Manjack (still)

  

Keith’s hand has healed up enough that with a pile of super-sized bandaids and waterproof tape he has returned to the water.  All is well again aboard the boat!  Our cool little cruising vibe has been restored and we are once again soaking up this amazing adventure.  

Check it out- I am always on the hunt  for helmet conch and both Keith and I found one on the same dive! (Helmet conch are not the same as the ones we fry up for dinner) I  found a queen helmet (rounded) and he found a king helmet (pointy). Aren’t they so gorgeous?!   Both of these shells had inhabitants so after their glamor shots they got nestled back down into the turtle grass to do what ever it is a helmet conch does for hopefully years to come.

You would think that we couldn’t get away from Rat Cay fast enough after our nasty visitor but we are still here in Manjack, we just can’t get our fill of the reefs here.  They have our hearts.

  

I am still having camera issues so not so many photos, but we have seen two more octopi, lots of eels, turtles, spotted eagle rays, and rainbows of reef fishes.  I did catch a trunk fish and a happy little puffer fish on camera.  The puffer fish always look like they are smiling up at you.  They have adorably big eyes too. This little hogfish must have known he was too tiny for dinner because I think I could have tickled his tummy he was so close.  Grow up big and strong little fish (and have lots of babies please).

The next one was big enough for dinner though. He tickled our tummies.

Even though Keith was dying to get into the water again we made good use of our mandatory dry time and walked the trails on the cay that led to the ocean-side beach.  It ended up being quite a hike and sandy flip-flops might not have been the best foot attire, but who cares when the view is this beautiful! No one else around.  Just us and this pristine beach 🙂

We didn’t have all the beaches to ourselves though.

We found these wild hogs on the beach where we were going to take Kai for a walk (Crab Cay at Manjack).  They weren’t barnyard piggies-definitely hogs-but they didn’t seem aggressive. In fact they curiously watched the dinghy as we went by and even came a little closer.  We still surrendered  the beach to them, maybe we are still a bit skidish of the wildlife. At least I don’t think that one of these would be able to play hide-and-seek with us on the boat!

And just to keep some sailing in this sailing adventure, we sailed to Green Turtle one morning to take in our one bag of trash and buy some fresh veggies and eggs.  We then sailed right back to Manjack.  Still haven’t soaked up enough of these reefs 🙂