The Bahamas is a nation with about one thousand islands and cays, many of which are remote and uninhabited. The unique geography of The Bahamas includes shallow banks and coral reefs as well as water over 4000 feet deep. Scattered about the banks are blue holes, vertical caves that often lead down to underwater cave systems. Blue holes are incredible places to freedive. Barrier reefs between the deep ocean and the islands often produce excellent surfing waves. The water is full of wildlife, including hundreds of species of tropical fish, sharks, rays, eels, turtles, and whales. I set out from Jacksonville, Florida, to explore some of the most remote islands in March and April of 2018 sailing alone in Sobrius, my 30' sailboat, a Dufour Arpege. I dove on coral reefs almost every day, as well as five or six blue holes. I surfed three point breaks, and I found much more adventure than I ever expected. I documented the journey in this, my third book, Journey to the Ragged Islands. I also am documenting the journey on my YouTube channel, Paul Trammell, in a series of videos. In addition to dramatic and immersive prose describing the joys and difficulties of the journey, I also include a lot of singlehanded-sailing technique, as well as descriptions of the islands I visited and GPS coordinates of all the places I dropped anchor. Islands I visited include Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, the Jumentos Cays, the Ragged Islands, Rum Cay, Conception Island, and the Exuma Cays. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

“Dark, nothing but darkness, thick and deep, and it wasn’t home, she could sense that, it was somewhere else. Susan Ann was trying to think, trying to remember the last thing she remembered — what day was this?” (p. 2) It is September 11, 2001, and eighty-five-year-old Susan Ann Roberts is coming to the end of her life. In and out of consciousness, she is bedridden in a Toronto hospital, confused as to what has brought her to this place. Her daughter, Lorraine, and beloved granddaughter, Meg, are by her side but they seem unable (or unwilling) to take her home. Susan Ann isn’t exactly sure where home is anymore. Lorraine had insisted her mother move to Toronto, worried about her living alone in the big house back east. Ever since, Susan Ann has been trapped—stuck in an unfamiliar city in a too-small apartment where things are so cramped that the dresser drawers in her bedroom open only partway. Susan Ann resolves that she will return home to the Maritimes one last time. Her journey begins at the bottom of the laneway of the New Brunswick farm where she spent her summers, and takes her to the town where she grew up, and then across the ponds and rivers of the Tantramar Marshes, all the way to Nova Scotia and Ragged Islands, where she had made her home with her devoted husband and children. As she travels on foot along old roads and visits the lost houses of her memory, Susan Ann is kept company by a dog from her distant past. Her unlikely guide propels Susan Ann forward, leading her ever closer to the place where she hopes to reunite with her husband. Along the way, they meet various people from Susan Ann’s life: a neighbour who died in a fire with her four siblings; the man who was her brother in all the most important ways; and a young woman who may hold the key to one of the great mysteries of Susan Ann’s life: why did her mother give her away to relatives to raise, despite the fact that she kept children who were born both before and after her? Meanwhile, Susan Ann’s son, Carl, is at his mother’s Toronto apartment sorting through her belongings. He comes across an envelope labelled TO BE SAVED. In it, he discovers assorted papers, letters, and pictures that reveal his mother’s life as a woman and a wife, not just a mother. Old wounds are opened, unanswerable questions are asked, and mysteries are both solved and created. In Ragged Islands, Don Hannah has given us a moving, witty, and tender portrait of a remarkably modern old woman at the end of a life bound by tradition and family secrets, blessed with great love, and rocked by events in the outside world. Coloured with intimate portraits of a family that seems almost familiar, Susan Ann’s journey suggests an answer to the question of what happens to the soul when the body begins to die. The final pages lead us to question what parts of a life remain behind for others to discover, how a family remembers those who have died, and where life’s final journey will take us.

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Take a journey through every country in the world. 850 images. 230 countries. One complete picture. With details of every United Nations-approved country in the world, and a few more principalities and dependencies besides, Lonely Planet's Travel Book is the ultimate introduction to a world of travel and the essential travel reference book for every household! Each country is profiled by Lonely Planet's expert authors and features details of when to visit, what to see and do, and how to learn more about the country's culture from its film, music, food and drink. Every entry has a map and statistics about the country. All brand new, incredible photography illustrates each country, depicting what life is like in each nation from photographic portraits of people, beautiful landscape photographs and vibrant street photography. This premium packaged 448-page book with beautiful rainbow foil on the cover will make an impressive gift. About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, gift and lifestyle books and stationery, as well as an award-winning website, magazines, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.