One of our favorite past times on Hog Cay is to explore all the hiking trials. Cruisers have spent many hours marking several trails in all sort of manners. Mostly it would be trash that washed up on the beaches that they will hang on trees or put in very conspicuous places to indicate the route.
They have even brought chain saws to cut away tree branches and other obstacles in the way. It is amazing to think that people will go to so much effort to leave a legacy, and no one seems to know who these wonderful people were.
One of the trails is called conch trail and the whole trail is marked by conchs. Some beautiful soul carried very many conchs up the hill and carefully placed them very carefully all along the trail.
They even built a thatch roofed gazebo on the sand in Middle Pen Bay with a firepit and several chairs. Cruisers seem to love to get together here to just hang out in the heat of the day or gather for sundowners or potluck dinners. Every cruiser seems to be hanging their boat name and year or years visited in some artful way in and around the gazebo.
The trials oftentimes lead to the Atlantic ocean side of the island where there are stunning rocks, gorgeous sea and spectacular views of the island.
As you meander through the lush growth on the island, you can just wonder how perfect nature is with so many species of plants growing willingly in a seemingly harsh and hostile environment.
There are several ponds on the interior of the island, but I assume it is salt water, or at best, very brackish water. The only animals on the island are goats that seem to flourish. We saw them on the beach often where they seem to be looking for food in the flotsam. Nobody seems to know who the goats belong to, but everyone is eager to claim them as their own.
All over the island are stone walls which are meticulously packed, but I can’t find any information as to what their purpose were, who built them and when.
The views from every vantage point is just stunning, the color of the water amazingly beautiful and interesting how many different shades of blue and turquois are in the same bay or ocean. The colors vary with the depth of the water as well as what is under the water. The very light turquois is found when there is a sandy bottom and the water is shallow. The different hues of blue become deeper as the water become deeper. Then off course you find the almost black spots which normally are coral heads and the brown spots that are rocks, so on a boat you definitely want to avoid either one of these colors. Even if the charts indicate that they are quite deep, I still feel uncomfortable to sail over them if it can be avoided at all.
Ragged island is part of the Jumentos Cays and Ragged Island Chain. The crescent-shaped chain is measured over 110 miles in length and include cays called Nurse Cay, Double Breasted Cay, Raccoon Cay and Hog Cay to name a few.
Duncan Town, the capital of Ragged Island, is the only settlement on the island and has about 50 to 60 residents. The highlights of the town is one lighthouse, one harbor and a salt pond that stretches the length of the town.
When we visited Duncan Town in 2023, a massive medical facility was in the process of being constructed. At first we thought it was a mosque, but the locals told us that it is a medical clinic that will have about 50 beds, which is confusing since the whole town only has about that many inhabitants.
If you are truly self sufficient and can handle solitude well, the Ragged Islands are definitely worth a visit.