May 4th... Green Turtle to Manjack Cay

During the morning we moved up to Manjack Cay which is about 5 miles north of Green Turtle. It is well protected from all directions except for the west and has very few homes. After getting a hook down we had some lunch and read for awhile.

At about two pm we took off in the dinghy to go exploring the island to our south. At first our outboard was acting up but we got up on plane and ran across the bay to a very shallow cut into the ocean. Unfortunately, it was too close to low tide. I tried to pole the boat through but had to give up. When we got back to deeper water the motor wouldn't start. We got a tow from some friends to a point that was directly up wind from Sapphire and began our drift back to Sapphire. After a few minutes, I tried the outboard and it seemed fine so we reversed our course and went around the island in the other direction. It was mostly rocky and the bottom had quite a bit of grass which is usually good for conch. The only ones we saw though were too small to eat.

We did find a small secluded beach with hundreds of sea biscuits, shells and other treasures. Before heading back I rigged a line to both sides of the transom of our dinghy with a large loop behind. With snorkel, mask and fins, I had Kathy drag me through the shallow water looking for conch. It's a Bahamian trick used to find areas of conch that we learned from Barry on "Night Hawk". You can cover lot of ground in a hurry this way but again all the conch that I saw were small. I did see some large scallops but need to do some research on them before I start collection.

Shortly after our return to Sapphire the crews of "Madcap" and "Solitaire" came along side to toast our safe return. They had heard of our motor problems, and when we didn't show up, went out to find us. Although we strive for self sufficiency, knowing that we have folks looking out for us comforting. Our adventure during the last few months has been truly enhanced by the wonderful people that we've met along the way.