Explore an island with us! We check out every nook and cranny of Manjack Cay, from the ocean beach to the mangrove canals, from the sharks to the sea turtles!

5.3 – Friday

Manjack Cay is about two hours away from Powell Cay, and we managed to sail for about an hour of the passage. How is the wind always against us!? These short hops are incredibly easy though, so we don’t have to plan for the weather much at all.

We had to anchor twice, normally I drive and we drop the anchor when I give the signal, but we’re learning that Kyle needs to give input about when we’re over a sandy spot because that’s where the anchor will hold. The rest is grass and the anchor drags through that. It was super cloudy today, so naturally I got really burnt. I thought I was fine, I was under the hard top the whole time I was driving! So the rest of the photos in this post will show me covered from head to toe.

Kyle spoiled us with fresh smoked mahi for dinner – I can’t tell you how much we love our Cobb Grill smoker! It’s small and easily transportable, and we’ve smoked everything from almonds to meats on it!

5.4 – Saturday

We were really excited about touring the mangrove canals here, but when we hopped in the dinghy this morning we found that the tide was too low. Instead we dinghy-explored the shoreline, where we saw lots of turtles! We tried to capture photos without harassing them too much, which accurately describes all my interaction with sentient sea life so far.

We dinghied over to the beach. There is a cruising couple who moved to this Manjack Cay almost 30 years ago, they’ve set up the landing beach to be extremely friendly – picnic tables, a brick pizza oven, a station for opening coconuts.

There were a few people around, they gave us the lay of the land, and recommended a visit to the ocean side of the island. With the winds from the west, the ocean side is extremely calm right now, so we decided to make the mile-long hike out.

It was so beautiful. Pristine beach, crystal clear water. They clean up the trash that washes up, so the beach is picture-perfect. We wandered along the white sand just reveling in the beauty. The camera doesn’t do justice to the views we were seeing, but it’s the best you’re going to get for now.

We were walking along the shoreline, and there was a big barracuda swimming parallel to shore. The water clarity is unreal, even the photo shows that pretty well.

Late afternoon we hopped back in the dinghy to hit up the mangroves on a rising tide. Eventually it got so shallow that Kyle turned off the engine and started paddling. There were so many turtles! At one point I could see at least 8. And we saw at least 2 sharks, but they didn’t really come close enough for photos.

After Kyle had started the engine again, we were slowly motoring our way out, and we saw a huge spotted eagle ray. Just gorgeous. She let us follow her for a while, then she was done and flipped around. The underwater camera had died by this time.

It’s hot here. I wanted to jump in the water, and I’ve never snorkeled before, so this evening I just decided. I was going to do it. This shouldn’t be a big deal, but there is a running joke in my family about us all being bad at swimming, and I’m quite uncomfortable in the water so I was apprehensive. I geared up and Kyle told me how to prepare my mask. I lowered myself into the water and willed my face into the water. It was…okay. I hyperventilated a few times, breathing through a snorkel was weird. But I did it. Successfully. I didn’t die.

Next step: flippers FINS, I guess I still have a lot to learn.

5.5 – Sunday

Kyle changed the oil in both engines. Also the starboard holding tank fitting started leaking and the starboard bilge had poop water in it. I know you think boat life is all fun and games, but our chores are real and sometimes gross.

While we’re talking about the crappier side of boat life (ha), here’s our current water situation: we’re running low on tank water, but our watermaker is making slightly salty water (0.6 ppt, FDA levels are 0.5 ppt or less, it’s safe but not perfect). Anyway, Kyle thinks it tastes fine, I think it’s bad and I don’t want to fill our water tanks with it. Long story short, tank water is now only for drinking, so all cleaning, bathing, dishes, etc is done with water from a bucket. Just when you thought boat showers couldn’t get any more cumbersome. One option is to stop at a marina and fill the water tanks, but the courteous thing to do is to fill the diesel tanks at the same time so we’re spending a decent amount of money, and we don’t really need diesel right now.  

Today we went ashore to check out the flotsam art trail. It was really cool! I believe it’s been put together by the island hosts, and they have put some effort and creativity into the art!

This coconut husk sailboat was cute and creative!

There were a ton of painted sea biscuits. This one was my favorite – I’m not sure if it’s referring to alcohol or hydration in general, but drinking is definitely important to the cruising lifestyle!

The trail ended at a tiny mangrove beach, we couldn’t make it any further so we walked back. We met up with a couple cruisers we talked to yesterday, Bruce and Kyle wandered over to troubleshoot some solar controller problems while Kay showed me the grounds and gardens, which are extensive!

5.6 – Monday

We planned to move over to Green Turtle Cay today, but when we looked at the weather we saw that tomorrow is a prime opportunity to transit Whale Cut, a notoriously rough passage in certain conditions. We’re going to stay put today, then tomorrow we’ll transit the cut and anchor in Marsh Harbour.

With the change in plans, we made water and I got a pile of laundry done. We have been washing by hand ever since we left Palm Coast Marina. It’s actually not so bad.

I really wanted to take the paddleboard out. I headed toward a tiny island (Rat Cay), but it was so rough I had to stay on my knees. At the island, I saw a shark! I paddled toward her and tried to take a photo, but sharks are fast. It looks like this is a lemon shark.

The calm water around the island was too shallow for paddle boarding, and the rest of the water was too rough, so I gave up and went back to the boat.

That evening, we hopped in the dinghy with some charcuterie and beer and anchored out in the mangrove canal. We saw lots of turtles, but they wouldn’t come closer than 30 feet – in fact, around that distance, they’d pop their heads out of the water, spot us, and beeline away. At first I was disappointed they wouldn’t come and check us out, but it was absolutely comical watching them putter along, surface, and then freak out!

Manjack Cay was a lot of fun. Tomorrow we’ll be in a real city!