Marsh Harbour in our rear view mirror (so sad)

Apr 22: Ann and I left Marsh Harbour at 10am with Bruce and Ruth waving good-by from the dock. No sooner do you get good crew trained than it's time for them to fly home.

Our intended voyage for the day was the 27 nm run north to Manjack Cay. With the wind forecast to be out of the ENE, this portended to be an easy sail with only one complication. Getting to Manjack from Marsh Harbour requires navigating the dreaded Whale Cay Channel. (see the entry intitled “Green Turtle Cay to Treasure Cay for why it's dreaded).

The run from Marsh Harbour to the south end of Whale Cay was a fast beam reach in 8 to 13 kt of wind from the NNE. Till we passed Guana Cay the seas were flat making for ideal sailing conditions.

Past Guana, however, you have to pull out into the Atlantic Ocean to pass on the east side of Whale Cay. There, the seas were rough with a light chop on top of five foot swells. The ride was still acceptable, however, as the swells were pretty far apart. Jascat just wobbled from side to side. The worst part of the passage was getting slammed around by the wake of two big power boats going south around the Whale. Had we not been prepared, every dish in the galley would have ended up on the cabin floor.

Rounding the north end of Whale Cay and re-entering the Sea of Abaco through the Whale Cay Channel was almost anti-climatic. Jascat's wobbling motion smoothed out as we were now running with the swells. As we progressed back into the Sea of Abaco and into the lee of Green Turtle Cay, the swells and waves died out and we went back to smooth, broad reach sailing.

Manjack Cay proved to be as great a destination as the guide books claim. The anchorage between Manjack Cay and Crab Cay is as beautiful as we have seen in the Abacos. We passed by the island as we came into the Abacos back in March but were too pressed for time to stop. We won't make that mistake again.