Northern Abacos

Time to start mosying back towards civilization.  We really love the northern Abacos - many undeveloped and uninhabited cays to explore.  So when it's time to head back, we take some time to visit some of our favorite beaches and anchorages.

First is Baker's Bay at the north end of Great Guana Cay.  The development there has begun in earnest, a huge marina has been dredged out of the center of the cay and a golf course appears to be about complete.  We stay only one night and go out to the reef just offshore for some snorkeling, which fortunately is still great.

The weather is still excellent, so we go ahead and put the Whale Cay Passage behind us.  This requires an open ocean passage which can be gnarly if the wind is kicking up.  Several boats are lost here about every year.  For us it was smooth as silk - I attribute it to good clean living.

We pass on by Green Turtle Cay since we stopped there earlier already and made for Manjack Cay (pronounced Munjack and shown on some charts as Nunjack).  This is one of our favorites and here's why:  (click on any picture to enlarge)

Island Passage rides gently on her anchor, alone in the small cove.

We visit the reefs just around the corner... huge coral heads are everywhere.  The coral is healthy with lots of fish.

Another view of the harbour.  It's protected only from the south and east, the north faces open ocean.  Fortunately there is little surge into the harbour.

Another view of the beach from the dinghy.

We spend two nights at Manjack.  Unfortunately on the way into the harbour, I went to put the starboard engine into neutral, heard a snap and the shifter handle just dropped, obviously no longer connected to the cable.  Unable to take the engine out of gear all I could do was turn it off.

Checking underneath the dash, I found the plastic pivot broken into pieces and the brass swivel tube bent and broken.  O.K., no hardware stores around.  Rummaging through my spare parts box I was able to fashion another pivot from a strip of metal by cutting it and bending it to fit the end of the cable and the shifter.  The swivel needed reinforcement where it was broken and maaybeee it will hold for awhile (fingers crossed).  With some tweaking and adjusting I could put the engine into both forward and reverse (and, just as importantly, into neutral).  This will making docking ever so much easier.

As a good omen, as we were leaving Manjack, a dolphin appeared to offer support.

We stopped at Spanish Cay just long enough to take on some water and ice for the cooler and proceeded north to Allans-Pensacola Cay, another of our favorites.

Sunset at Allans-Pensacola...

It was a beautiful, clear night in the cove with very light breezes. 

Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear with no breeze at all.  We begin our crossing of the Little Bahama Bank with lake-smooth water.  A view northward towards Moraine Cay...

We take our time and enjoy watching the bottom go by at about 8 knots.  We anchor for the night at Great Sale Cay, another uninhabited cay along the route of the Little Bahama Bank.

Thursday morning offers a light breeze from the west - southwest and, off i  the distance we can see a line of thunder showers.  We pass safely just south of the line and. passing Mangrove Cay, our next waypoint, we turn south towards Dover Sound and the Grand Lucayan Waterway that cuts through Grand Bahama Island.

We have spent 12 straight days anchored out and are ready for the marina at Freeport.