May 2, 2004
Jumentos Islands

Well to continue furthur south...

Once beyond Salt Pond and the relative community of people on Long Island, we found ourselves, for the first time perhaps, utterly alone on our search for the "Ultimate" beach.

At right, Maciek is looking for some lost sheep to pastor, seems he always wanted to be a shepherd. On most of the islands, we would hear bleating of goats of sheep, about the only wild thing living. This was our only up close view of them.

Then we had FIRE! My favourite position, next to being at the bow of the boat, was and is still to be crouching next to a beach fire. It became, as it used to be, a matter of survival to make a fire evey night and cook our dinner. By the time we reached the last of ht eislands, I had learned to make a pretty serviceable bread, and rice and beans, and even a pineapple upside down cake over the fire! The Raging Gourmet lives on.

The nest series is Maciek demostrating the technique to conch extraction that, while never as quick as the locals with their mastery of speed at 5 seconds, he improved greatly at. While conch salad is not my favourite, Maciek could eat it twice a day, every day.

Water Cay was our first stop in the Jumentos and it was my personal favourite. Small enough to snokel around (it took about 2 hours) with some freshwater source somewhere so there was bird music around us, it was active with fish and rich with conch. Snorkeling, like diving, is not a sport for the faint of heart. After walking along one of the beaches on this particular cay, I got on my flippers and mask to slide back into the water, only to see a (harmless) Nurse shark not 5 feet away and in 1.5 feet of water. I could have stepped on the thing! Makes me think twice about getting into te water now, sure it looks innocent on the surface but what could be lurking below is more than enough fodder for an active imagination. We saw sharks often, but not enough to actually get comfortable and cozy with them. Maciek got a little too close one day, but that's a story to come...

All through the Jumentos we were completely alone, left to blissfully pursue what before had been real only in our imaginations. This was truly what I had been hoping for and it was sheer delight to sail day after day from one beach, one fire-making site, one snokeling hole to another. There was nothing to worry about except what to catch for dinner (though I did have a fit if it was a speared angelfish that appeared in our bucket - I have a theory that ugly fish are meant to be eaten and pretty ones to look at, though they are a tasty eat), how to make a fire and who gets to read the next favourite book. Simplicity reigned.

(T)