Mangrove Cay Return Trip

We decided to do a longer cruise on Thursday June 23 and instead of going to Great Sail Cay as originally planned, we would go back to Mangrove Cay, an uninhabited cay that has is a popular anchorage.    We would have a longer day but be able to have a shorter day on Friday in preparation for a very long journey on Saturday when we would cross the Gulf Stream to Florida.

We encountered every type of weather during this cruise -  sun, clouds, wind, rain, no wind, etc.   We must have raised and lowered the curtains at least three times throughout the day but we made it to Mangrove Cay safe and sound.

When we arrived, we took the dinghy to search for the widely reported blue holes that are very deep passages ideal for snorkeling.  We rode up and down the shoreline as did another couple of guys on a dinghy but none of us found the blue holes.  So we moved Zendo to the other side of the island which was a somewhat preferred anchorage near a few other boats.

The sailing vessel, Scout, with Danial, Micah and Caitlin on board was about two hours behind us and they soon showed up  and also anchored nearby.

Jonny and I were swimming in the warm clear water to cool off from the hot sun.  The current was so strong that we tied a line to the boat to hold onto so we wouldn't drift away.

To reciprocate for their kindness the night before, we invited Scout's crew to dinner onboard Zendo.  Lynn made pasta with pesto, the eggplant parmigiana she had made at home for the journey, a great new meatloaf recipe, marinated roasted vegetables (from Costco) and we had a wonderful feast.

Later on we all lay on the foredeck and gazed at the millions of stars.  Because there is no ambient light in the area, we were able to see so much more than we are used to.  We used the SkyView app which is a very cool phone app. When you point it at the night sky it illuminates all the planets and constellations accompanied by a compellingly moody soundtrack.  We spent lots of time star-gazing both with and without the app.

They left at about 11 and we went to bed. But Jonny was afraid that our anchor was dragging even though he dove on it earlier and it was deeply embedded in sand.  The wind and current were going in opposite directions and with the tide, the boat swung so much (we had left a lot of anchor line out) that he was worried.  But we were just fine!

(Sorry for the lack of photos on this post -  Lynn got negligent with picture-taking)!