Into the Woods

One of the most interesting elements of cruising here, is getting to know a new location. What mysteries lie around that point of land or deep in that tropical coppice? Manjack Cay was one of those place we had yet to thouroughly explore, so after our stay at Green Turtle, we returned there.

While we were anchored a second time at Manjack Cay, we met the owner of one of the few homes on that island. He and his wife have lived on Manjack for quite a number of years and have developed an extensive homestead. He invited us to explore the many trails he had made that traversed the island and led to each of the coves and beaches along its shores. So one afternoon, we took off to do just that. We were still hoping to find the so-called nature park and a trail to the ocean beach that others had told us about.

Walking the interior trails of the island we passed through what almost seemed like a jungle habitat at times. The first trail we took led from the anchorage northward around a mangrove swamp and then eastward across the island to the ocean beach. The narrow trail was thatched with many roots and small stumps from trees that had been cleared. We heard the feather rustle of unseen birds taking flight at our approach. After a mile or so the coppice thinned and we reached a beautiful beach. We could see the northernmost tip of the island so we decided to walk up the beach as far as we could. We hoped to find a trail to the other side.

After another mile of wandering the strand, we came upon a picnic table and shelter. This, we thought, was the spot referred to in the cruising guide. Only it was at the north end of the Island. The rafters of the shelter were hung with pot markers from as far away as New York and various other drift relics such as pieces of net and old sneakers and flip flops. Another group of beachcombers came up to the shelter and told us this marked the beginning of the path across the island and the park referred to in the cruisers guide. We trudged on along a wider trail heading across the island. This area, we later learned, had been purchased by a wealthy individual who planned to put in a subdivision. More trails leading off in many directions crossed the one we followed.

Eventually we came to a coconut palm lined beach where a young couple was just coming ashore to camp. Here we found a sign welcoming us to the nature trails and the dock referred to in the guide. We asked the campers who had been here often, if there was another trail back to our harbor but there was not, so we knew we had to retrace our steps back to the boat.

But Peter still had another mission. He wanted to find the property on the north end of the island that a friend of ours had just purchased where he planned to build himself a home. We started back, looking for the path to that spot. After a couple of false leads Peter found a trail that led to the lovely cove where our friend's lot was located. It was a beautiful spot. We imagine that our friend will have quite an adventure building his island home, a quiet cove with no electricity or telephone, but thanks to modern ingenuity the internet!

By now the sun was getting low and I was getting a little worried that we might not make it back by dark. A little quicker, we retraced our steps and arrived back at our starting point just before sunset. Altogether we had hiked over five miles. Now at last we felt that we knew Manjack Cay.

?Donde Este Mi WD-40? ( with apologies to my Spanish Speaking Friends)

While we were at Bluff House Marina on Green Turtle, Peter and I had occasion to wish we had followed through on our plan to learn some Spanish. Tied up at the end of the dock near us were two 25-foot cuddy cabin fishing boats with two Hispanic men aboard each. A third boat belonging to a couple more Spanish speakers was also tied up at the Marina. They were obviously having problems with one of the twin engines on one of the two boats. It was the source of much heated conversation and gesturing, none of which was understood by us.

Suddenly one of the guys came up to our boat and started to converse with us in some sort of Spanglish we could barely make out. It seemed he wanted some kind of spray for the engine. We asked him if he wanted to dry it out or maybe try some WD-40, but he couldn't understand us and he walked off to get another person to translate. Another of the guys walked up to our boat who looked like he might know English, but when he started to speak we could understand even less that he said. Finally, the two decided after conferring that they'd try our WD 40 and we lent it to them.

For some time, they continued to work on the engine and then took off for a test run. Oh, Oh, we thought, what about our WD-40? Maybe we'll never see them again. We looked at each other realizing how little Spanish we knew, the colors, the numbers, cerveza, si, no, etc. Finally I came up with something like Donde Este mi WD-40, but wasn't sure that would really fit the bill.

Some time later, the guys came back, but no one brought back our spray. They all left the dock. "Watch this," Peter said. He walked over to the boat and casually spotted the WD 40 on the crippled vessel. the motor had seemed to be running a little better and it appeared that the guys were through with it, so he snagged it back. The next day all the guys came back out on the dock for more conversing and gesturing. Finally, one came over to us and told us, that guy your spray half hour... Oh, we already have it, said Peter with alacrity. That's Ok. The guy looked a little puzzled and walked away.

Because of the weather, it appeared that these six guys were stranded at Green Turtle. They hung out throughout the weekend, occasionally leaving for a short while on the ferry or in the boat that was working and then reappearing. They sometimes dangled a fishing rod over the dock, but never caught anything. By the time they left, today, Valentine's Day, everyone on the docks was familiar with them. We thought maybe they had come over to do some fishing, but the consensus on the dock seems to be that they were most likely engaged in a bit of smuggling.

Once the weather cleared up, we decided to head back up to Manjack for a day or so, to do some more exploring. The next cold front won't get here until Sunday.

Docking for Dollars at Green Turtle

From Allen's Pensacola we made a short sail south to Green Turtle Cay, one of our favorite all weather anchorages. We tied up for five days at the Bluff House Mariana and took advantage of their off season promotion. Whatever you spend for dockage you get back if you buy stuff at the resort. So we had several tasty meals at the resort bistro and docked five nights for free!

Our second night here, we enjoyed the sights and sounds of a wedding that took place on the deck of the Resort overlooking the marina. We very much liked the live music, especially a ten-minute piece of exciting music that we later discovered reflected the sounds of the Bahamian Festival of Junkanoo.

A couple of weather fronts blew through while we were here, but we did get a chance to take a stroll to the other side of the island and visit the beach. It's one of our favorite places to walk. The whole area is pretty quiet right now because it's not in season, but that's just fine with us.

Manjack Cay

Our next stop was Manjack Cay, (pronounced "Munjack"), a sparsely populated Cay in the Northern Abacos. We had heard there was a lovely beach and a nature park at this spot. We dropped anchor and went for a dinghy ride in search of the park. Unfortunately, it was low tide, so, at one point, we actually had to tote the dinghy across a grassy bar. n

The water was sparkling clear and we could see lots of starfish and conch on the bottom. We found a striking beach guarded by large rocky formations and the remains of a dilapidated dock, but no nature park. At dusk we dinghied back to the boat with about a foot more water. There was a beautiful sunset and I initiated a friendly salute by sounding my conch horn. Several others answered my call.

Long Reach

We have had two days of beautiful sailing weather. On Thursday we sailed about 25 miles from Great Sale to Allen's Pensacola Cay. Today, February 10th, we sailed another 20+ miles to Manjack Cay. Each sail was one long starboard reach (our fastest point of sail) with a good breeze that kept Nimue skimming along under sunny skies. The water on the banks as clear as ever and sparkling green. Around four o'clock we anchored at our destination and set up the dinghy for a trip to shore. We wanted to walk across Allen's Cay to the ocean beach to see if our boat card was still posted in an old water bottle at the signing tree on the beach.

The signing tree is a place where visiting cruisers leave a memento, usually their boat name carved on a piece of driftwood or an old float, or a boat card in a bottle tied with a piece of drift rope on a prominent tree. Our memento was gone and so was quite a bit of the beach! One of the summer storms that passed by this area took a good chunk of this secluded sandy shore out to sea and left huge piles of drying turtle grass and a rocky limestone beach in its place. There must have been quite a bit of drift junk left behind as well, because the "signing" activity has spread from one tree near the path to several trees along the beach. The effect isn't quite the same. What should be a single quirky reminder of happy sailing memories has turned into a sad commentary on how much junk is out there on the water.

Always Something

We left West End on Super Tuesday, sailing for Mangrove Cay, some thirty miles away. For part of the trip the wind was dead ahead of us, on the nose, so we had to start the engine and motorsail into a choppy sea. At last, we got to Mangrove and while tidying up the boat, we noticed some water in the bilge. Not a lot, but enough to let us know something was amiss.

We had already replaced the hose and leaky hoseclamp, now what? Peter opened up the engine compartment and did a little investigating. It didn't take long to discover that the water pump on the engine was leaking. We checked our spares kit and discovered that we had a part that might fix the problem. We decided to sail the next day up to Great Sale Cay and anchor in the lee where Peter would attempt to remove and repair the water pump. Meanwhile, we turned on the XM radio and listened to early election results. As we went to bed that night Peter turned to me and said, "Well, it's always something!" Luckily we had a fair wind for the next leg of the trip and were able to sail all the way. When we had anchored north of Great Sale, Peter removed the water pump and pulled it apart. He replaced the defective part, a seal, and cleaned up the pump before bolting it back in place. Once all was back together, we crossed our fingers and fired up the diesel. Yay, it's not leaking! We still plan to replace the pump while we are here, because we really have no idea whether it will last for ten hours or 100 hours of motoring. But for now we are back in business.

The weather has been beautiful and the night sky is filled with millions of brilliant stars. Only one other boat is sailing our course with us, some folks from Oregon.

Regrouping at West End

We spent the morning putting the boat back together. Washing off all the salt and stashing the harnesses, life vests and jacklines, unpacking the rapid ditch bag, doing some laundry, were some of the chores that we needed to take care of. We also established a Skype phone account so we can be reached while we're in the Bahamas. Our number, a local call for our neighbors in new york, is 518-632-6651. If you don't get us, please leave a message.
After lunch we took a bike ride to the settlement of West End. The waterfront is still showing ravages of past hurricanes but slowly new buildings are appearing. We bought some Bahamian rum while we waited out a shower and then pedaled back to explore the new Ginn Sur Mer development taking shape around the marina. One striking home caught our eye right on the beach. More like a compound than a house, it's finished with wood, tile and copper and surrounded by coconut palms. It's always interesting to see what the rich will do with all their play money. Tomorrow we head across the Little Bahama Bank toward the Abacos. The weather is cooperating with our trip so far. This is the earliest date we've arrived in the Bahamas.

Across the Stream

At 2:30 AM on Super Bowl Sunday, we raised the anchor and motorsailed out the Lake Worth Inlet. There was a southeast wind and 2-3 foot seas. We had spent the day getting ready. One last stop at Publix, hoist the dinghy onto the deck and pack up the rapid ditch bag. Call the insurance company to get our offshore insurance rider and give our float plan to Kevin. We went to sleep at 8:30 and got up at 2:00. The first part of the trip in darkness seems interminable. We head south to position ourselves to maximise the gulf stream current. The waves, though not steep, give us a rocking ride with the extra weight of the dinghy on the bow. We amuse ourselves by keeping an eye on the radar and watching the lights of Palm Beach slowly sink beneath the horizon. We are all alone on a dark sea.

Four hours later, the moon rises, a golden crescent at our bow. As the clouds clear away, we are treated to a gorgeous sight. Jupiter and Venus shining down on us just beside the moon, like two diamonds beside a brilliant crescent. Soon the sun rises. We are in the bright blue water of the gulf stream with the wind on the nose. The hours drift by, the waves flatten out and the motor throbs on. Six, eight, ten, hours and breakfast, lunch and snacks and sixties music on the XM radio. Then we spot the water tower at West End. We are nine miles from our landfall. Exactly twelve hours after leaving Lake Worth we tie up at the dock at Old Bahama Bay Marina.

Though we're tired, we've had a good crossing and even better, the marina has cable, so showered and tired we stretch out in the cabin and watch the Giants stun the Patriots. A good day.