Immersing ourselves in the remoteness and beauty of the Ragged Islands

2/26/2024

After several weeks of being on the move, with mostly 24-hour overnight passages, the crew of Wild Horses is ready for a break. The Ragged Islands have proven to be the perfect solution. Here we can stretch our legs on long, sandy white beaches, catch up on a few small boat projects, or just have slow, quiet evenings on board Wild Horses.

Also on our near-future itinerary is to get in the water and snorkel in the many beautiful coral reefs that surround the small flat islands of the Raggeds. We are just hoping that the water warms up a tad. It is currently a chilly 24 degrees Celsius and our Eastern Caribbean-acclimatized bones are not yet ready for that kind of cold 😊.

Mike fixing our flagpole which got broken on our way to the Raggeds

Our new flag pole in place

Diode grease for our electronics. Very necessary with our humid environment!

One of the beaches nearby

Victoria and Ocean enjoy the warmer temps of the shallow waters

The cruisers firepit

Ocean enjoying the sunset on the beach

Adding to these delights is that we are not entirely alone here. We do like our alone-time, for sure, but there is something comforting about having another boat or two moored near you, or to have a town to stroll around. Here we have both.

In amongst the half a dozen boats that are anchored here, are our friends Barry and Andrea on Caretta. Barry is the reason we are even in the Raggeds, having talked up the remoteness and beauty of the area to the point that we couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, though, Barry had an old back injury flare up on the passage here and has been unable to do much moving about. In the week that we have been here, he has gone to shore only a few times. He hasn’t been able to fish, dive, beach walk or visit the nearby town of Duncan. Andrea is a capable sailor in her own right but until Barry feels well enough to weigh anchor and explore more of the Raggeds, and to head to Georgetown, they will be staying put. And, Wild Horses will stay put alongside them, just in case they need any assistance while Barry is still recuperating. Not a bad deal really as we are truly enjoying living on Wild Horses in this semi-remote anchorage in this very remote island chain.

Ocean's face is always sandy these days

A starfish on the beach

Mike sets the dinghy with our dinghy anchor before we go off on a walk to town

The main ticket building at the airport

The airport lounge

When we were preparing for our journey south, back in 2021 and 2022, we focused on trying to make Wild Horses, and its crew, as self-sufficient as possible. We bought a watermaker, upgraded our power grid with new solar panels and lithium batteries, we bought a go-fast dinghy, and we pulled together a few choice pieces of gear (washer/spinner, bread maker, extra diesel and gas jugs) that we thought we might need. Along the way, we have upgraded our gear portfolio to include a Honda 2200 generator and a Starlink unit. It has all worked incredibly well and has made our lives easier along the way but, to be honest, we have never been in the position to be fully reliant on most of it. The one exception is the Honda generator which saved our bacon way back in Carriacou when a blown fuse on one of our lithium batteries resulted in batteries so low that our BMS (Battery Management System) turned them off to protect them.

Now that we are in the Raggeds, we are actually dependent on our gear and ourselves so much more than we have ever been. All of our “self-sufficiency” gear is getting at least a little bit of attention. There is nowhere to get water or fuel here. Laundry facilities are non-existent. There is no medical centre nearby (although one is being built!) so injuries must be tended to on the boat, with whatever medication and supplies you have on hand. Same with boat issues. Everything has to already be on board for all critical repairs, large or small. There are a few groceries that can be purchased at Maxine’s grocery but you can’t count on the store being open or that they have what you need. Right now, for example, Maxine is “off island” tending to family matters so the store is rarely open. And when it is open, there is no bread. There is no meat. No potatoes came in on the last mail ship. What is stocked on the shelves will feed you, although at a high cost. My bag of romaine lettuce (there is no local lettuce option) was $11 USD. Yup, pricey.

Our installed Rainman watermaker

Mike enjoying our tasty water!

Our generator purchased along the ICW

Our washer/spinner sits in our shower

How do we make do in this environment? For the most part, it is status quo for us. Laundry is done easily and quickly on the boat. Water is made every four days or so. Our bread maker is put into duty every three days and, for the rest of it, we pull our grocery items out of our own cupboards. We are fully stocked up on meat, shelf-stable milk, eggs, cheese, canned fruit and vegetables, potatoes, onions, pasta and sauces from our provisioning run in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We are working through our four gas jugs at a non-concerning pace (down 1.5 jugs as of February 26), considering it is used to run our dinghy and our generator, which we use for making water. Oh, and Ocean has plenty of dog food and biscuits. We didn’t forget her needs while provisioning in Puerto Rico!

Lots of diesel and gas jugs on the deck of Wild Horses

Our rented SUV was full after provisioning in San Juan

And so was our fridge!

We will likely be a few more weeks in the Bahamas Out Islands (Raggeds, Long Island) and look forward to continuing the test of our self-sufficiency. So far, so good but we are excited to learn what works and what doesn’t in the long run. We will be making notes for necessary tweaks for when we return to the Bahamas Out Islands next winter. And in between note-taking? We are enjoying the beaches and are ready to jump into some snorkeling in the crystal clear blue waters of the Bahamas!