Marsh Harbour to Manjack Cay

3/27/10 7:30 am

We are up and having tea, cereal, fruit and yogurt. We continue check out the boat. Head (toilet) Check! Kitchen stove, Sailing systems (Simon says the mainsail is tough to raise), dingy (small motor boat) check! We request a few more of this and that and finally we are given out full boat check out. I have had to sign a couple of waivers because we going outside the normal chartering area. Finally all the paperwork is done! The weather is beautiful and with a nice sailing easterly breeze blowing 12 to 15 knots.

We cast off and motor slowly out of harbor and spend a little time fiddling with out main sail. It does really fit the rig. The sail doesn’t quite go to the top of the mast and is baggy at the base. Not ideal but we are sailing. We get the jib (foresail) up and off we go. Our goal is to get through the dreaded Whale Key Passage while the weather is good. My father and I have sailing experience but Todd and Dave don’t have much. So we are figuring out the boat and teaching at the same time.

My father and I don’t have much experience with a GPS chart plotter and we are having trouble selecting waypoints. There is a series of waypoints used to navigate safely through the rocks and shoals of the Whale Key Passage. You have to sail almost a Z pattern to get through. We finally get the waypoints figured out on the GPS and call into base that we are going through and head into the passage. The wind is blowing from a good direction and We tack our way through the rocks. It’s a beautiful sail and we have no trouble.

We radio that we are through and head North between Green Turtle and Great Abaco island. We cut a bit close to Green Turtle Island and have to change course a bit when the water gets shallow but soon we are heading toward Manjack. Where we will anchor for the night. We are headed into the anchorage when Dave’s fishing line starts to squeal. Dave grabs it and there is a fish. He hands off to Todd who reels in a nice mackerel. Then we hurry to get the sails down and drop our anchor.

I put on my snorkeling gear and dive the anchor. We only have one boat length of anchor chain out but the anchor is dug into the sand. Todd let’s out more scope (anchor chain) when I feel we are safely anchored, I swim to other boat. I check their anchor and climb on board for a cold beer. While I am on Tranquility my father and Dave clean the mackerel. While Dave is cleaning the fish he falls on the knife and cuts his arm badly. He is 80 years old and not very stable. We are really lucky that is was not too serious. They get the bleeding stopped and my father tells me about it when I swim back. I make sure the wound is clean and but antibiotic ointment on it and rebandage it. He cut 3 inch slice along the top of his forearm. Not very deep and no veins or arteries luckily. We will have to keep a close eye on Dave and the wound.

We all lie down for a napand then I start dinner. We have an oven so I bake the mackerel, and pork chops, I make yellow rice and squash and onions to go with it. Dave is drinking Crystal Light lemonade and vodka and the rest of us beer. After dinner we get a call on the radio from Tranquility that they have made brownies. So we climb in the dinghy and motor over for Brownies on other boat. After dessert and conversation we head back to Land Escaper and soon cash. Other than Dave’s laceration it’s been a good day. Great sailing and Todd is learning quickly. In spite of the baggy mainsail Land Escaper sails well. There is a fair breeze blowing and I sleep restlessly through the night. I am up a few times to check our anchor due to wind and shifting boat. We stay firmly anchored through the night.