Manjack Cay Mangroves

After the 1.5 mile art trail hike we decided to see if we could find our way to the ocean beach. Well, our first attempt ended at the coconut beach so after lunch we tried again and did find the beautiful and deserted ocean beach.

Enroute, Greg & Jim checked out a boardwalk that went through the mangroves to a little dock.

This was an interesting pile up of unusual beetles. 

Greg felt inspired to create his own piece of art with some of the flotsam littering this beautiful beach.

We think this could be auctioned off as the centerpiece of a community art auction. Kilroy!??

We tried to time our dinghy trip into a large mangrove estuary in the middle of the island in order to be there just a little before high tide. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get in or get very far.

Over the course of  our 1.5 hour exploration we saw 100's of sea turtles, a number of birds & a couple of amazing eagle rays with 6 foot wing spans. Wow!

There are 4 turtles in this picture.

This odd craft was tied up way back in a corner of the mangroves.

Friday, we cruised the 30 miles back to Marsh Harbour. This time, though, the Whale cut into the ocean was much nicer to us. Though there were occasional 5 foot swells, we didn't have any trouble going over them.

It's still a bit intimidating watching the water break on the rocks on both sides of the boat as we transit the narrow passage.

Greg & Sheila found this lovely hand painted serving tray in St. Martin and gave it to us as a thank you for the trip. So kewl!

Saturday, the Cobbs fly to Tampa, pick up their car and head for home in Warsaw, Indiana. We will begin the final leg of our trip as we head back to the states.

Unfortunately, the weather looks to be pretty ugly the next few days so we will go about 40 miles north of Marsh Harbour & seek shelter at a small marina at Spanish Cay to wait out the squalls that are headed our way. Then, we have to figure out how move 70 miles further north & west to another marina where we'll try to time our crossing of the Gulf Stream to get back to the states. The way it looks right now, it may take us a full week of waiting and sheltering until we get a window of settled weather. Argghhh.

We'll let you know how it goes,