Found a Message in a Bottle !

We were excited to find our first ever message in a bottle. We have friends who have found multiple bottles with messages, but this was our first. Wayne has had a quest this season to find a message in a bottle. He has faithfully checked every bottle we pass on every beach to check for messages. While we were walking the very busy beach in front of Nippers Bar on Great Guana on Sunday, he walked by this bottle and I happened to look down and see the paper in it!

The bottle was released from SV Sea Cloud II, which is a fancy clipper cruise ship. They were at N 18 35 and W 036 44 when it was dropped, which is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a name and address asking that we send a post card to Robert in England, which we will do.

My last update we were in the hurricane hole at Allans-Pensacola and planning to leave the next day. Well the weather was still very windy so decided to stay where we were for another day. We took a short walk on the beach but the wind was so chilly we decided to spend the afternoon on the boat. I did try a new recipe for clam chowder and it turned out great.

Thursday the 5th the weather was OK, so it was time to leave the hurricane hole. We had to wait until almost high tide in order to make it through the shallow channel to get out. High tide was not until around 4 PM, so we had the day to think about it. While in the hurricane hole we had out two anchors, which is unusual for us. We were able to get the second anchor up in the morning so when the tide was rising we were able to leave. Going out the channel we hit the bottom several times and had to back up and try it again. We made it out into very rough and confused seas and headed to Manjack Cay. We arrived at Manjack just after sunset and were happy to get the anchor down.

As we were entering Manjack, Teamwork hailed us. They were in the anchorage at the north end of the island. Teamwork dinghied over on Friday for a visit and gave me a seaglass necklace. They invited us over to see their seaglass collection. We dinghied over to Teamwork that afternoon and they told us more about seaglass and showed us a really neat book. I had no idea that seaglass takes about 100 years to get their smooth edges. Bettie Sue & Bill gave us lots of tips on where to find seaglass. I have been finding small pieces on the beach, but they were showing us large pieces they had found. I am anxious to start looking for the larger pieces now that I have a better idea where to look.

It was still windy on Saturday but we decided to walk over to the ocean beach on Manjack. There are wonderfully maintained paths all over Manjack with signs pointing the way to the beach. Wayne got some nice pictures.

We have anchored at Manjack several times and always enjoy it. There is good holding, nice wind protection from the NW to the SW and free WIFI. The WIFI is compliments of Bill and Leslie, former cruisers who now live there. This was our first opportunity to meet Bill and Leslie. They have a nice home and a beautiful yard full of flowers, birds and a garden. They share their piece of paradise with others passing their way. You can land your dinghy on their beach where you will see a sign to please leash your dog because they have pet chickens. They have British chickens, a rooster and 3 hens that are HUGE and a beautiful shade of rusty orange. While we were talking Bill was hand feeding the Bananaquits on his porch. Bill and Leslie are very nice, we look forward to visiting Manjack again and we appreciate their generosity.

Sunday morning the weather report sounded like it might be a good day to go back into the Sea of Abaco. The trip from Manjack back to the Sea of Abaco requires that you go through the Whale Cay cut. We have had smoother trips through this cut, it was a slightly bumpy ride today, but we arrived safely and anchored in Fishers Bay at Great Guana Cay. After getting the anchor down we walked over to town. Our walk along the beach in front of Nippers is when we found the message in the bottle. We stopped by the Art Cafe and bought a fresh loaf of homemade bread. On our way back to the boat we passed by Grabbers Bar and Grill where we saw Earl and Karen from Temptation. We joined their group and met Celtic Cross and Muskoka Moon. Temptation came over later that evening and we had fun teaching them how to play Mexican Train Dominos and Farkle.

Monday we decided to move to Treasure Cay, a resort area with a protected anchorage. Temptation had moved to Treasure Cay earlier in the day and as we passed by their boat they offered to give us a quick tour of the area after lunch. Treasure Cay advertises one of the top 10 beaches in the world. The beach is long and wide and has beautiful white sand, but no shells. So it may be one of the most beautiful, but it would not be in my top 10 for favorite beaches to walk. The grocery store here is big for an outlying area. We had a wonderful salad for dinner since we once again had lettuce. Game night was on Temptation, tonight and featured Farkle and Quiddler.

We expect to stay in Teasure Cay for a few days before heading back towards Marsh Harbor.