the Jumentos

February 2^nd we set sail for the Jumentos. The northern end of the Ragged Islands include the Jumentos which, on this map, appear as little dots. And that’s about the size of the uninhabited islands. The chartbook begins a description saying “self-reliance is essential in the Ragged Islands.” With only a few exceptions there are no services of any kind, no cell towers, no medical or repair facilities. These are the “out islands” and you are really out there!

We woke up to a beautiful rainbow. Can you see the colors reflected in the water?    

The Jumentos are known for great snorkeling and an abundance of lobster and conch are everywhere to harvest. Ryan has been dubbed the lobster whisperer as he comes back with a feast almost every time he goes out.    We are back into a seafood diet!

The snorkeling was excellent.

We spent four days at Flamingo Cay which included lobster hunting, snorkeling, dinghy exploring and a good hike. It was a flip flop trail as it was marked often by assorted flip flops and sneakers which reportedly washed up from a ship and were placed on shrubs by cruisers.

Along the trail we saw prickly pear cactus, this nice one blooming.

 The trail went by a few brackish ponds which were full of little red shrimp.

The geckos were friendly.

Another afternoon on the beach completed a good stay at Flamingo.

With higher east winds predicted we left Flamingo for Water Cay, our last stop in the Jumentos.

Water Cay anchorage

Water Cay has a much bigger variety of vegetation and looked more like the Keys with sea grape, railroad vine, silver palm and sea oats. This is a typically narrow island with limestone that is continually breaking off, sometimes in very large chunks.

                                    

It’s now a few miles north to Georgetown where we are looking forward to stocking up on fresh vegetables, spending a few days once again waiting out high winds.