From Roughing it in the Ragged Island to Pure Luxury in Turks and Caicos
- sheri1943
- Mar 6
- 8 min read
Nothing beats sailing into an anchorage and coming right up to soft sandy beach. That's what we found on the west side of Bona Vista Cay in the Ragged Islands. There were two other sailboats already there and another two catamarans joined after we anchored, but the anchorage was big enough for us all. One was a sister ship to ours, a 60 foot catamaran also made in St. Francis, South Africa, "Ke Nako". We impressed the crew of SV Viento, sailing right up into 8 feet of water, Doug told us as he was dropping off lobster to the boats in the anchorage. Doug is an impressive 78 year old that spear-fishes and kite-boards and loves life. Michael graciously accepted one lobster since Rob and I have definitely caught our share and are tired of lobsters! It was nice to have Doug, Nicole and Shawn (from Ke Nako) come by for sundowners and appetizers.
The Islands are pretty barren, save for plenty of curly-tailed lizards. Bona Vista cay however is known for its goat population. Though they are very timid since the locals hunt them, Rob and I found them on some of our longer hikes around the island.
Remains of a powerboat wreck in Ragged Cays.
Plenty of conch in the Bahamas! Boat limit is 6 per boat, and we could easily eat six per day with the conch salad we were making and sharing with cruisers...delicious!
Yellow jack and big lobster...what's for dinner.
Never before seen black face and coloration of a hogfish from Flamingo Cay area.
Red shrimp in Brackish water in Ragged Cays
Great Day Free-diving for Hogfish right before we were Leaving the Ragged Cays. We were happy to get the biggest and most hogfish of the three cruiser groups that went out: yeah Team Kohnen/Weinstein, no more having to suffer through lobster and conch!
Big male lobster: notice the lack of swimmerets on the tail and the "claspers" at the beginning of his tail that he uses for mating.
Rob and Mike at Great Inagua Cay Salt flats, home of Mortons salt. Not much to do on that Cay but short hike, searching for the elusive pink flamingos we never found. We did find an osprey nest. We were picked up and befriended by Don Ingraham, whose family has been on the island for over a hundred years. He took us to his brother's store, his sister's bakery, his store and disco, the grocery stores and then to one of the two restaurants on the island called "Da Plane", right by the tiny airport. We enjoyed the only two things they had, BBQ chicken and ribs as we dined with a few other cruisers that came to the island to clear out of the Bahamas at their Customs and Immigration. I must say, it was an easy process since the immigration officers met Don and us at the restaurant, and completed the paperwork as we ate a late lunch. We also met the host of a radio show in Nassau which is focused on important issues like environmental protection and improving tourism, etc. You can bet I shared my thoughts with him about recycling, aquaculture, wildlife and fisheries enforcement, etc.
Concerned Osprey guarding its nest.
Mud over salt flats. Art by God.
Another gorgeous sunset on one of our last nights in the Bahamas.
After spending over two months mainly in the more remote areas of the Bahamas, where there were few if any marinas or restaurants, my crew and I were happy to get to Providenciales in Turks and Caicos. It was an easy sail and we arrived a day ahead of schedule. We spent the first night in South Bay Marina, a new, small marina, with nice staff but minimal amenities. They did have outdoor showers cut out of the natural stone mountainside, and a restaurant that opened at 5 pm and we never made it to. Customs and Immigration brought their cocker spaniel, Mo, on board to make sure we were not carrying contraband, (something we did not see them doing to the cruisers or Megayachts at Blue Haven Marina). We were then warmly greeted by two of my friends, Drew and Barbara, who picked us up in their jeep and took us to a nice Harborside restaurant for lunch. We visited their gorgeous estate perched on a cliff overlooking the Leeward shores with coral heads near to the shore and a significant surfbreak out about a mile and a half.
It was that reef and the swells breaking over it that prevented us from anchoring just out from their house. Instead, we moved to another marina, Blue Haven Marina and Resort, since their was no anchoring near the marina. On the way, we jumped in for another dive on "Hole in the Wall" on the southwest coast and it was a well-developed buttress wall dive, with some huge groupers and snappers. (Of course, no spearing allowed on scuba, and no fishing without a $30 per person per day fishing permit.) Visibility was over 100 feet. It reminded me of diving in Grand Turk 30 years ago. Of course I forgot the Go Pro!
Blue Haven Marina is next to an all-inclusive resort with excellent like-new amenities on the Leeward shore. It was 4-5 star all the way and very geared towards tourists with swim-up pool bar, glass-bottom kayak tours, e-foiling lessons, scuba and kite-boarding trips, etc. There were a few too many jet-skis and speed-boats speeding past in the "no wake zone" by the marina. Rob and I have our own toys so did everything on our own, dragging Mike with us on a 3 mile SUP paddle to Iguana Island and back and a 2-3 mile hike on the island. Rob and I took the dinghy out to dive "Catacombs" on the outside reef area, which was sadly very silted over and visibility was less then 30 feet until we got down below 65 feet, where it was close to 75 feet.
We biked with Drew and Barb to Coco Bistro and Coco Van, a stylish restaurant and an airstream van that has been converted to a chic lunch spot with great food.
Rather than dine at the restaurants at the marina, Barb and Drew took us to "The Cave Bar" at "The Rock House", a nice restaurant on the cliffs overlooking the water. (I was reminded of my little Coco on more than one occasion this trip.) Another night we were feasted at their home on the beach with other friends from Sarasota, two of the doctors that I have shared patients with for twenty-five years. One of them is retired and the other one still travels the world as an internationally known cosmetic dermatologist. It was a pleasure to take them on a sailing trip to a remote island with a barbecue area where we prepared them conch salad, lobster tails and hogfish. We shared the grill (and some of my conch salad) with some of the locals. Overall, it was quite a fun day in the sun and an amazing week with Sarasota friends!
As we were leaving Provo, heading down toward Dominican Republic, we spotted two whales that were close to the boat and one jumped out to do the classic "spy-hop" that no one caught on film. But as we left, one of them was lying on its back waving its fins in the air as if to say "goodbye". It turns out it is Humpback whale mating season, so we were treated to a few more whale sightings between Provo and down at Samana.
As Mother Nature would have it, she wanted us to stop rather than going straight down to Bonaire...
We were enjoying a nice downwind spinnaker sail on the way down and near the north coast of Grand Turk, the wind and waves picked up significantly. We ended up with two reefs in the mainsail and the genoa completely furled by the end of the first day and evening as we took 10-12 foot waves broadside and winds maxxed at 38 knots, and were sustained over 30 knots for hours. Medical Leave was getting slammed on some waves and I was praying that her rating as a top ten best Expedition Catamarans would continue to bear out. She did great! We did take one big wave which spilled many of the glass items in the fridge, breaking a few and causing a mess, but it could have been worse. Mike was happy we lost only marinated artichokes, kalamata olives and jelly and not his wine!
We were happy to see the shores of DR. with its lush vegetation and welcoming harbor, protected from the swells. The water is extremely dep all the way up to shore with local fishermen in small boats using Fish attractive devices and small boats and fish traps to fish. These can be a navigational hazard at night, though local cruisers usually report them.
The check-in process was more intensive in Dominican Republic than in Bahamas or Turks and Caicos. We had to stop in four different areas to fully check in with Customs, Immigration, Armanda and Port Authorities. Then Armanda agent came out to take pics of the boat, from a dinghy...no dogs, no inspection. The process was completed over two days and took 2-3 hours total. We were legal to come ashore and eat at the restaurants after going thru immigration. Rob and I enjoyed a simple dinner of garlic octopus and chicken pasta for about $20...plenty of money left over for coconut ice cream next door!
The next day we did a 5 k run on the same course as the "Run for the Whales" (Carrera Las Ballenas) that they had held a week before, Feb 22nd. Would have been fun to be in that! It ran through town and across three bridges to an island that has over 100 steep stairs (some with no handrails) spread over the span of a half mile or so. Tough on the hip flexors! After we finished our run, we met Mike for breakfast (chocolate crepes and etc) and then took him for a walk on the same course. He made it almost 2 miles...not too bad! We all earned our pastries that Rob and I wrangled up in town: the most amazing coconut creme brulee, coconut tarts, and pecan bars!
Since our stop-over was quite brief, did not venture into the jungle this trip for the zip-lining and other attractions. Over-all, we found Samana was a well-protected harbor, but with dirty, tannin-colored waters with quite a bit of garbage in the water and the streets. The food is inexpensive, but there was not the amount of produce I expected. The Spanish-speaking people were friendly for the most part, but some were used to begging from tourists. I suspect also that crime is an issue there. If we return to DR we will definitely stay in a different area.
Next stop: Bonaire!
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