Saturday, December 3rd, Manjack Cay anchorage

We could hear the wind which would move the boat around, but there were no big waves and it was fairly comfortable. I had the last of Nancy’s grapefruits for breakfast.

We launched the dinghy in this wind, it blowing all around with Ken trying to hold it while I quickly released the halyard to let it down. We put on the motor, got the anchor, life jackets, put the camera and vhf radio in a waterproof bag (we do learn, sometimes), and I hopped aboard. Ken put the motor into gear and it died! The wind was quickly blowing us away from the boat. I was trying to untangle the anchorline as Ken rowed us back to the boat. One has to be prepared for strong current and winds in the Bahamas. He started the motor again, letting it warm-up for awhile, then we were on our way into a beautiful little beach next to some houses.

We’d heard the owners of Manjack welcomed cruisers but we didn’t know if we were welcome everywhere. A sign on the beach said ‘Pet chickens roaming. Please leash dogs’ so we figured people were expected. Then another sign pointed to the beach and we proceeded. Next we saw a mast! and a walkway. Someone hailed us and we met Bill, the owner, and later his wife Leslie. They’ve lived on the island 20 years, Bill with his boats and Leslie with her gardens.

Rosa and Jillian arrived from the 2 other boats and we walked to the beach with them, where we beach combed for an hour or so. I found a heart sea bean and a sea biscuit and Jillian found a hamburger sea bean. We left them to join Bill and Leslie while we went back to the boat to recover from our long walk!!