Green Turtle Cay To Manjack Cay

Beach House and crew had a great time at Green Turtle Cay, but it was time to move on and we had to do a little business. We headed out of Black Sound and of course it was almost at low tide. But the lowest depth in the channel was 5.9 feet and that was only in one spot. The winds had picked up early and we would be heading into about 10 to 12 knots right on the nose. Inside the Sea Of Abaco, the wind waves are small so it was not an uncomfortable ride. It would only be about an hour before we dropped anchor in a small, very shallow bay at the west end of Manjack Cay. The part of the bay we anchored in is not for drafts over 4 feet at low tide. There is a deeper anchorage off a small beach near the western tip that can carry up to 6 feet at low tide.


We came to visit the publishers of Wavey Line Charts to finish up the details regarding using their charts in our Bahamas Edition of The Great Book Of Anchorages. They have a wonderful piece of property on Manjack Cay that they are slowly developing, and they live on their boat at the dock. Entering this small harbor is easy, but once inside the bottom rises quickly. Beach House draws 4 feet and we arrived right at low tide. We hit 4 feet at one point and backed out until the depth sounder registered 5. That would be the least depth we would see and the high tide for the day was 2.9 feet. This may be the most shallow depth we have anchored in so far.

Once our business meeting was concluded, we took a walk over the island through a beautiful path to the ocean side. Bob and Jane of Wavey Line Charts have done a great job of cutting paths to the various beaches around the island and invite boaters that can handle the depths to stop by and enjoy what Manjack Cay has to offer. There are deeper anchorages around the island - Coconut Tree Bay and between Manjack and Crab Cay. The anchorage between Manjack and Crab offers some fantastic dinghy exploration in Nunjack Harbor. These anchorages can be uncomfortable in strong west to south winds, but in prevailing conditions, this is a stop we highly recommend.

And of course, walking the beach on the ocean side is a must. It's wonderful to find a beach that is not visited by many people. You get the feeling that for a short period of time, it's your own private beach. We found lots of driftwood and we got to make a new friend named Paige that enjoyed running up and down the beach chasing birds, crabs and just about anything else that moved. We all had a great afternoon as the clock was winding down for our Bahamas visit. Tomorrow we will move some 50 miles to Great Sale Cay and prepare to move over to West End to cross the Gulf Stream again back to Florida. These cruises always end too soon and this one is no exception. We have mixed emotions at this time in any cruise. On one hand we hate to see it end and leave this wonderful country. On the other hand, it will be good to get back to major grocery stores, easy access to goods and supplies, and begin our trip north on the ICW to the Chesapeake. We look forward to spending the summer with family and friends. But it isn't over quite yet. We still have a few more days and a few more anchorages to visit. Internet access may be hard to come by until back in the States, so if we don't post for a while, we promise to catch up as soon as we can.

       You can see many more photos of our Bahamas cruise on our Facebook Page here.