Well, We Gave It A Shot

Water Cay to Flamingo Cay (and back again)  |  4 Hours  |  26 Miles   

The prospect of making our way to the sea bean-lined beaches, wonderful hiking trails, and beautiful remote waters of the Ragged Islands has been a goal of ours for the past six years. To this point, something has always come up: stabilizer leaking (first time), Covid (2 years), generator heat exchanger, and solar panels blown off in a freak storm. This year we found ourselves with an open week in our schedule and thought we'd give it a shot. Our first evening of being the furthest south ever was peaceful and we woke up eager to keep moving. We raised the anchor and relocated to the next popular spot in the Jumentos, Flamingo Cay. We dropped anchor just off low tide in front of an inviting beach. As we were eating lunch, the swell intensified with the rising tide. The anchorage quickly became unsettled to the point of not wanting to lower the dinghy. The sandbars that had buffeted the surge on our arrival were no longer effective against the rising tide. We began running scenarios of where to move using the upcoming arrival of the next frontal system, our current location, and our scheduled arrival in Spanish Wells at Easter. It made the most sense for us to retrace our tracks back to the more protected Water Cay anchorage. Two hours later, we were back where we started the day. I admired the rocky cliffs as I read on the bow in the late afternoon sun. Heavy cloud cover moved in and obscured the sunset. We hope we to have the opportunity to give the Raggeds another shot next year. We will depart early in the morning and make our way north and east, hoping to avoid most/all of the forecasted squalls, and get settled before the high winds roll in at the end of the week.