We had a very special calm day. We decided to devote it to snorkeling. Our first trek was somewhat of a wild goose chase. We went looking for some coral between Manjack and Green Turtle Cay. It was a lovely dinghy ride and we learned that it would be possible to go from one cay to the other by dinghy on a calm day, but we did not find any coral.
We returned to the boat, recharged ourselves and our dinghy motor and set out again. We headed for a reef just outside crab cay cut. It was low tide and very shallow in the mangrove lagoon. We saw turtles everywhere. In some places we had to walk our dinghy across the shallows.
We finally made it to the reef. It was legal to spear fish here so David had his spear. There was one other dinghy anchored. We saw dinghies further out on another reef as well. We anchored and went in. The reef was nice. We were looking for lobster. We checked under rocks and in little caves. Finally, I spotted something that looked like a lobster. His face and antennae were just outside his cave. David was ahead of me but I was able to call him and show him. He went down with the spear and got the lobster.
We brought it back to the dinghy. We were satisfied with one lobster and headed back to the boat. We cleaned the lobster and put the tail in the refrigerator and headed out again.
We went to the north end of the island and went into every cove. There was an island called The Gardens that we wanted to snorkel around. It was beautiful. with soft corals, and fish congregated in the branches. On the way back, a large turtle swam with me. It was a little murky on the back side so I did not get great footage of him.
We went to the last cove that was deep and rocky with some wrap around swell. We did not snorkel off the rocks there. We stopped and walked on a beautiful beach. There was another small reef that we did not snorkel as it was getting late and I wanted one more paddle board with the turtles.
I set out into the mangrove and could see them right away. I could just stand or kneel on my board and watch them. Photographing them was near impossible. Starfish hold still better. I stayed out until the glare from the setting sun made it difficult to see.
Tonight a storm moves in with heavy winds and rain. Then the winds will be high for quite some time. We saved the Manjack beaches and hiking for the windy weather. I still have hopes of getting back in the mangroves but we really enjoyed this rare day.
We had lobster bites for dinner. They were delicious.
