Manjack, Crab and Fiddle: Exploring the Nearby Cays by Dinghy

3/28- 3/31 – On Monday we dinghied across the harbor and went into town. Most businesses had been closed on Sunday, so even though we’d walked through town, we weren’t able to check out the shops or do any provisioning. After that, we spent the rest of the day on board, doing chores, checking weather, etc. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating with our plans for crossing back to the states. We’ve had great weather almost the whole time we’ve been in the Bahamas. Now that we’re ready to leave, it appears we’ve become victim of the “Marathon effect”. For those of you that followed our blog last year while we were on the Great Loop, you may remember we wanted to come to the Bahamas, but were not able to because of weather conditions. We spent one entire month in Marathon, FL checking the weather daily, hoping for a couple of crossing days, but it never happened. Now we are here in the Bahamas and it appears it may take us awhile to get back. We are going through a very unusual weather pattern now. The prevailing wind in the Bahamas is out of the east. However, for the past week or so, and predicted for the next week, we’ve got winds out of the south, west and north which continually keep clocking. We’ll have a day of light wind, then it builds to 20 or 30 for a couple of days, then back to light and then the cycle repeats. We need 3 days of acceptable wind strength and wind direction to get across. We have one day from here to Great Sale Cay, one day from Great Sale Cay to West End on Grand Bahama Island and one day from West End to Lake Worth in Florida. So far, we don’t see 3 good days in a row. We might try to go as far as West End and wait it out there, but there is only one marina and it is very expensive (not like the 50 cents/foot we have here). Well enough about that!!

While we were going through the “light wind” part of the cycle we decided to explore the surrounding cays by dinghy: Manjack, Crab and Fiddle. These cays are uninhabited with interesting shorelines that looked promising for fishing, lobstering and beachcombing. We went out on both Tuesday and Wednesday and had a great time, except for the 1+ hour dinghy ride back on Wednesday. The winds had built and we encountered 4 foot waves in the Sea of Abaco – not exactly fun in a dinghy. We had lots of water in the dinghy by the time we got back to the boat and not one dry spot on us anywhere. Nice hot showers were in order.

By Thursday the winds were in the 30+ range so we spent the day on the boat. We actually tried to tidy everything up preparing for a crossing (deflated the kayaks, fixed a problem with the anchor, stowed stuff we’d become comfortable leaving loose on the flybridge, etc.) Now we’ll just wait and see what the weather brings.

Heading out in the dinghy for some exploring. 
This is the northern end of Green Turtle Cay



Arriving at Manjack Cay.  Lots of rocks and reefs
as shown in the next 3 shots.








Driftwood along the shore with Gerry in the background
doing some beachcombing



This is a shot of Crab Cay.  We found quite
a bit of seaglass on this beach



We also encountered a wild pig/sow



The sow seemed interested in our anchor.  We think
she wanted a ride off the island



An interesting tree on the island



This is a local fisherman doing some "still fishing".
Seems as though you'd need good balance for this.



Now we're at Fiddle Cay.  Here are Michael and
Jana collecting sea biscuits. 
What are sea biscuits you ask ????



These are sea biscuits -- hundreds of them in the sand
on the shore and out several hundred feet 

There were hammocks and picnic benches on Fiddle
Cay.  Seems there is a festival here once a year.
I sacrificed my feet to take a picture.  Didn't have
my Crocs on and got lots of burrs in my feet.
Gerry had to perform minor surgery back on the boat.



Looking out at the Sea of Abaco from Fiddle Cay



After returning from our dinghy explorations, we went into town.
We ordered pizza from Harvey's (had to order by 5:00 - we
ordered at 4:59), but it wasn't ready until 7:00.  What to do
for 2 hours?  Why, go to Sundowners for a couple of drinks.

Bill enjoying a cool one.

Cheers !! These are people we met at the bar.
One couple had been coming the past 40 years.



View from Sundowners just before dusk





Our next stop was Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar.
Here's Bill pointing at the sign



... and Gail, outside the door.  Miss Emily's is home
of the World Famous Goombay Smash.

And here comes Gerry with 2 now.  See below for the history and recipes.

http://www.artofdrink.com/archive/popular-cocktails/goombay-smash/

At the Blue Bee Bar, just like at many other Bahamian Bars,
there are dollar bills and T-shirts hanging everywhere.
We found his one interesting, as Linda attended a
Women for Sail course about 20 years ago
in Key West.

This is either the daughter (or granddaughter) of Miss Emily.
We had a fun time.  We brought in our pizza from
Harvey's and ate it in her restaurant and drank Goombay Smashes.

The next day we were back at Manjack.  Here
are Michael and Jana getting ready for some
spearfishing and lobstering.  Michael did
get a lobster (sorry, didn't get a picture).

Shoreline on the other side of Manjack.

Another shot -- very interesting shoreline

The beach ended at the mangroves



It was very low tide.  You can see the ripples
in the sand left by the receding water



Our camp on the beach - umbrella and sand mat

Gerry caught 3 or 4 of these little grunts -- but let
them all go.  He also hooked a shark which took most of his line.

The laundry boat.  Linda was doing laundry when the
power went out (probably because of the high wind).
Fortunately, it had finished washing, but we had
to use the "blowin' in the wind" method to dry them.
Shorts on the rail ....

... and shirts on the flybridge.  Sometimes you just have
to improvise on a boat.

Green Turtle Cay, Inside and Out

3/25 - Around mid-morning we decided to head for Green Turtle Cay. We took the Whale Cay passage, while our buddy boat, Second Star, chose to take the shallower “No Rock” passage in the Sea of Abaco as they draw less than 3 feet. There is a shallow sand bank that extends all the way from Whale Cay to Treasure Cay and boats drawing more than about 3-4 feet must pass outside Whale Cay in the Atlantic Ocean. The Whale Cay Channel is fairly shallow also (about 12 feet) and is susceptible to a rage sea condition when ocean swells come from the northeast. Fortunately, conditions were fine and we had only a few rollers during the passage.

The winds were quite light and out of the south so we decided to anchor outside of Green Turtle Cay at the far south end. We went exploring in the dinghy checking out both Pigeon Cay and No Name Cay. We walked the beaches on the southern end of Green Turtle and also the beach on No Name. Back at the boat, we decided the wind/wave conditions were light enough that we’d spend the night anchored outside and then go into either Black Sound or White Sound tomorrow. We noticed a sailboat ahead of us that appeared to be aground. The guys took the dinghy over and asked if they needed assistance. They declined, saying they’d just wait for high tide to float them off. We had happy hour aboard Second Star enjoying the sunset.

3/26-3/27 – Plans were to do a little snorkeling/fishing before going inside the harbor at Green Turtle, but the wind had picked up some making it a little uncomfortable. Gerry tried a bit of fishing without any luck and Michael and Jana decided it was a little rough for snorkeling, so we decided to raise anchor and head in. We planned on staying at a marina in White Sound, but first decided to check out Black Sound. Once in the Sound, we ran into friends on Sharpie’s Dream who talked us into coming into the Leeward Marina there. We called the dockmaster and he said he had 2 slips left. We got tied up and then waited for Second Star to dock. However, because of some confusion about the slip that was available (an outside tie susceptible to the wind), they decided to head up to White Sound and ended up docking at the Green Turtle Club. With our Royal Marsh Harbor YC discount, we only paid 50 cents/foot at Leeward and Michael and Jana got a dock and dine special at Green Turtle Club (your eating/drinking costs are subtracted from your dockage fee).

The next day we thought about taking the dinghy up to White Sound where Michael and Jana were docked, but it soon became apparent a dry dinghy ride was not in the cards. Didn’t feel like getting wet and salty today so instead we parked at the dinghy dock and explored the town by foot. Eventually, we ended up at Pineapple’s and ran into Michael and Jana who had rented a golf cart to explore the island. We rode around with them the rest of the afternoon and then headed back to the boat for a quiet evening.

Leaving the Treasure Cay channel

Second Star took the shallower passage called "No Rock"



Arriving at Green Turtle Cay, we anchored on the outside
at the very southern end of the island.  The white
sand you can see is the very end.  We were
anchored far enough out so that at low tide we
were still afloat.  In the background is Pigeon Cay.



A close up of Pigeon Cay -- a private island with one house



Exploring the southern beach at Green Turtle



Michael and Jana doing some beachcombing



The boats at anchor



Exploring No Name Cay

Looking out at the ocean



Red sails in the sunset ??  Not quite, no sails up on this
boat as it was aground



Marina grounds



More of the grounds



The pool and docks



Sunset taken from the bar



There was a C-Dory 22 in the anchorage by the marina.
We chatted with them about their experiences in the Bahamas
on such a small boat.  This is about the size of something
we "might" buy.

The following pictures were taken during our walk around town.
This is the harbor at New Plymouth, the settlement on
Green Turtle Cay

Houses along the harbor

A typical street -- colorful and tidy

Entrance to the Memorial Sculpture Garden

Statue of American Loyalists who
settled the area



Colorful houses all in a row



The jail -- PINK !!!

A shot of the beach toward the northern end of the island



Made in the shade -- it was HOT