Let me tell you about my most favorite day. We had a smile producing sail to Manjack Cay (pronounced Munjack and also know as Nunjack.) It is a private island but the few people who live on it graciously welcome cruisers on their land.

We set B.P. and headed in with Matt and Sadie to hike the Art Trail. This trail through the woods from beach to beach is about a half mile long and is filled with lots of art made by the cruisers. Everyone is encouraged to participate and display their inspirations. There is a secret code, written backwards and therefore has to be read by mirror, that encourages you to join in the art fun.

Some are simple pieces and others are quite elaborate. I love art and used to manage art galleries so this is right up my happy alley. Art tells its own story to each individual in its own way. And it doesn’t even have to be “good.” There was “good” and “bad” art and it was all good.

After the Art Trail we took another long walk to a desolate beach where we went looking for reef life in hopes to return with snorkel gear. Almost fifteen years ago Captain IthinkIcoulddothisforever and I chartered a sailboat in the Abacos with our sons. We did some of the best snorkeling and diving of our lives. On our trip in the Bahamas last year and again in the Abacos this year we have witnessed how the warming of the sea has bleached and killed the coral reefs along the shores. It is a graveyard out there. Where we swam in the largest schools of fish imaginable and with gigantic manta rays is now a bleached white ghost town. But enough with the sad when I’m telling you about my bestest day.

After our beach walk we dinghied back to the motherships to fill our coolers with cold beer and Pineapple Smashes. Then we went gunkholing with fishing poles back in miles of quiet mangroves.

Captain Shucks caught a couple of barracuda and a slight buzz. There must have been a turtle convention as they were popping up their bald heads like bubbles in a champagne glass. So many turtles! We also saw shark and eagle rays.

We rounded off the perfect day with Sadie and Matt’s most famous homemade tamales, spanish rice and refried beans with all of the mouthwatering fixings. And a good night’s sleep at a calm anchorage ended my mostest excellent day.

We moved on to Green Turtle Cay where we picked up a small generator. Echoes is a hard thing to keep in balanced harmony. Our happiness producing new portable freezer sucks the joy juice right out of our batteries. We have woken up to dead batteries more than once. Our solar panels cannot keep up with our frozen meat wonderland. Unfortunately, neither could the new small generator so we will have to find a bigger one. Captain Notsogrinchy donated it to his favorite marina office worker’s church and was told her Pastor will say a blessing for him at church this Sunday. I do believe this is a first. I will let you know if there is any behavioural changes.

Green Turtle Cay is charming and friendly. It also is where the Pineapple Smash was created at a local beachside bar called Pineapples. We partook in the original Smash and enjoyed the town.

We traveled on to Treasure Cay where we spent a night bumping around on an anchorage. We bid farewell to Soul Divers for a few days.
Soul Divers is far more self sufficient. They have a larger boat filled with goodies unimaginable, a large generator for all the power you could want and a water maker that makes better water from seawater than we can buy at the marinas for thirty-five cents a gallon. They even have an ice maker. Our remaining fifty gallons of water were tainted. We have a water tester to check for such things. We think we must have took on some seawater through a cross-threaded fill cap. Who would lack such attention to detail? Eye troooly dunt no.

The winds were causing a ruckus so it was a perfect time to duck into a marina on Treasure Cay to spend a couple of nights and get things ship shape again.

Treasure Cay has a world famous, beautiful beach where we tried to walk off all of the scrumptious food and bakery that is also a treasure there.

We let the wind blow, got some chores done and enjoyed the pleasures of the island and soft marina life before it was time to move on again.