Southern Islands

On Monday May 4, the Governor was granted permission to close Damms Cay to foreign visitors until at least the end of June. The Damms Cay harbor, Sandy Bight, the Dragover, and surrounding will be off limits to the normal population of cruising yachts. The island has four reported cases of Covid-19. The Governor is taking this extreme action to safeguard the aged residents of the Old Fisherman’s Resthome. Any yacht discovered to be violating this order will have her Temporary Import Certificate revoked, and thus must depart the territorial waters of the Southern Islands immediately.

Rockinghorse Cay, SI

the mail gracy serving Rockinghorse Cay and surrounding district has been involved in a collision with the research vessel Star Hunter, sustaining minor damage above the waterline. Lady Azul is to be repaired and inspected on Dog Island over the weekend before being returned to regular service next Tuesday. Investigators have interviewed the crew of both vessels but have not yet filed a report. Crew and passengers are prohibited from commenting until the official report is released.
The Star Hunter is a common site on Forever Bank, where she searches for meteorites. Fisherman who work the bank for finfish claim the research vessel is occasionally hard to see. She is large, and frequently operates dredging equipment and ROVs, at which time she is “lit up like a carnival” but other times she is said to display only dim running lights. Weather conditions when the collision occurred, around 12:40 AM, were mild, and there was no moon. Damage to Star Hunter was reportedly limited to deck railings.

winds: N, 15k

Temp: 71 degrees

Rockinghorse Cay, SI

Danny Maddler, resident, detained, charged with B and E at Ginnies Shoppe of Eels

Veedah Neemog, visitor, ticketed, indecent exposure, East Cape Beach

Brin Grafter, resident, detained, charged with fraudulently selling bogus virus treatment consisting of fish liver and diesel fuel, practicing medicine without a license, mail fraud, wire fraud, petty theft and malicious computer hacking.

Ted Footner, resident, ticketed, operating unauthorized palmetto bug farm on Domestic Premises.

Puptown, SI

All of the Islands continue to be under a Covid virus advisory. Voluntary isolation is encouraged. Bars and restaurants shall remain closed to dine in visitors. Curbside or dockside pickup only. All events EXCEPT Willies conch races are canceled. Attendees at the races must wear masks, and remain six feet apart. In light of last years disruptions, no jellyfish punch will be served.
Residents are cautioned to beware of people selling false cures for the virus. There is currently no cure at this time. The American president Donald Trump has given the impression that common household disinfectants maybe useful to treat the disease. This is not the case. Only use them to clean surfaces. Do NOT apply in any manner to any part of the Human body.

Here we have a Knites Anole. A native of Cuba. However, they can occasionally be seen in some of the Southern Islands.

Notice the differences between this, and the more common green iguana. The Knites Anole is an insect eater.

Set of new wood rudders for local sailing craft. These are for a yacht. Most of the working sail craft have a different shape rudder

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A fight between two ex business partners is the latest escalation in the saga of Jake the Lucky Conch.

The fight occurred on the fishing docks of Jackal Cay last Wednesday and fortunately only involved fists. Mr. Harmond Aboya was given first aid for a nasty bruise to the chin while his attacker Mr. Jan Knodson declined aid for bloody knuckles. One onlooker had minor scraps from helping break up the fight. Mr. Aboya declined to press charges and could be heard shouting “Jake doesn’t want to live on the Stony Ledge!” as Mr. Knodson was escorted off the docks by the assistant dockmaster.

The story of Jake the Conch begins, for those who don’t know, about 10 years ago. At that time, Aboya and Knodson where partners in a successful fishing enterprise operating out of Jackal Cay. They owned three smacks, and leased a fourth with crew. How exactly the two men acquired Jake is unclear. But she (Jake has been determined to be female) was soon enjoying the reputation of bringing fantastic luck to her owners. They purchased several other fishing smacks and also a diesel powered gracy equipped with freezers to transport the catch to the markets on Dog Island. Problems arose, however, when Aboya decided that instead of operating the gracy, they should just move the whole fishing company to Dog Island. Knodson reportedly was having none of that idea, insisting that the gracys fuel and maintanance costs were still much less expensive than dockage for the fishing fleet would be in Dog Island. He offered to buy out Aboya and Aboya accepted. However, Jake the Lucky Conch was not part of the formal agreement. “I just figured Jake would stay here with me” Knodson told the court during the custody hearing. “I mean, Harmond was getting out of fishing. He didnt need the luck!” Mr. Aboya claimed Jake had told him several times that “The Stony Ledge was no place for a proper self respecting mollusk to live” and expressed a desire to reside on Dog Island. The judge in the case, the Honorable Judge J. Presburt III, then ordered the two men to work it out or else Jake would be supper, lucky or not. A coin toss saw Jake remaining with Mr. Knodson at Stony Ledge.

Mr. Aboya has since vowed to reclaim Jake. “Stony Ledge is full of riffraff,  buggomons and drunks. Jake deserves better!” Jake herself was unavailable for comment.

Southern Islanders engage in a multitude of manufacturing enterprises from home or small workshops. Seen here are Island Friendship Lights which have been used as gifts dating from the settlement of the Islands. The old brass and kerosene fueled lamps have been modernised to incorporate a flameless LED bulb which will operate as long as a year on 2 dry cell batteries. 
 Friendship Lights 

The long operating time symbolises strong friendship. They are also used to mark forest paths shaded from the sun where a solar powered lamp is umpractical.

Now that kerosene has been replaced by much safer electric, various colors are available and each has a different meaning. My favorite is a twinkling blue light that I use at the base of a potted plant.

Other items of local manufacturing include jewelry and tourist related goods, furniture, watercraft, fishing equipment and light metalworked items.

Club house by East Harbor docks. East Harbor is quite  upscale and usually caters to large fancy yachts. It’s the deepest harbor in the Southern Islands and was popular with pirates back in the the day. East Harbor Yacht Club has one of the only private beaches in the island group. Normally land owners cannot claim rights to any shoreline from 50 feet back from the high tide line. However, significant erosion during a storm brought the new shoreline half way up an existing property. The owner was able to declare that the shore had intruded on his property and won his case in court. After, the land use rules were amended to prevent this line of legal arguement in the future. The lot platting system on Rockinghorse Cay calls for a 20 foot easement between shoreside house lots. This allows for limited parking and access for visitors. Shoreside Develpment in general is discouraged. The locals know better than to build anything permanent, and rich foreigners who don’t care if their house washes away in a hurricane face an impressive array of zoning regulations designed to thwart such.