leave the Ragged Islands.

 

We had hoped to explore more of these islands for another week, but true to the life of a cruiser, one weather window closed while another opened up, so off we went.  In fact, most of the dozen boats in Hog Cay left within a day of each other in order to make Long Island for protection from a big squall/west wind storm that's brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

We left Hog Cay around 3pm and made a short, 5-mile hop up to Raccoon Cay because we had heard that it was a great spot for collecting palm leaves for basket making.  Which it was!  Groves of silver palms litterlly lined the beach and it was like collecting easter eggs as you moved from palm to palm.

We were anchored next to Bill and Mara, s/v Puddle Jumper, so we stayed an extra day to visit with them on the catamaran that Bill built by himself (a 10-yr project and wonderful story!).   Just to give you an idea of how comfortable life can be on a catamaran, we played Jenja on their table!

 

s/v Puddle Jumper

 

 

After two days at Raccoon Cay, we knew we had to get moving if we were to make Long Island before the storm.  So we left at first light and headed thru a cut from the banks to the ocean side so we could do some deep water fishing.  There were 3 boats making the same passage, and no one had any luck until the last half-hour.  Two boats hit barracudas, while we were lucky enough to catch the biggest Mahi that we've ever hooked!  And landed!



 

50 inches long -- over 20 lbs!  (our earlier catch weighed 4 lbs!)

That is one BIG fish!

Bill and Mara, s/v Puddle Jumper.

 

 

Once we reached Water Cay, our anchorage for the night, Bill and Mara came over and offered to help with the cleaning (really! who does that?!).  They have a large flat surface on the back of their catamaran where the dinghy sits while underway, which was a perfect spot for cleaning this bad boy!  Plus, they offered us use of their huge freezer to store the fish since this was definitely more than we could handle!  We had a great fresh fish dinner with them on s/v Maja!

 



The final day was a 40 mile run into Long Island.  We left at 3am to take advantage of a wind shift (which also made further sleep impossible) and arrived in Thompson Bay, Long Island by 11am. 
Back in civilization ... which I don't mind a bit ... as there is something to be said for being able to order a beer and a burger at a bar on shore!

So the countdown is on till Jim G arrives on April 16th. Leaving us lots of time to restock the pantry, do laundy and clean the salt crusted all over s/v Maja.