Crab Cay Cove to Manjack Beach

Day 24:  Thursday March 19, 2015

What a good day we had today!  We started off with a nourishing breakfast of pancakes and bacon chased with V-8 juice.  The cove here at Manjack/Crab Cays is glassy calm which provided us with a wonderful night’s sleep.

About mid-morning, we crawled into the dink and headed out through the shallow passage between these two Cays on our way to the Atlantic side of Manjack.  The tide was in so the water depth that stopped us yesterday was not a problem.  When motoring on waters that are completely calm, you can clearly see the bottom and all things there.  Most of this area is sparsely covered with a short sea-grass so it is possible to see turtles, fish, starfish, sea anemones and anything else that is down there.

As we pulled out of the cut in to the open ocean, there was a light chop that although it was not dangerous was uncomfortable and not conducive to skin diving.  Our goal was to visit the reportedly beautiful coral reefs on the Atlantic side of Manjack Cay but it was not to be.  At the mouth of the passage, we met a young couple in a dinghy that were coming back in from the ocean.  The young man had just slid over the side carrying his Hawaiian sling fishing spear and when he came up, we asked his if this was a neat diving area.  He told us that the water was stirred up and visibility was not good in the area but that there was an old ship wreck on the north side of Crab Cay that has a lot of fish, coral and interesting stuff in about 8 feet of water.

Rusting hulk on which we dove.

So, we motored along the shore of Crab Cay until we came upon the old steel hull of the wreck, tied the dinghy to the rough coral rocks on shore and donned our skin diving gear for a wonderful dip.  The colors were fabulous, the fish were plentiful and the coral, although a bit sparse was equally beautiful.  We spent about 45 minutes swimming over and around the partially submerged hulk. We had finally found one of the main things that we had come to the Bahamas to see.

Back at the boat, we had lunch, rested and got ready to move to another anchorage.  We decided to head a couple of miles north to the sandy beach cove called Manjack Beach.  This is the same place that we had joined Bruce and Bonnie for a fire and hot dog roast several nights back.  On the way there, in the calm open waters, I worked out the kinks in our chartplotter/ autopilot interaction that has plagued us since we left Lake Worth.  I am sure that the local fisherman who was working his nets thought that we had contracted mad cow disease as the boat would travel straight for a while then turn a 360 degree circle.  My main problem was figuring out how, once we had dropped off of a route that we had previously programed into the chartplotter, to continue on without going back to the original starting waypoint. Finally after a number of circles, we rejoined the brief route that took us to our destination.

Just as we were swinging into the large cove in which the beach is located, chart and assured her that there was plenty of water but low and behold, we heard the horrible grinding sound and the centerboard drug the rocky bottom.  Luckily, we were motoring very slowly and I was able to go forward, raise the board, and retrace our path back into deeper waters. 

As we were backing out, another sailboat passed us on a course that lead toward our destination so we fell in behind them.  They were obviously familiar with the area and led us through a deep water passage into the beach area.

The beach bonfire.  Left to right: Sharon, Craig,
Jeff, Frank, Osee and Janine

We snuggled up close to the beach.  With our board and rudder pulled up, we can travel into 18 inches of water, so close to the beach and the calmest water.

I put on my mask and snorkel and swam down to examine the end of our board to see if our light grounding had done any damage and found none.  I also checked our anchor set so that we could rest assured if the wind changed and blew toward the beach.  I also swam over to the beach and took a long walk.  The beach here is undoubtedly the nicest one we have been on to date.

Back on the boat, while we were reading, a gentleman motored up alongside and hailed us.  He said that a group of folks from other boats were going to have a bonfire in the evening and he offered that we could join them.  I enthusiastically accepted.

We dined on faux noodles and meatballs with the last of our carrot cake as our dessert. 



Craig playing his homemade wooden flute
and his double flute sits beside

After dinner, we saw a fire built on the beach so we loaded up our chairs, camera and bug spray and headed for the beach. We joined five interesting folks for a great evening of music, song and storytelling.  Jeff, a live aboard sailor, plays the guitar and sings great sailing and cruising songs, along with a variety of other. Jeff’s companion, Osee, is an interesting spirted artist who creates her works from local driftwood and materials that she gathers on the Cays and sells them both locally and back in the states.  Chris brought out two beautiful handmade wooden flutes on which he played soft soulful native tunes.  He retired from the Navy and has

And his double flute

pursued several interesting endeavors and now spends most of his time as a sailboat delivery captain.  Chris and his friend, Sharon, flew in from the states to spend a week or so in the cabin that Frank, the final member of our group, has built on Manjack Cay.  Sharon entertained us with a discussion of a type of therapy that she is involved in.  Frank, the man who was responsible for this gathering coming together, is a retired Canadian who spends fall season in the Pacific Northwest on a trawler and his winters on his 27 foot sailboat as well as his cabin. 



An animated Jeff playing great songs

We had a great time getting to meet and know the truly interesting folks.  We hated to finally have to feel our way back to our boat in the total darkness.  As we motored back, we were entertained by the beautiful sparkles and glow in the water caused by the 

bioluminescent organisms that our motor was disturbing.

Another great day in paradise.