Man O War

We left early Wednesday morning to Man O War Cay.  It is a very pretty little island with a very snug harbor.  All three of us were able to secure a mooring after passing the very narrow entrance, and we bumped the bottom on the way in.  With only two more days of lobster season we headed out in our dinghies.  Michael, from Sheet Music, got one.  The rest of us just got soaked in the 4 foot waves we had to go through.  It was the roughest dinghy ride so far.  On Thursday we decided to walk across the island and make one last attempt to get more lobster.  Emily got her first lobster, and I got two more. It was the perfect end to the season. 

Emily with her lobster

The days catch

Man O War was known for its boat building and still is.  We met Joe Aubrey, who is still building wood boats from local materials.  He invited us for a tour of his shop.  He starts by choosing the right wood and soaking it for a year in the sea.  He then selects elbows for stringers and begins the process. 

Stringers from bent limbs

 The boats are beautiful, and I understand they last forever.    I would love to sail one, but that’s not in the cards.

The final product

We left Man O on high tide headed for Treasure Cay, where the beach was voted on of the 10 best.

Treasure Cay (Not Really)

We set the spinnaker for the first time since the disaster out of Emerald Bay, and other than the girls having some trepidation we sailed without incident.  We stopped at Spoil Cay because we had heard that there was good shelling.  Spoil Cay is the last island before “THE WHALE”  which is a three mile stretch that is open to the Atlantic, and is know for being very rough in certain conditions.  It looked so easy because of conditions we could not resist going on through, and it was easy.  We have seen about 500 beaches so far during our Bahamas adventure, so we will have to come back to see one of the 10 best.  We anchored off No Name Cay, and had a very restfull night.  Weather is supposed to come in early next week, so we will head for Green Turtle Cay to wait it out.