We are now back in our happy place for the third time this season. Leaving the crowds of regatta behind, we motor-sailed south from sunrise to sunset. Surrounded by beautiful waters, we dropped anchor all by ourselves in Low Water Harbor in the Jumentos grinning from ear to ear.
The water is so clear that we can watch our anchor set and check on our boat-barracuda hanging out in the shade under Reach's bridgedeck. The warmer temperatures have turned the water color a bit green, presumably due to algae growth yet comfortable for swimming.
The next day we ran into George, Ivanhoe & Andrew on the Lady Marie.
They took Mark out fishing their traps that afternoon and have been having some good luck with their conch and Nassau grouper catch.
We always remember how George taught Mark to clean conch down here seven years ago.
The guys kindly shared some of their fish and conch with us.
Gabe and Monica caught up with us on Maracujá and we had a fantastic week hanging out with them as the only two cruising boats in the southern cays. The only thing that could have been better is if we’d met these two earlier!
We have had some interesting bird sightings recently, including birds landing in the cockpit on both boats over several days. One little guy took a tour of Reach while visiting!
These pretty and noisy oystercatchers are always hanging around the shoreline on these cays, as well as ospreys.
This cute bird just plopped in front of us on the beach giving us a good long look, noting that it had long wings and a hawk-like beak. There were two of them and when they flew we could see distinctive white wing bars, so it turned out to be an easy identification as Antillean nighthawks.
One hike along the beaches, salt pond and iron-shore led to some bush-wacking up the hill amongst the goats for a lovely overlook of Reach and Maracujá in House Bay on Raccoon Cay.
The snorkeling and fishing have been excellent… rich in food opportunities and underwater photos (more on that next time) with only a few shark encounters.
With cold fronts behind us, we’d been looking forward to the calmer weather in the spring to get to the outer reefs.
No snorkel would be complete without being followed by a curious barracuda.
We learned that margate is a decent sushi fish ~ snapper-like, a little firmer. Hogfish are still around and Mark has come across two yellowmouth grouper that he brought home for dinner. These are now my favorite grouper ~ perfect white flaky meat.
Despite the fact that lobsters are now off-season for spawning, our shared meals just keep getting better and better with conch salad, fish fingers, moqueca (Brazilian fish stew), sushi night (!!) and even a pizza night for a change from seafood.
