An Island of our Own

We “buddy boated” with Dream Catcher to the untouched Jumentos. Everyone got along so well together and it was much more fun to have another boat around in these remote island. The boats were rigged and ready for a sunrise departure and “fishing tournament”. Chaos occurred as we sailed onto shallow water (40’) and immediately had 5 barracuda on the lines. Lines crisscrossed, lures were destroyed or lost and a feeding frenzy of mass proportion ensued. We released 2 barracuda, lost 4 rigs, and brought in a half of a barracuda (i.e. “header”). It seems that 4’ barracudas are bite sized morsels for larger predators of the deep! $50.00 in lures, gone! Dream Catcher landed their first Mahi Mahi, the winning fish. They shared their good fortune and fed us all.

Jamaica Cay was our day’s landfall. On its shore was what was to be a vacation "resort" in paradise. What we found was abandoned semi-trailers and an abandoned building that has been jury rigged by cruisers to catch rain water. On the kids' beach walk, they spotted a crude boat, probably Haitian with food out and everything… but where were the people? There are lots of Haitians in the Bahamas trying to make a life for themselves and not get caught.
Lisa spotted a large bull shark behind their boat so we picked the snorkeling spots carefully with Lisa staying in the boat as a look out.

Johnson Cay:
Our family thought this was one of the most beautiful places on earth. A powder sand crescent shaped beach harbor big enough for only 2 boats. To one side of the bay was a beautiful reef to the other was a rocky hill. . Snorkeling, beach fires, exploring and lounging were the scheduled events of the couple of days we spent there. Before leaving, the children painted and signed a piece of driftwood “Welcome to Johnson Cay” for their art lesson. We later learned that this piece of paradise sold for only $145,000 just a few years ago. If only we had known, we could have had our own island (ha).

Racoon Cay:
We motored an hour north to Raccoon Cay for the northerly protection. That evening we saw a Bahamian walking with a rifle and camo on the shore, which was a surprise. He appeared to be hunting the wild goats and pigs of this uninhabited island. We realized that we were closer to Cuba than Georgetown, Bahamas. Further north we stopped over in search of a blue hole. After bushwhacking a bit we found the overgrown path leading to the blue hole. This one had a soft bottom mushrooming up in the middle with caves extending out the sides. All 8 of us jumped in and had a great swim. We also saw several stacked stone walls of the Loyalists’ past. There are ruins of their houses and field walls throughout the islands.

Buena Vista Cay
Buena Vista Cay to the south had a fabulous cluster of cays and a great shallow reef with a 5 lobster dinner waiting for us next to our boats. On this leg of shallow water we dragged some beat up lures and were able to get a jack and mackerel among all the 4 barracuda we released.
We again met up with another kid boat Aries. Parker and Sabrina practiced trying to spear fish on the south end of the island. As often happens, sharks cruised by for a look and it was out of the water for the families. Flamingo Cay had a large grotto cave we drove our dinghies into, balanced conch shells on rocks for fun and swam around in. Despite the pricks and scrapes we bushwhacked to a hilltop where the ruins of an old house, well, field and cave was located. Numerous times we have seen evidence of Mother Nature winning out over mans attempt to settle this harsh environment.
Seashore shopping has become a fashionable pastime for us. I have a pink shirt from a dive at Lee Stocking Island, a shirt and shorts ensemble from Johnson Cay. Angie picked up a nice white skirt on the shores of Flamingo Cay and the kids build the wildest forts and seashore art from all the stuff the ocean brings in. With all the clothing and shoes (never a pair) we find washed up on shore there must be a lot of em-bare-assed people making there way home from the beaches of the world. “Huh? Well I’ll just walk home naked.”

Parker and Sabrina go diving:
Before leaving we motored out a couple of miles and re-anchored at one of the ocean’s blue holes. We had a fabulous dive as a family using our Hooka system. We all swam from the boat to the rising ring and then descended down the coral laden mouth. We made our way around the interior, swimming under ledges, around coral heads through schools of fish, and did summersaults for fun. Before leaving we arranged some dead conch shells to say HI.