Category: Abacos

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Last 3 Weeks in Paradise: 25 Bahamas Experiences

Disclaimer: Since it is hurricane season, we wanted to clarify that our boat is safely stored at an inland marina in Florida. This post covers our Bahamas adventures back in May. We’ll update you on the current situation soon!

After leaving Grand Cay in March, most of our travel decisions were based on the idea of revisiting that particular island.  It is a jump-off point for scuba diving at Walkers Cay, which is supposed to be one of the best dive sites in the Bahamas. We’d provision and start to head north, only to realize we weren’t going to get a clear enough stretch of weather to make us feel good about venturing back into the more remote, less protected northern Abacos.

Once again, we were facing a nasty forecast in 3-6 days, so we decided we’d head south to provision in Marsh Harbour and then attempt to make it to Grand Cay. Ah, the sailing life – where it’s normal to turn grocery shopping into a multi-day adventure.

Spoiler alert: We never made it to Grand Cay! However these few weeks were the best of the trip. Here are 25 experiences from those weeks (in generally chronological order):

  1. We tried our Monitor windvane for the first time ever.  Can we say – WOW!
    The Monitor at work behind Paul

    The windvane is essentially an autopilot – it’s a wing on the back of the boat that you angle into the wind and connect to the steering wheel, and it steers for you. People told us we would love it, but really, wow! Normally this would be used in open sea to allow you to focus on tasks other than steering or to just take a break, but we continued to watch our course carefully and frequently adjusted the windvane since we were in a narrow area. It was just so cool to see it working!

  2. We had the most gorgeous day of sailing.  It was the only time in the Bahamas that we put up both foresails. Weather was sunny and beautiful. The water was paradise blue.

    This photo is from the day before…. only 1 sail up then haha

    We sailed at 5+ knots the whole time. The swell across Whale Channel was perfectly timed for a comfortable ride. It was a great reminder why having a sailboat is amazing!

  3. Dolphins escorted us into the Marsh Harbour anchorage. They were a mama and baby pair, and they played in the bow. We’ve had so few dolphin sightings in the Bahamas compared to the US! We also saw sea turtles and a nurse shark in the anchorage.

    Nurse shark
  4. We realized it’s a small world after all. We ran into a catamaran from Bass Lake, CA, a town near Paul’s hometown. We drove up to them in our dinghy, and it turns out they know a lot of people that Paul and his family also know.

    These snails agree its a small world!
  5. I tried to watch sunset and instead saw a big fat waterspout. That one disappeared before I could get the camera, but a second, skinnier one formed on the horizon – not nearby thankfully! We’d met the couple who owns the powerboat in this picture earlier that day, so I emailed them the photo. Their response: “Holy shit!”

    Left side of photo… the skinny water spout below the clouds
  6. We dined with cool cats at the full moon party at Cracker P’s on Lubbers Quarters. We were greeted at the dock by one of their many bar cats.
    The welcome committee at Cracker P’s on Lubbers Quarters

    We got there before the crowds, when they were still making frozen drinks, and they were SO GOOD (not sure how much alcohol was in them but yummm). It was $25 for an all-you-can-eat-buffet that they kept refilling for hours and hours. By Bahamas standards, that is not an expensive restaurant meal and it was actually REALLY tasty – the chicken was excellent; the grouper and pork were good; the coconut conch was interesting.  Beer was overpriced, but otherwise this was one of our best meals out in the islands. The place has a little beach and paddleboards, so it would be fun to check out during the day next time.

  7. We accidentally attended another full moon party.
    Noticing some movement on the beach at our Mystery Island X anchorage, we got out the binoculars (are we creepy?) and saw several people building a beach fire. We were tired, but we decided to eat dinner and then drag ourselves to the beach after we saw what we thought was fire dancing…. which turned out to be a light-up hula hoop that I was required to use as initiation into the party.  There was singing and guitar playing and people from Chicago who had literally planned their Bahamas charter around attending this full moon party because they loved it last time they were here…. 12 years ago. Attending this fire ended up being the best idea because…
  8. We made friends who weren’t on the move! At the party, we met S & J, two experienced travelers and sailors who had been staying at this anchorage long term. As soon as J invited Paul to go spearfishing, I knew we’d be staying here a while, no matter how long Paul had to wait out the weather! In addition, we got to know the island’s residents who hosted the bonfire, and they were incredibly interesting and generous people – these are people who bought raw land and built it into a truly magical destination over the course of decades, with materials, groceries, and supplies they could bring in only by boat.
    Many people stop at this island to go walking, so there was always someone to talk to if you were hanging out on the beach. We met a lot of Canadians, including a family of 4 on a boat around the size of ours. They were homeschooling for a year while giving their daughters the adventure of a lifetime. The weeks were filled with dinners on boats, birthday celebrations, and more bonfires. Especially with S & J around, we got to experience the sense of community we really missed since we’d left the dock at Pineapple’s. We’re really so grateful to them for hanging out, showing us around, and tolerating all the times we yelled “ahoy” into their boat while S was on the phone!
  9. We swam with the “tame” sharks and rays. S told us about a spot where the tour boats feed the sharks and rays.
    One common activity is to put squid between your toes and let the rays suck it out. We didn’t try this!
    No one was feeding the animals when we arrived, so Paul put on his snorkel and headed in, while I stood in the shallow water trying to work up some courage while also keeping a close eye on the rays and sharks (lemons, reef, and nurse) that ventured in looking for tasty treats.
    Eventually, after seeing Paul not get eaten, I went in too. We tried to get cool pictures but the sharks were way too timid to pose for photos. I acknowledge calling them “tame” is a joke and there might be some stupidity in swimming where the animals are used to being fed, but like I said, there was no active feeding going on and unlike this woman who got bit by a nurse shark, I kept my arms to myself and my eyes open!

  10. We watched our boat neighbors battle a shark big enough to keep us out of the water. There was a big boat  anchored next to us a few days, and we later learned they were filming a pilot for an Amazon TV show (gotta get that boat tax write-off somehow, right?). We watched as one guy caught something huge on his fishing rod – he fought it for half an hour while people on the boat hooted and hollered and filmed whatever he was valiantly trying to reel in. After he gave up and caught the line, we took the dinghy by and shouted, “What did you have on the line!?”  He yelled back, “A 10-foot tiger shark!” We didn’t take any sunset swims after that.
  11. No-see-ums are way worse than mosquitoes. All of a sudden, it got warm enough for the bugs to come out in full force. We discovered this when a walk through the woods turned into a race to the beach as we tried to outrun the mosquitoes. Little did we understand that the no-see-ums would be the true enemy. For a week I’d wake up in the middle of the night as the little itchy bumps would suddenly fire up again. The boats in the anchorage kept moving farther out to sea, as they tried to find a spot far enough from the island that the mosquitoes wouldn’t come for dinner.
  12. We got to do some sweet scuba diving! Island X’s reefs are beautiful and full of little caves.
    Paul and I went diving on a rare calm day and spotted a magnificently huge elkhorn coral. J and I went the next day – he took me through some little caves and swim-throughs, where we saw a giant urchin, a moral eel, a big lobster, good-sized trigger fish, and a shark egg.

    Shark egg?

  13. The slipper lobster reared its ugly head. Have you ever heard of a slipper lobster? Neither had we. But they’re so ugly that they’re cute. And they taste good too.
  14. Bohnanza turned out to the be the world’s best card game. I’m not even joking. You get to be vicious and sneaky, but only if you want. Throw in a waterfront cabin and mojitos made with limes and mint straight out of the garden, and you pretty much have the best night ever.
  15. We discovered foods we’d never heard of. We met some folks kind enough to share from their garden. When going to the grocery store presents you with soggy potatoes, soggy onions, and broccoli, being gifted fresh food is like being given $1000, and we are forever grateful.
    And to see the  amount of hard work and love that these people put into their garden was pretty amazing. In our tour of the place, we discovered fruits we never heard of, such as the sour orange, surinam cherry and the chocolate pudding fruit! J kept insisting that 1 of every 7 surinam cherries is sweet and delicious instead of bitter. I ate like 30 of them and haven’t found the sweet one yet!
  16. We went land crabbing! J rolled up to our boat one day and asked if we wanted to go crabbing. Imagining this to include a trap being dropped in the water, I asked, “What does it involve?” He answered, “A canvas bag, long pants, long sleeves, flash lights, and bug spray… oh, and lots of rum. We’ll pick you up after sunset.”  When I told Paul, he said, “Oooooh, we must be going land crabbing!” I had no idea this was even a thing.land crab Abacos Bahamas
    On our ride to the scene of this activity, S & J gave us instruction on how to step lightly on the crabs’ heads and grab them behind the claws. Next thing we knew, we downed some rum and took off running down the trails, flashlights in hand. Soon enough, we’re busting through brush and diving into holes grabbing crab after crab, throwing them into bags and buckets…. and re-capturing the ones that managed to escape! The rum is an essential part of this because you have to give the grabs some sort of advantage.After caging and feeding the crabs for a few days to “clean them out,” a feast was had. I think we cooked something like 10 crabs for 11 people – those suckers are huge!

    I make ridiculous faces when handling crabs.
  17. Bioluminescence lit up our world. Have you ever seen a fancy power boat with decorative blue lights under the stern? That’s what bioluminescence looks like. Microorganisms in the water produce light when disturbed. We’d just barely seen this before in Puerto Rico and Florida, but then it was like a little green glitter in the water. Here it was like having a blue flashlight under water. We drove the dinghy in circles to make it glow. I would entertain myself endlessly by leaning over the boat and bouncing fenders in the water, watching the it light up and giggling. We couldn’t get the camera settings right to capture it in a photo, but google it and you’ll get the idea. We thought it would be so cool to swim with our bodies glowing, but then we’d start thinking about that tiger shark….
  18. Paul learned the art of spearfishing…. and shark fighting. When the weather finally settled, Paul went spearfishing with J. J knows the reef like the back of his hand, will chase fish into deep holes, and can hold his breath for several minutes, so Paul went truly as the student.In the Bahamas, you aren’t allowed to spearfish with scuba equipment, so you must hold your breath as long as it takes you to find, spear, and retrieve the fish. Paul’s spear is a pole attached to a giant rubber band. You pull the pole back to use the power of the band to launch the spear, but the band stays around your wrist so you don’t lose it.
    Problem number one – sometimes the fish fight back! Paul shot a fish, but before he could grab the end of the spear, the fish started to swim away, loading up the tension on the rubber band. The fish broke free and – “pop!” – launched the dull end of the spear right back into Paul’s chest. He recoiled, resisting the urge to gasp while 20 feet underwater.  Luckily, his only real injury was a bruise that lasted a week.Problem number two – the sharks know where J hunts. As soon as they hopped out of the dinghy into the water, the reef sharks were there, waiting for the spearing to begin. Normal protocol would be that if one person spears something, the other person acts as shark lookout/defense as you work to get the fish back to the boat. When Paul got a fish, he looked for J to signal it was time to roll, but he noticed that J had just speared a fish too!
    With 2 flailing, bleeding fish, they surfaced, trying to hold the fish out of the water as they swam for the boat, which now somehow seemed to be 100 yards away. The sharks were in hot pursuit, and the guys were ready to give them a good whack if they got within arms distance (don’t worry, they’re tough and wouldn’t be harmed). Though the sharks get close, J said they’re typical behavior is to look at you like, “What? You’re not a fish!” and then to swim off to the spot where the fish was originally speared.Trying to imagine what this is like? Here’s a picture from someone with a very similar experience:

    Sorry Joe, I stole your photo cause it’s just too cool
  19. Paul never looks happier than when he’s been fishing. :::love:::


  20. Nature is so freaking awesome. And sometimes you just don’t have the camera ready. Paul tossed a scrap of fish off Miss Fe into the water. Instantly, a shark darted out from under our boat and grabbed the fish – then a barracuda larger than the shark came out and stole the fish from the shark!
  21. We enjoyed the view from Foxtown. This little town on Abaco wasn’t originally in our list of places to visit, but as we made our way back towards West End to depart for the US, it offered us protection from easterly winds. The view from here, with all the rocks, made us feel like we were suddenly in a different country. And from the tall town docks (where the water is quite shallow, so dinghies only), we could see the sharks waiting for the fisherman to drop their scraps.
    Sharks and more sharks

  22. Bahamians don’t approve of Paul’s beer choices. Food was surprisingly affordable in Foxtown at Da Valley Restaurant – and holy crap the fried food platter was the best we’d had. And beers were $4, except for one called Bushcrack, which was only $3. Curious, Paul ordered a Bushcrack and the patron at the bar says to the bartender, “Did you warn him?!” Paul didn’t understand what the fuss was about though – it tasted light but still had 5.7% ABV. Plus the name is just funny.

  23. No boat repairs! They say cruising is just fixing your boat in exotic places, but after leaving Florida, we were fortunate to have no real problems. Here we were, 2.5 months in the Bahamas, and the only thing we were doing was splicing a bad section of our jib sheet. It probably could have made the trip home, but we didn’t want to risk it since we wanted to head back to Florida with some actual wind so that it wouldn’t take 19 hours (unlike when we came to the Bahamas).While we were splicing , I pulled up the charts and realized we were still 2 days journey from West End, not one day. We’d gotten so spoiled in the populated part of the Abacos that we’d forgotten that not everything else was just a 10-20 mile hop.
  24. We practiced our “rough weather” sailing. OK, I suppose it wasn’t actually rough weather in the mind of most cruising sailors, but it’s not a day the recreational folks would normally pick for “fun.” We had around 15 knots of wind and 3-4 foot waves as we headed from Foxtown to Great Sale Cay. There is no cell reception in Great  Sale, so the other boats were all over the radio discussing weather and Gulf Stream crossing plans. Despite the rough seas there were several boats who had just come from the US. The next day, en route to West End, the wind and waves had calmed down on Little Bahama Bank, but the waves were annoyingly choppy – I was fine with this as I still wanted to get used to rougher waters before we crossed. Paul even sailed through narrow pass near West End, and we had a big dolphin swim through our bow wake to say “farewell.”
    Checking the weather

    Once we were within range of cell phone service once again, we checked the weather again. Chris Parker’s forecast showed more intense conditions than previously predicted for Sunday night into Monday (we planned to cross Monday morning) – he now recommended crossing only for “Salty Sailors” with 5-6 foot waves and winds 14-19 knots, gusting to 24. This was about 5 knots and 1-2 feet more than we were hoping for. We debated waiting. We debated changing our haul-out date in Florida (a schedule is the enemy of sailors). We decided to wait a few more days. Then we questioned our decision. We researched some more forecasts. We consulted with J; he said we’d be fine.As we headed to the West End anchorage, we were exposed to the waves rolling in and they were about 6 feet. Getting to experience those waves made me feel better – they seemed manageable. We decided to head out Monday morning.

  25. We managed to anchor at West End, but it was hard to sleep as we thought about coming back to the US.
    Crossing the gulf stream
    Way too amped up to sleep – bye bye Bahamas! We’ll be back soon!

    Though we heard other sailors say that West End is “the worst anchorage ever,” we’ve actually had good holding both times we anchored there.  We also tucked back in far enough that we weren’t exposed to those 6 foot waves. The problem is the current. After emailing a float plan to Paul’s dad, calling my parents, and prepping the sails for easy deployment in high winds, we attempted to sleep but the current moved our boat in a crazy pattern all around our anchor and kept shaking the snubber lose. The chain would then start rattling, waking us from whatever almost-sleep we were getting. Add in the anxiety of a big crossing, and we most certainly weren’t asleep until after midnight.

In conclusion, these last few weeks were amazing!! Here a bunch more photos, and stay tuned to hear about our adventure crossing back through the Gulf Stream to Florida!

Little fish swimming through a wrecked barge

Angel fish
Nassau grouper
Huge puffer fish
Our first sighting of the invasive lion fish
Paul trying to kill the invasive lion fish

 

Upper left corner… this fish kept attacking the camera, haha
Heading to Cracker Ps
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The Shark Before the Storm

Calm weather was predicted – finally! For most of our time in the Bahamas, the Atlantic had pounded the east side of the islands, and therefore the coral reefs, so we hadn’t had the scuba diving opportunities we’d been hoping for. For the next several days, no wind and no waves were expected, so we departed Green Turtle Cay and headed for Moraine Cay. We saw one boat “sailing” that looked like they were sitting still, so we kept the motor running. But even the clang-clang-clang of our motor couldn’t keep us from enjoying the Gatorade-blue water.

Moraine Cay sunset

Moraine Cay is a private island – you can rent a villa there and have it all to yourself! Or you can purchase it for less than $3 million! There is a fair weather anchorage marked on the charts on the southeast side of the island. Even with the ocean laying flat and looking like a swimming pool, our boat still rocked with the slightest motion of the sea. But we were so excited to take advantage of the calm ocean!

Calmest seas in the Bahamas!

We had a big day planned – snorkeling, fishing, and diving. We took the dinghy out to find the reef in the morning – we couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was! The best part of the reef is smack up against the island and its rocks – we explored some of the outer patches but the reef was less stunning the farther out we went. The reef near the island was dense with coral, with lots of pretty sea fans, reef fish, and hogfish in 10-30 ft of water. Paul even spotted a tuna. Visibility was near 100 feet.

Paul snorkeling Moraine Cay reef

We snorkeled for a while, and when we hopped back into the dinghy, I saw a large silhouette pass beneath us. I hung over the edge of the boat and threw my masked face into the water to see – 4 eagle rays were gracefully swimming past! Paul immediately hopped in after them with the camera.

Eagle Rays at Moraine Cay reef

To scuba dive that afternoon, we picked a spot a little further north on the reef. It was only around 20 feet deep, but there were lots of coral heads and crevices to explore. We were greeted by big angelfish. Paul went to face to face with a curious grouper. For nearly an hour we went up, down, and around the coral heads.

Fish swim among the coral heads at Moraine Cay

When we turned around to head back to the dinghy, Paul pointed to something, his hand in a closed fist. Oh crap, I thought, I cannot for the life of me remember what that means. I didn’t see anything in that direction.  I figured we were heading back, so maybe his closed fist was a navigational cue? But the thing was…. Paul kept checking over his shoulder….. and Paul NEVER checks over his shoulder when we’re diving. So nervously, I checked over MY shoulder. Still nothing. Maybe I’m paranoid…. nope, there he goes, looking around again. At this point, I knew what he was looking for, but without confirmation as long as we were under water, I could trick myself into thinking, nahhh, that can’t be it….

“Did you see the shark?” Paul asked as soon as we surfaced, at least 20 minutes later. It was far enough away that he could barely make out its shape, but even at that distance, it looked to be at least 7 feet long and was definitely NOT a nurse shark. The closed fist pointing was a danger signal – oh yeah, now I remember! I requested he hold his hand over his head like a fin to signal shark from now on! “People just don’t realize that every dive is a shark dive!” he exclaimed.

Sea fan at Moraine Cay
Sea fan
Elk horn coral

After that excitement, we took the dinghy out to some other areas for exploration. Eventually we passed into an area that I called conch city! Once we were in less than 10 feet of water, I started to jump in after them. It took us only 20 minutes to limit out. Here’s the thing about conch – they’re just too easy to catch! They poke their cute little snail-like eyes out of the shell, stare at you in fear, tuck the eyes back into their shell and start to run – at a pace of about 2 ft/minute. It just makes me feel guilty!

Private dock at Moraine Cay

The  next morning we did some fishing, but only got a little snapper that we tossed back. We jumped back in for some more amazing snorkeling. Then we took a walk on the island. Unfortunately, the end of the calm weather was coming, so we motored to Allans-Pensacola to tuck in for a few days.

Villa for rent at Moraine Cay
Putting the machete to work!
Paul’s gotten pretty decent at free diving.

On a side note, regarding food in the Bahamas: If those frozen burgers seem unusually and reasonably priced, there is a reason. The reason is that when they say it’s beef with “chicken filler,” they really mean it’s chicken filler with a little beef! They were seriously the grossest burgers I’ve ever tried to stomach. And we bought way too many of them. And with only grocery shopping about every 3 weeks, I knew we had to eat them. They are slightly more tolerable as meatballs than burgers. Just an FYI in case you ever make this mistake too.

Relaxed and not biting my nails… aren’t you proud, mom?!

We spent 5 windy, rainy, stormy days anchored at Allans-Pensacola Cay. We had wanted to explore this uninhabited island more after our short visit early in the trip.

Rainy day boredom = breadmaking

We checked out the maze of trails – the signing tree trail beginning at the “free beer” sign is still the best. We continued our hunt for remnants of the US missile tracking station with some success – we found a set of stairs and what we believe was a radar mount. You can tell it’s been hidden by the brush for a long time because the dates graffitied on it were more than 10 years old.

Matty's Track
One of the many trails – this short one lead to a rocky beach

US military ruins on Allans-Pensacola – and unfortunately the visitor trash dump
Head east from the signing tree – this marks the barely-there path to the ruins
Possibly a radar mount from the US missile tracking station

Two Bahamian guys had towed a big, motor-less powerboat onto the beach. They were camping in it while they conched and fished.  They told us there are at least 2 wells on the island. They let us take a photo with the huge sea turtle skull they found elsewhere on the island.

Sea turtle skull

We met some American powerboaters who invited us to their bonfire that was later cancelled due to rain, so when they were gone the next day, we made our rounds to invite everyone else in the anchorage to “our” bonfire. We had limited success – 3 boats didn’t answer our “ahoys” – but we did get invited aboard one boat by a couple who were only briefly in the Bahamas but the boyfriend had been living on his boat for 18 years. We had some beers and some laughs, but the guy had too much pre-dinner tequila so they didn’t make it to the bonfire.

We were thrilled that another boat did join us on the beach once the fire was lit – the owners were fellow Tennesseans who had just bought their catamaran and had a captain along to help them learn the ropes of their new boat. The captain, who was younger us than us, had worked in Andros and Florida, so she was full of good information about diving in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. We put out the fire just as the rain was setting in, and we got soaking wet trying to unload the dinghy. My logbook notes about that night say, “Paul was happy and singing rap songs” as we scurried through the rain, so I guess we were having fun!

My other note says, “Paul said the wind howled overnight, but I slept like a baby. Luckily this is a very calm anchorage.” Well, in this case, I spoke too soon….

Watching the next storm roll over Allans-Pensacola Cay

When people express their worries about our trip, it usually involves sharks, or pirates, or the Bermuda triangle. However, my worry has been dragging anchor in the middle of the night during a storm, close to land, and having to be on deck of our metal boat with lightning striking.

After dark the next night, a thunderstorm set in. The wind suddenly picked up over 20 knots and our boat swung rapidly, putting us 180 degrees from where we’d first anchored days earlier. My eyes shot to the chartplotter. The alarm hadn’t even been triggered yet, but I knew: “We’re dragging!” I yelled to Paul. We were only a few hundred feet from the shallows and the boat was quickly picking up speed.

Instantly we sprang into action. Somehow, in the time it took Paul to start the engine, I managed to don shoes and padded gloves and got up on deck, trying to avoid contact with the metal as much as possible. In reality I have no idea if this would really help should lightning strike (Paul insists it wouldn’t do much), but I shouted to Paul to put on some shoes, when I saw that he was already at the helm – wearing only his boxers and sitting directly in a puddle of water on the metal seat.

I ran to the windlass and furiously pumped the handle back and forth, raising the anchor with record speed.  When I saw lightning apparently strike the water miles off, I honestly screamed, “I don’t want to die!”

“The faster you go the sooner we get out of this shit!” Paul yelled back. Once the anchor was up, Paul drove forward, carefully, in pitch black with only the GPS and his memories of where the rocks lay for a guide. Paul aimed for a sandy spot in very shallow water. When there was only a foot of water left under the boat, he gave the command and I dropped the anchor with gusto.  The boat drifted sideways for a nerve-wracking stretch of time until the anchor bit, and then our boat swung into line – and held! It was a miracle – this was our 3rd time anchoring here but the only time the anchor had set on the first attempt.

The “C” shape was our path for several days at anchor. The rest is our path as we popped loose, drove away from the shallows, and reset the anchor.

We looked around the anchorage and could tell by the lights and the crew on deck that some of the 8 other boats were dragging too, but there was no risk of collisions as long as the wind direction stayed relatively steady. We were setting alarms to wake up and check on things, when I saw a message from Other Paul, who was back in Florida. Florida had  just been hit with 35 knot winds and boat-damaging waterspouts, and it was heading our way.

My adrenaline was still kicking from resetting the anchor in the storm. Now my mind started racing over what we should do to prepare for dragging again. Paul insisted that I was being overly fearful and there was nothing to prepare because there wasn’t much else we could do besides what we’d already done. To begin with, it was unlikely that we’d drag again. If we did and our anchor wouldn’t reset, we’d either end up aground, hopefully on the sandy beach, or be trying to motor out of the anchorage into the spacious Sea of Abaco. We would not be tossing in our second anchor (Fortress FX- 37), which is what I was asking about, because it would be harder to raise if needed, would risk tangling the other anchor, and stood almost no chance of setting in the grassy bottom. What he said made sense to me, but I could not convince myself that doing nothing was the best plan. What about just in case? It turned into a pretty fierce argument.

Finally, under the principle of having to give a panicked person something to do, Paul told me to ready the anchor as long as I promised not to throw it in the water under any circumstances.  I debated if I should even bother, knowing he said this just to stop the argument. But thinking better safe than sorry I did it anyway, and I tried to think through what other actions I could take to prepare.

I checked the Facebook sailing groups to validate the forecast, and there were rumors that Chris Parker was predicting 40-70 knot winds (46-80 mph – yes land lubbers, Cat 1 hurricane starts at 74 mph). This was crazy! There was nothing but minor thunderstorms in the earlier forecasts (this was also months ago, so it was well before hurricane season if you were wondering). Once I saw that forecast, I knew then I wouldn’t be sleeping.

I stowed some of the sails below so they wouldn’t get shredded in high winds and to reduce windage. I closed the galley and head seacocks to prevent taking on water if the boat  were to end up sideways in the shallows (though Paul later explained that our boat is set up so this wouldn’t be a problem like it is on many other boats).

Ultimately, this was the worst night on the boat – not because of the weather, but because Paul and I will never see eye-to-eye on what happened that night. We fell from our most glorious moment of teamwork into the ugliest moments of discord. He saw me as panicked and irrational. I later admitted that I was afraid (of course!) but I felt I was logically thinking through possibilities. I saw him as careless while he felt he had thought through the facts and had the most realistic plan.

In Paul’s defense he remained calm throughout the night. Actually, I think he slept a little too well. In later discussions he said simply, “We weren’t prepared for hurricane force winds and there was nothing we could do in that anchorage that we hadn’t already done to be prepared for that”.

Paul’s take on the situation was this:

It was a sort of checkmate scenario we were staring down. Several boats and shallow waters made making our way out of the anchorage in the dark highly risky at best. Even if we could make it out, there were no other anchorages around that we could navigate into at night offering better protection. Furthermore, our boat doesn’t have the engine power to make headway against 30+, knots severely limiting our options if we did go out into the narrow Sea of Abaco. In reality, we had the anchor dug in hard and deployed with the absolute maximum amount of chain we could deploy without putting ourselves on the beach. If the winds really hit with hurricane forces and our anchor gave out, we probably would have been on the beach before we could do anything about it. I knew that on land we would be wet and miserable but safe. There would be no need for the life raft,  no weeks spent adrift at sea, no treacherous reef to tear us to pieces. Just a sandy beach and knee deep waters to wade through to get to safety. Knowing that if the worst happened we would be safe was enough for me, even if it meant we might lose the boat in the process. It was a freak storm well beyond what forecasts were calling for. We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow we were out of good options and left only with the choice to take the least bad option. 

I stayed awake until 3:30 am, and then I woke up every hour until sunrise, waiting for the winds to come.

Thankfully they never came.

 

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How You Too Can be the Turtle Whisper: Our Guide to Green Turtle Cay

 

Green turtle cay the Bahamas

After several days at Piggyville, we were excited to head back to our favorite Cay so far – Green Turtle. We had tried to make reservations at Other Yacht Club, the marina associated with Pineapples Bar, because we heard a 40 knot storm might pass through on Monday, but they don’t take reservations. As we approached, we tried to call but there was no response on the radio. We headed into Black Sound anyway and tied up to the end of Other shore Club’s fuel dock. We were told they were out of fuel so the dockmaster Kevin was taking the day off, but Paul found Kevin still nearby.

“Do you want us to move to another part of the dock?” Paul asked him.
Kevin replied, “Do you need electric?”
“No.”
“Do you need water?”
“No.”
“You can stay there as long as you like!”

Sounded good to us! We took the short walk down the dirt road from Pineapples to town to explore a bit more. (Our reviews of the places we’ve gone in are in our guide, below).

Green Turtle Cay the Bahamas
Exploring quaint New Plymouth

At Sundowners that evening, we met up with Other Paul and Jamie. We had a few rounds of beers, talked loudly over Sax Man and the DJ, and inevitably I started dancing. Our friend from our previous visit, Mr. Z, was there with his wife – when she realized who we were, she exclaimed, “Oh, I recognized your husband on the street earlier today, but I thought he was a Conchy Joe!” After my inquisitive look, she explained that means a white Bahamian. I pulled Paul over to tell him his new nickname, which he loved. I then complained to Mrs. Z that Paul doesn’t dance, and she told him she’d teach him – she broke out some Zumba-like moves that he could mimic and it might have been the highlight (for me) of the whole Bahamas experience. Meanwhile, a lady who was bending and twisting every which way without spilling her wine, told me I was “too stiff” and tried to show me some moves. Who knew people were still having such a good time to “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

Who let the dogs out? I did.

Over the next 2 days we became the Turtle Whispers. It turned out Paul and Jamie hadn’t heard about swimming with the turtles, nor had the other people we met on the Pineapples dock – Phil and Marjorie of Tanager and two guys John and Matt who were helping move each other’s boats – so we made multiple trips there so we could show everyone else how cool it was. If you want to have this adventure yourself, all the details are below.

swimming with sea turtles
Coco Bay, Green Turtle Cay
Paul faces off with the hungry turtles at Coco Bay
Lindsey swims with the turtles

We ended up staying in Green Turtle a night or two longer than originally planned. Paul, Jamie, Phil and Marjorie were the first sailors close to our age that we’d met since NC back in November, plus John and Matt were just cool guys, so it was wonderful to actually get to hang out with people for multiple days and not say goodbye within a few minutes or hours of meeting! The first night we were all in Green Turtle was the first time we’d ever put all our new cockpit cushions to use, with 6 people piled in and chatting. I wish I had taken a picture!

Another evening, Tanager hosted dinner, and we stayed up late laughing, contemplating, and story telling. We heard about a boat John and Matt worked on decades ago, but the job ended when someone else used the boat to move drugs. We heard about all the mistakes Phil made his first day on his boat – so many it took him and Marjorie more than an hour to tell the stories as we all laughed hysterically. It’s hard to convey how overdue we were to just hang out with friends. Most of them were heading back to the US soon, so after a few days we said our goodbyes and see-you-next-years. While everyone else was using the calm-as-can-be weather window to cross the Gulf Stream, we readied ourselves for our next remote island adventure.

If you’re thinking of exploring the Bahamas, we highly recommend Green Turtle Cay as a start. Here are our reviews and tips for checking it out.

Our Guide to Green Turtle Cay

How to Get to Green Turtle Cay:

Green Turtle is easy to get to from the US. If you’ve come to the Abacos by boat, you can anchor on the west side of the cay, possibly anchor in White Sound (though it’ll be tight with the moorings), take a mooring or a slip in either White Sound (the northern sound, the more touristy area) or Black Sound (the southern sound, close to town and the local hangouts).

If you’re not a boater, it’s still easy as you can fly into Great Abaco through the airports at either Marsh Harbour or Treasure Cay, then taxi and take a ferry to Green Turtle – the Treasure Cay airport is much closer to the ferry dock. Rather than rewrite the book on this, I’ll point to GTC’s excellent information here.

Coco Bay – Swim with the Turtles

Coco Bay, Green Turtle Cay, the Bahamas
Swim with the turtles at Coco Bay

One of the best parts of Green Turtle! If you need to tie up your dinghy, there is a dock next to the Brendal’s Dive Center dock. We generally adopt a don’t-feed-the-wildlife policy, but if you want to feed the turtles, stop in the Green Turtle Club convenience store (near the fuel pumps) for some squid. Take the narrow road to the right of the convenience store to walk a path behind the GTC. You should see signs for Coco Bay and/or Ocean beach – first sending you left, then a right. When you meet the paved road, turn left. Then take the first path on the right to walk to the docks (if you miss the path, you’ll soon see the water and can climb down over a short wall to get there instead). The first dock if you come to is public if you want to walk out on it.

Turtles in Coco Bay
A remora catches a ride on this sea turtle

The bottom is just sandy here, so try to avoid kicking it up to maintain visibility. Swim out in front of the docks and, unless they recently got a big feeding, the curious turtles should arrive within minutes. We saw up to 3 at a time. Watch your fingers and your toes! They seem to be unsure of the difference between digits and squid. They’ll sneak up behind you and pop out of the water and breathe in your face – they are aggressive little devils!

This is by far one of the most magical experiences of the Bahamas. We’ve seen a lot of sea turtles on the trip, but we can’t imagine there are many places where they are willing to interact with you like this.

Green Turtle Cay the Bahamas Nurse Shark
Nurse shark at the Coco Bay dock

In addition, we saw nurse sharks, lobster, barracuda, needle fish and others swimming around – fun to view from the dock.

Ocean Beach

Incredible shot!

This is the beach on the northeast side of Green Turtle. When we were there, the ocean was really pretty rough and the water was cloudy. But our friends said they had a great time body surfing on the beach, and some had luck spearfishing at the reef that was an easy swim from shore. Careful where you go in, as there are some rocks really close to the beach.

Bita Beach

This is the Atlantic side beach at the bay in the middle of Green Turtle. We didn’t get a chance to spend time here, but we were told it’s a favorite for snorkeling. Honestly, I’m not sure if the good snorkeling is in the actual bay, or at one of the Atlantic access points to the north of the bay. If someone knows, please let us know! Side note: nearer the southern end of the Atlantic-facing beaches our friends found lots of sand dollars in the shallow waters at low tide – the little flat sand dollars, while we saw only the fat “sea biscuit” variety elsewhere.

Green Turtle Club

GTC was the first marina we stayed at in the Bahamas and were pleasantly surprised to find out it’s less than $2/ft. It’s located in White Sound, which is the more resort-ish side of the island, though it’s far from town. A possibly wet dinghy ride or golf cart is need to get to town, unless you can find a ride from a local. Staff is insanely friendly. They have the biggest laundry room we saw on our trip and you can use it even if you’re not a guest there. They have a sweet old bar where the walls are covered in money, and behind the bar there is an air conditioned lounge with leather couches and really nice bathrooms, if you need somewhere to chill down on a hot day. There’s a dining room we didn’t try since we didn’t feel like meeting the dress code. If you’re not sleeping on a boat, there are rooms and homes for rent. Brendal’s Dive Center is right next door for scuba diving, tours and golf cart rentals, plus there is another golf cart rental and a realtor on site.

Bluff House

Beach at Bluff House’s Tranquil Turtle Bar

Bluff House is another White Sound marina at under $2/ft, with restaurant options on both the sound and sea sides. Tranquil Turtle bar is open until dinner time with an excellent beach facing the sea of Abaco, complete with hammocks and chairs, which made this our favorite beach, especially if we hit it on a late afternoon when no one else happened to be around. We didn’t eat at Ballyhoo Bar & Grill, which is open for dinner, but we did walk around the very nice pool and shop area. They also have rooms, cottages, and golf cart rentals.

Fresh Greens

If you’ve spent time outside the cities of the Bahamas, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of trying to buy half decent vegetables – many are frozen during transport and variety is seriously lacking. We  were pretty excited to hear there was a place advertising “fresh greens.” They’re only open for a few hours 2 days a week – Saturday and Tuesday 10am – 1pm if I remember correctly. This hydroponic setup is on the road near Leeward Yacht Club on the Black Sound end of the cay. By dinghy, there is a small sandy patch to the right of Abaco Yacht Services where you can beach and walk to the road, turn left, and take a short walk to the greens. Various greens, peppers, and tomatoes are available. It is $8/lbs – a pound of lettuce fills a big bag, but I certainly wouldn’t want to pay that much for a pound of tomatoes.

Abaco Yacht Services

This Black Sound facility has a boat yard that was very busy when I went over to do laundry. The laundry room here is outside to those not staying here, though they do close about an hour before the marina office closes and there are only 2 washers and 2 dryers. The people I met here tell me there’s a laundry facility in town somewhere near Laure’s Kitchen that is slightly cheaper, but I haven’t yet seen it for myself.

Laure’s Kitchen

Asian food! This place is great for when you’ve tired of standard Bahamian and American fare, and the food is actually pretty good. Unfortunately, since we were there, they’ve announced that they’ve moved to Marsh Harbour, though their Facebook page mentions they still have a food van and deliveries in Green Turtle.

Robertha’s Faith Grocery

There are flyers around town advertising homemade ice cream, but once we reached this grocery store (across the street from Wrecking Tree) we were told the guy who makes the ice cream stopped making it but hasn’t taken down his signs!  Feeling a bit disappointed and maybe even tricked, I instead bought coconut cake to console myself. A little boy standing in the store told me, “You’ll want to eat it right away cause it’s really good!” The kid was right!

Wrecking Tree

Wrecking Tree restaurant

We’ll definitely be going back to this restaurant next year. This was the most flavorful fried grouper and conch we had. Nuff said.

Pineapples Bar / Other Yacht Club

Pineapple’s Bar

Pineapples is down a dirt road from town – the bar is across the water from town while the docks are behd the bar in Black Sound. Nothin’ like having a 10 foot deep pool mere steps from the bar.  During the day you can find both adults and kids hanging out and swimming here. They serve food at the bar (we didn’t try it but saw good reviews online). This place seems to quiet down at night, except for on nights when they have live music.

Toes in the sand at Pineapple’s

If you don’t require fancy accommodations, Other Yacht Club is your best deal at under $1/ft, with a friendly dockmaster and proximity to town.  The restrooms may have cracks in the floor with grass coming through, but they have hot water showers, which is a luxury to us! They don’t take reservations, but just call on the radio when you’re approaching. The entrance to Black Sound is known for being shallow when the tide is down, and we saw as shallow as 5 feet inside the sound even when above mid-tide.

Sundowners

Local favorite Sax Man takes the stage at Sundowners

We love to go here for drinks. It overlooks the sea, with a great view of sunset. With live music or a DJ on the stage, this place attracts both locals and tourists. There is a pool table and other games to play. The food is so-so – it’s bar food and we’ve had pizzas that were both over- and under-cooked, and a friend ate some questionable conch. But we love this place anyway for the atmosphere. We’ve tried but failed multiple times to close this bar down… suffice if to say its open late.

Sunset at Sundowners

2 Shorty’s Take Out

This food stand has the best prices in the Abacos with great quality. Long term residents love them for putting the most conch in their conch fritters. We met one of the owners (two sisters) who was super cool.

Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar

Enjoying the goombay smash at Miss Emily’s

This is the home of the goombay smash, a most famous Bahamian cocktail first served by the current owner’s mother. We haven’t figured out the best time to hit this place – we’ve seen it with a line down the street and when it was nearly empty – so good luck. The original secret recipe is available by the glass or by the gallon, no joke! They have a nice looking dining room in the back part of the bar, but we didn’t try the food.

Inside Miss Emily’s

McIntosh Restaurant & Bakery

We didn’t go inside, but we had a slice of cake from here and it was to die for.  We’ll definitely hit it up next time if that’s any representation of all their other food!

Papa Pete’s Bakery

I only ran in here looking for a loaf of bread  and walked out with coconut bread, which was the only thing in their display cases at the time. However, they advertise some pretty good sounding food including an all-lobster night, and they list a lot of specials on their Facebook page.

Turtle Crawl Cafe

This place , located between 2 Shortys and Sundowners, was nice for a “fresh” cafe style salad, sandwich or wrap. They had recently opened when we arrived and still seemed to be dialing in their menu. They re-open in the evenings to serve dessert and the line for ice cream was out the door when we walked past.

Harvey’s Grill

The restaurant looked nice and we heard good things, but we haven’t made it in yet. They do advertise ice cream, which will be my reason to check it out next time.

Sid’s, Lowe’s and Curry’s Grocery Stores

Curry’s Grocery in New Plymouth is closest to the town docks

The grocery stores have similar items and similar prices. People recommended Sid’s to us for variety and Curry’s for seafood. We didn’t find much difference between them and would recommend if you are doing a big grocery run here to spend some time comparing first (or travel to Marsh Harbour instead). They all seemed to be out of something – particular veggies, meats – at any given time. A lot of people time their shopping for mailboat day to get the best selection, but as one local said, “They always have the same old shit.” Marsh Harbor is only a day sail away with a much better selection quality and prices if you need a lot of groceries.

Plymouth Rock Liquors

The liquor store where you can eat breakfast! We didn’t get to experience the highly recommended morning meal, but you can sit at the bar for drinks and food throughout the day – or unlike in the USA you can take your drinks with you on a walk around town.

Bronze Sculpture Garden, old jail, Albert Lowe museum, library, shops

New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay

We scoped out the busts and sculptures to help us learn about Green Turtle Cay’s history, including the American colonists who came to the Bahamas because they were loyal to the British Crown.

We walked through the old jail just for fun. We didn’t get around to checking out the museum or library, and only briefly stopped in some other shops in town. Paul did find reasonably priced sunglasses in one gift shop and not-so-reasonably priced Cuban cigars in another (cigars were overpriced everywhere we checked). There was a home decor place and a hardware store that we didn’t go inside.

Island Roots Heritage Festival

Royal Bahamas Police Force band performs at the festival

We attended this festival in May with some friends. Near town they set up tents with food and craft vendors plus a stage for music and games. We got to see the Royal Bahamas police band perform, which was cool. We also attended a presentation about the early history of Green Turtle Cay that talked about the days of sponge and pineapple exports, the booming boat building business, the fashionable Victorian ladies who lived here, and the fact that people from Miami used to come to Green Turtle for provisions because it was the easier and closest place to go!

Tired  and a lil buzzed after enjoying town and the festival

There is another festival  called Cheeseburger in Paradise that occurs in July on a nearby unpopulated island. It looks like a ton of fun!

This list doesn’t capture every business available on Green Turtle – there are a few additional marinas, marine services, golf cart rentals, restaurants and shops. With plenty to explore and a much-sought-after islandy vibe, this is our top recommendation for anyone wanting to visit the Abacos.

Don’t worry, I will!
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Colossal Conch and Pig Island Palooza!

Big news – we caught our first conch! And it’s a monster! Even with instructions, it took some time to figure out the right place to cut to free the animal from its shell – but once we did, conch salad and conch fried rice were on the menu!

Catch the conch!
Cut a hole in the shell to reach the conch's muscle
Poke a hole in the shell and cut the conch’s muscle from where it holds on
Pull the conch from the shell, remove a few inedible parts, then slice and dice
Our conch salad = conch, onions, peppers, cucumbers, lime juice, OJ, hot sauce

Hopetown Hopetown Hopetown. It seemed like once we were south of Whale Channel, all the action on the radio was about Hopetown on Elbow Cay, so we headed there to check it out. We debated taking a mooring ball in the harbour – we’d never used a mooring before – but ultimately decided it was silly to pay to be not attached to land when we could just anchor outside of town. And boy, were we glad we had anchored out – Hopetown is well protected, which means no wind, and it was roasting in town while we had a great breeze anchored out by the lighthouse.

Elbow Reef Lighthouse at Hopetown, Elbow Cay, the Bahamas
Elbow Reef Lighthouse at Hopetown

We spent about 3 days in town. If you like to poke around in shops, Hopetown is probably the best place in the Abacos to do it. We went to the beach twice to escape the heat. The reef was very close to the beach, within easy swimming distance, though you had to swim out farther to get past the murky, sandy water where the waves crashed. Though we saw some big brain coral, a huge snapper, Nassau grouper, and stingray, the reef was a bit disappointing after seeing how beautiful the one at Fowl Cay was.

Paul swimming Elbow Reef
Making friends on the beach

We hung out at Cap’n’Jacks for tacos and 2-for-1 margaritas. We met a couple our age who flew down to escape the Canadian cold, a guy from SC who is spending months here on a mooring ball, and a couple that comes here every year for weeks to months and just bounces from vacation home to vacation home if they can’t find one available for their whole stay.

Hopetown’s beaches look pink in the right light

We toured the Elbow Reef Lighthouse, the only manned, kerosene-lit lighthouse left the world. It was pretty neat and it’s not government funded, so we bought some postcards in gift shop – which are so outdated that they claimed the Bahamas still had 3 manned lighthouses!

Elbow Reef Lighthouse Lense in Hopetown
Elbow Reef Lighthouse Lens
View of Hopetown from the lighthouse
View from the lighthouse

While we were in the lighthouse, we saw the dark rain clouds coming. We joked about going back to the boat to shower and wash the boat in the rain, but figured it would only last 10 minutes. But no, it rained and POURED for hours. We left the lighthouse and hung out on a covered dock for a while. Then ran through the rain to the public restrooms (several towns have public restroom buildings, one of the pleasant surprises here, haha) and then to a bar, where the Bahamian military personnel were also waiting out the rain (but only drinking Coke).

The rain about to pummel Miss Fe
Soaking wet – he always picks the worst days to wear the moisture activated “cooling” shirts

After the rain finally stopped, we went to Wine Down Sip Sip, which, in addition to having 2-for-1 drinks, also had probably the best restaurant food we had in our whole trip — PIZZA. Now this was fancy pizza, which normally is never as good as normal New York pizza, but somehow this flatbread with pepperoni, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke was one of the best pizzas we’d ever had. So good we almost ordered a second one that day, even though it was $20 and not that big. So good that we haven’t stopped talking about how good it was and I might be drooling just thinking about it.

We were in need of a major provisioning run, so we next sailed across to Marsh Harbour, where we’d previously road tripped with Dave. Over the course of few days, we got Paul a haircut (in an hallway with no business signs where a kid helped by yelling “Dad! Customer!”), bought at least 3 weeks worth of groceries, finally did laundry at the 4th place we tried, dinghied around to many bars only to realize this place just isn’t that lively on a Saturday night (making me really miss my friends), and had a good meal at Mangoes where I realized I had never been so happy to eat fish that was grilled instead of fried!

Fresh new haircut – and yes both carts are ours
OMG real food (crab stuffed hogfish)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While doing laundry, we met a couple who asked us, “How are you doing this at your age?” and then they explained they were asking because when they started cruising 25 years ago, this was the question that people asked them. They said at that time, the wife took a sabbatical from work, the husband sold his business, and they sailed off to Venezuela with their 11-year-old son. Their son would take the bus by himself to the next town over to buy ice cream – they told him he was allowed to do this as long as he came back knowing one new word in Spanish – and he eventually learned to speak Spanish fluently. They said now though that they feel no need to go further than the Abacos! They aren’t the only people who have sailed all over yet told us the Bahamas are all they need!

View from the laundry rooms. “The water’s not blue in Marsh Harbour,” they said – they lied.

There was a boat in the harbour that I recognized from a Facebook blog Enterprise Sailing that I had been following because the guy’s journey down the ICW was around the same time as ours. We spun around the boat in our dinghy like total creepers, until a shirtless, 20-something guy poked his head out. I yelled, “Hi! Not to be creepy, but I follow you on Facebook!” He seemed to be not weirded out by this, and we chatted for a bit; his name is also Paul. His girlfriend was flying in soon and we said hopefully we’d catch them later.

Our last night in Marsh I watched needlefish and shrimp swim around our boat as it got dark.

Marsh Harbour sunset

When I had told coworkers I was sailing to the Bahamas, multiple people asked me, “Are you going to go to Pig Island?!” The original “pig island” is Staniel Cay – no where near us – but the Abacos has a copy cat attraction at No Name Cay. That was our next destination.

No Name Cay

No Name is north of Whale Channel, so we once again waited for calm weather to cross it – and this time we were prepared to fish it. On our first few tries, as soon as Paul dropped the lure in the water, a snapper would hit – we got one big enough to keep for dinner. We also put out larger lures on the hand lines – I thought something hit and when I pulled it in, the lure was missing an eye and had some fresh teeth marks in it. We were happy to finally have some fishing luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At No Name Cay, we grabbed our cameras and headed for the beach. A couple tour boats were already stopped there, and the pigs had run towards them to check what was for lunch. “Piggies!” I squealed as we beached the dinghy – I mean, really, how else are you supposed to react? Big mamas, tiny piglets, and everything in between swarmed us to find out what snacks we had brought them. It turns out they don’t care about onions and peppers, but they were quite thrilled about the cantaloupe. Though they would wade into the water for food, they had no interest in doing any actual swimming.

Some local restaurants donate their scraps to the pigs. We also watched a guy who was driving back and forth from Green Turtle to haul water to the pigs. I asked him how often he has to do that – he said every 2 months but that left me wondering if that means someone else is coming in between his runs. Why are pigs on a beach so exciting? I have no idea – it’s just fun, I guess!

“I don’t have anything left to feed you!”

Swimming pigs No Name Cay Bahamas
Sunbathing with my new friend after I asked Paul, “Do you think that pig wants to be buried in the sand and have a mermaid tail?” The pig loved it.

The walk to the ocean side of No Name was nice at low tide; I wish the ocean hadn’t been so rough so we could have checked out the nearby reef. We really enjoyed snorkeling in the mangroves here too – it was just a nice change of pace for underwater scenery, and we saw huge schools of tiny, shiny fish, a bunch of snappers, some big stingrays, and lots of juvenile conch. And of course we saw a big barracuda. One of the guide books suggested getting out of the water if you see a barracuda. If we followed that rule, we’d never get to swim!

low tide at No Name Cay

We liked No Name so much we stayed for several days and had the place to ourselves for most of it.  The weather forecast called for storms with 40 knot winds on Monday, so we wanted to get into a marina at Green Turtle Cay a few days in advance of that. Our last day in No Name, a boat came up to us to say hello – it was Other Paul and his girlfriend Jamie. They were heading to Green Turtle – we said we’d see them there!

Fish in No Name Cay The Bahamas Pig Island
Surrounded by the fishies
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Wandering: Great Guana to Man O War

After dropping Dave off at the Treasure Cay airport we were a bit bummed out as is always the case when a crew member has to leave. We don’t believe in goodbyes though; it’s always “See you later!” We took our time prepping the boat and pulling out of the biggest slip I think we have ever had. As we exited the marina into the  baby blue waters of the Sea of Abaco we were quickly confronted by a disappointing reality. Fairly strong winds with 3-4′ of chop had us pinned into the the Treasure Cay Marina. We were only trying to go a few miles to Great Guana Cay but it was a long, wet slog dead to wind.

Nippers Beach Bar
Beach at Nippers on Great Guana Cay

Our goal for the rest of our trip was to be in the water as much as possible, either snorkeling or diving (but we were about to discover that the East winds make this not as easy as we would hope). Based on the guides and maps, we thought there might be something to see near a cut at the southern end of the island, but when we tried to anchor there, we could not get the anchor to dig in after about 4 tries. So much for our quiet, secluded anchorage – we moved north to the crowded anchorage near Grabbers bar. The holding was fine but between the wind moving west and the constant ferry and rental boat traffic, this was the least comfortable anchorage we stayed in.

To prep for scuba diving, we decided to dive in the 10 feet under our boat to test our gear and brandy new scuba compressor. I got to see my first green mantis shrimp, which made the dive totally worth it but otherwise there wasn’t much else to see. If you don’t know what a mantis shrimp is, check out this video.  They are pretty much the most badass creature in the ocean.

The next day it was too windy to head out to the reef, so we took the dinghy ashore to explore. While getting ready to head out, we had a little reef shark swimming around the boat – our first shark sighting!

We had heard a lot of people talk about the Nippers Bar.  Nippers advertises a Sunday “pig roast,” which we were really excited about until we heard there is no roasting pig – just a buffet that includes pork and a lot of drunk partiers. We heard it can still be a cool, more peaceful place on other days of the week so we went to check it out.

Nippers Bar Great Guana
Nippers!

On our way to Nippers we noticed a sign on a tree saying “Poisonwood – No Touch”! WTF is that, we thought as we quickly googled it. Turns out the Bahamas have two rather nasty poisonous trees the aptly named Poisonwood and the Manchineel.  Poisonwood is similiar to poison ivy or posion oak while Manchineel is more toxic but also less common. Suddenly the rash Dave had on his leg made sense, he must have brushed up against poisonwood on one of our hikes. “So much for the forests being tame here,” we thought.

A short walk later we had made it over to the Atlantic side where we easily found Nippers. Nestled on bluff overlooking the ocean and a nice white sand beach, Nippers has plenty of loud music, seating and a pool. The drinks and food are on the expensive side. We hung out for a couple hours but weren’t really feeling the vibe and left for a walk around town in the early afternoon.

Nippers Beach Bar
View From Nippers

We wandered about for a bit before looking for a place to get some food. Naturally we picked a place as far away as possible, Mermaids, and went off hiking figuring we would see more of the island on the way. We hiked for a pretty long time through rolling hills dappled with vacation houses. Everything on Great Guana was pretty upscale (but not without herds of cats and roosters hanging out in some yards). Finally a nice lady in a golf cart stopped and offered us a ride which Lindsey promptly shot down.

“Gee babe, whats your problem with a free ride?” I asked as the golf cart sped away.

“We are here to hike!” she winked.

“True but there’s no shame in taking a free ride and we’ve been going for a while now” I quipped.

“OK, next one.” she said. The next golf cart to offer a ride had two very nice and maybe tipsy guys in the front. We jumped on thinking this was gonna be fun, but we rounded a single corner to find we were at Mermaids after about a 15 second ride. We all had a good laugh at what had to be the record for the shortest hitchhike ever.

Great Guana
Mermaids On the Rocks

Mermaids was really beautiful. They had a gorgeous pool on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea and a beautiful outdoor dining area. They also had a dress code with prices to match. Surveying the scene we quickly decided we weren’t really going to be welcome in our salty, worn, paint-splattered clothes.  We prefer the locals hangouts anyways. So we started our hike back across the island. About 10 minutes in a local stopped and offered a ride. “Yes, please!” I said before Lindsey could think twice. Turns out our driver was turned away at Mermaids for failure to wear shoes. We zipped back to Grabbers bar where our dinghy was beached. We looked around Grabbers but decided dinner on the boat was best.

Great Guana just didn’t have a vibe we were into. Turns out the island is overshadowed by Bakers Bay resort. From what we researched and heard through the grapevine, Bakers Bay is the most upscale resort in the Abacos where all the famous people hang out. They even have a marina which was made private a few years ago to keep riff raff like us out – or as we prefer to think of it, keep riff raff like them in. Still though, the resort provides around 1000 much needed jobs to the locals so I guess its not all bad. We would have left after just one day but were heard there were some dive sites at the north end of island.

We were ready for diving the next day and the wind had seemingly calmed down. We loaded the dinghy up and began the slow trek up past Bakers Bay to the dive site. Unfortunately when we got there the waves were breaking over the reef and after several attempts to find a good spot, we aborted and went snorkeling at the rocks off of Bakers Bay beach. The snorkeling was ok – we were excited to finally see some coral, healthy coral too! – but the tidal current prevented us from getting to the really good parts. We did see a stingray without a stinger and a nurse shark, relaxing on the bottom under a ledge – but typical Lindsey… even though I kept pointing to the shark just a few feet away from me, she never figured out what I was trying to point to and didn’t even see it. On the ride back, we decided to try another spot.

We motored down to the anchorage at Fowl Cay Marine Reserve but alas it was going to be too rolly for an overnight spot, even by our lax standards, so we continued to the north side of Man O War Cay.  The next day, we assessed our sunburns and decided wearing our heavy scuba gear might not be the best plan. We grabbed our snorkel gear and took the dinghy up to Fowl  and Hawksbill Cays.

Foul Cay Marine Reserve
Paul at Fowl Cay

The ocean was still very choppy and the current was very strong but we came up with an ingenious plan to see the reef. We parked the dinghy in the lee of a small cay and swam hard across the cut to the next small cay. We then hiked over the rocks to the the ocean side and swam out to the nearby reef thereby using the cay to defeat the current. This allowed us to have a great snorkel in less than ideal conditions. When we were done all we had to do was swim over to the cut and drift back to our dinghy. Fowl Cay turned out to be a great stop, even with the weather preventing us from seeing the reef farther out. We still got to see plenty of snapper, a sea turtle, a grouper, lots of small fish, and great coral – purple sea fans, brain and horn corals.

Man O War Cay Sign

That evening and the following day we went to explore Man O War Cay. Our boat being parked on the extreme north end of the island meant that we would be able to stretch our legs before getting to town. Man O War turned out to be a beautiful very laid back island. It has deep religious roots so alcohol has only recently become available at one restaurant. The “roads” are narrow and sandy, and lined with vegetation. The town is small with several shops selling local goods like hand carved boat models and locally made canvas bags. There is a long tradition of boat building on the island and we saw that they are still making fiberglass boats to this day. If your looking for a really quiet island to get away from it all this is the place. If you want to have some drinks with rowdy sailors or 5 star accommodations, this is not the place.

Man O War Cay
“The Queen’s Highway” leading to town on Man-o-War Cay
Man o war cay
Fiberglass boat molds.
Man-o-Way cay church
Church on Man-o-War Cay

We made friends with random cats and dogs that walked with us  through town, checked out the fish hiding under the docks, and had a delicious conch burger and ice cream at Hibiscus Cafe. We laughed that almost everyone here has the same last name – Albury. We chatted for a while with a homeowner, an American who spends a few weeks here each year.

Lindsey enjoying somebody’s front yard
Man O War Cay
Old Boat Built on Man O War
Marina at Man O War Cay

We snorkeled around the rocks at the anchorage, spotting some large french angelfish, barracudas, and a moray eel. It seemed like we were the only boat staying here for more than one day, so we decided to head to Hopetown next and see what all the fuss was about.

This photo is taken by AllWinner's v3-sdv
Discarded conch shells at Man-O-War Cay
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Our Guide to Great Abaco

Our journey from Green Turtle to Treasure Cay, Great Abaco was uneventful. The temperature was in the 70s, sunny but surprisingly cool in the shade. After passing through the Whale Channel (easily done with only a few feet of swell and long periods), we turned to head for Treasure Cay. Treasure Cay is not an island, but a resort with a marina, anchorage, and vacation homes on Great Abaco Island. It’s probably the largest resort in the Abacos. It’s about a 40 minute drive north of Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas’ 3rd largest city (~5000 people).

Whale Cay from the Atlantic side on a calm day.

The first thing you might notice entering the channel to Treasure Cay are the signs warning you that a cable blocks the channel after 10pm, after which you need to radio for entry. Once in the marina, you will see that the gates to the docks close at 1am, security guards are on patrol, and the marina advertises itself as the “safest.” What in the world could be so bad here that made all this security necessary?! The Bahamas overall comes across as an extremely safe and welcoming place, so we were a bit confused. From our Googling, it looks like some years ago there were several boat thefts in a very short period of time, so we’re guessing that for the sake of the resort’s reputation, they wanted to make sure this would not happen again and took it to the extreme.

What Treasure Cay has going for it is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – white, white sand and blue, blue water. It has a restaurant at the beach, an Italian restaurant, and a large bar with food stands and a pool at the marina. There is an onsite shopping center with cell phones, car rentals, bakery, and gift shops. There are also some massive Tarpon hanging around the fish cleaning station.

Paul and the Tarpon, having a stare-off

 

The idyllic beach at Treasure Cay

What Treasure Cay doesn’t have going for it is that it just didn’t seem very exciting. We had heard we’d just missed the crowd – all the sailors hiding from a month of bad weather had departed the week prior – but this was still spring break time, and the place just didn’t seem that lively. To be fair, everyone at Green Turtle kept telling us how it was the busiest March ever and we couldn’t figure out where everyone was hiding, or maybe our idea is busy is just different from the island version of busy – a definite possibility. The other thing Treasure Cay doesn’t have going for it is their not-so-nice bathrooms. Now, I’m not really complaining, because they have showers and my boat doesn’t! It just seemed strange that for a place that comes across as fairly upscale, the bathrooms would be dirty or malfunctioning. Plus, the marina showers were in the same restroom used by the bar, and it’s just a little awkward to be naked with drunk people coming in from the bar. Without a rental car you are pretty much stuck on the resort property since it’s a heck of a walk to anything. It didn’t matter to us though as we specifically came to Treasure Cay to rent a car and go exploring!

Lindsey driving on the wrong side.

A large amount of cars in the Bahamas are used imports from Japan, and our Honda rental was no exception. What does this mean? Well, the steering wheel is on the right hand side and the GPS nav system is hopelessly in Japanese and has you positioned somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. Some of you used to driving on the right side of the road might find this opportunity to drive on the left at highway speeds with no navigation terrifying, but we found it to be great sport. Plus, passengers got to yell our “left to live motto” at every turn. Over the next couple of days we explored a bunch of places on the island of Great Abaco, a.k.a. “the mainland.” Funny thing is, when I asked locals what there is to do here, the most common suggestion was to hop a ferry to another cay, so we were somewhat on our own to find the fun. Here is our summary of the spots from north to south.

Treasure Cay Blue Hole

This inland blue hole is not on the resort property and therefore open to all. You can find it a few miles north of the resort turn off on the left hand side. If you hit the airport you went too far. There is a small sign that denotes the turnoff. The blue hole is located several miles from the sea with a diameter of about 100′ and a depth of 254′. It is luxuriously filled with copious amounts of clean clear freshwater. While a bit erie due to its depths it is very safe with no currents or marine life. Its a unique and free experience that we would rate a must see. (On our visit, we had the added bonus of a wild fire having just roared through the area, so there was still smoldering underbrush and burning telephone poles – but luckily no houses appeared to be damaged. While we’ve been in the Bahamas, it seems there is always at least one part of Great Abaco on fire).

Marsh Harbour

Marsh Harbour is the 3rd largest town in the Bahamas at a whopping 5000 people, but it feels like it has half that population. It is, however, the main supply point for all of the Abacos. Food and goods are significantly cheaper here and they have several large grocery stores with reasonable (almost mainland America) prices . We like to shop at Maxwells grocery and pick out things we wouldn’t normally buy at home, like lamb chops and goat. When we are done we call a cab on VHF 6 and for $6 they take us to the Union Jack dinghy dock.  At the dinghy dock, little kids hang out, swim, and play on boats.  They’ll also gladly help you tie up, unload groceries, or carry your luggage, and although they accept tips, they seemed at least equally interested in snacks. The Abaco Asian Market is fun stop where you can buy pre-made food or ingredients for your own dishes. Beware: If the guy says the hot sauces are “not too hot,” he means “not too hot if you like really hot things!” The Coin Laundry in town is closed so we do laundry at Harbour View Marina. We always anchor out because the holding is good in Marsh, but the cheapest marina in town is Marsh Harbour Marina. On calm days it can get very hot in Marsh and swimming is not recommended due to water quality. There is a large hardware store called Standard Hardware and many other shops. Marsh gets a bit of a bad rap from locals for being the big dangerous city, but we had no issues and while not as fun as many of the other islands there are still a few interesting things to do.

Mermaid Reef Marsh harbour
Mermaid Reef

Mermaid Reef is a small artificial reef just outside the harbor with lots of fish. Its a good spot to cool off or take small children but not something we would seek out. Restaurant-wise, Marsh is home to the only fast food in all of the Abacos – KFC! While not exciting normally, after a few months on a boat some good cheap (by island standards) fried chicken is a welcome relief on your way to the grocery store. Mangoes was our favorite restaurant. Wally’s was good as well and the most upscale. Snappas is somewhat of a hangout because of their draft beer (a rare find here) and good food. Jib Room at Marsh Harbour Marina has a guy who limbos under a flaming limbo stick after Wednesday and Saturday dinners. Jake’s has great reviews but we didn’t find it exceptional. We were told Colors by the Sea has great food but haven’t made it there. If you are into shopping, Marsh has a variety of small gift shops and clothing stores. Liquor stores abound; our favorite is right behind Harbour View Marina but selection varies. Lindsey is in love with the banana rum. Beer and wine are expensive but rum is pretty reasonable. Marsh is not really a place we go except for supplies.

Mermaid reef Marsh Harbour
2 Sergeant Majors at Mermaid Reef

Little Harbour

Bronze Artwork at Pete’s Gallery.

Going south the next stop is Little Harbour. We highly recommend visiting this idyllic harbor by either car or boat – just be aware it’s a bumpy ride by car. It is is home to Johnston’s Bronze Art foundry and Pete’s Pub. The bronze art is world class and really spectacular. It’s a must see.

Pete's Gallery little harbor Abaco
Turtle Sculpture

Cherokee Sound

Lindsey and Dave on the longest wood dock in the Bahamas!

Cherokee is only a few miles from Little Harbour but it is outside of the Sea of Abaco and too shallow for most boats to enter, therefore few cruisers know about it. It is however our favorite spot in all of Great Abaco. Home to the largest wooden dock in the Bahamas at ~700 feet long, the extremely shallow bay offers beautiful crystal clear baby blue water and fluffy white sand that you can walk in for about 1000′ offshore. The town is very laidback with a small but well appointed grocery store (including reasonably priced souveniers – and fireworks!). If you want a spectacular beach day this is the place to do it.

Baby conch!
Lone fisherman in the knee deep water

Schooner Bay

This is a real estate development community. It’s still in the early stages of development and wasn’t really worth a stop. The tour is free, and supposedly there is a restaurant but we don’t know how they stay in business. We didn’t see a single resident, just maintenance workers. We did get to see a house owned by the Prime Minister of the Bahamas.

Dave and Paul at Schooner Bay

Sandy Point

Sandy Point lies at the southwest tip of Great Abaco. We didn’t find much to see here, other than Gorda Cay a.k.a Disney’s Castaway Cay off on the horizon. We tried to find something worth doing but came up blank. We read some articles about the town’s big plans for a new high speed ferry that would bring in bonefishing tourism – the articles were from 2007, so I’m guessing the recession squashed those plans. We passed a National Park en route to Sandy Point – habitat for the Bahamian parrot! – but the road into it is 4-wheel-drive only and rental cars are specifically not permitted to drive that road. It sounds like it could be fun to explore as there is a blue hole and a lighthouse.

Cruise ship at Disney’s Castaway Cay (Gorda Cay)

We had a great time exploring Great Abaco by car. We didn’t drive all the way to the northern towns, like Cooperstown and Foxtown – maybe we’ll catch those next time, or by boat.

With our road trip complete and one last night of conch fritters and lobster dinners to top it all off, it was sadly time to say goodbye to my dad. We dropped him off at the teeny tiny Treasure Cay airport before returning the rental car. Lindsey and I returned to the boat and readied it to go explore another island.

 

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Exploring Green Turtle Cay

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay

After so many days at uninhabited islands, we were ready for some civilization!  Green Turtle Cay’s White Sound is a mix of a narrow channel, mooring balls, anchored boats, and busy marinas. Despite looking crowded, it never felt that way. Green Turtle turned out to be the laid back island we were looking for.

After an easy refueling stop at Green Turtle Club’s t-dock, the dockmaster helped us into our slip and we rushed off to truly enjoy some REAL SHOWERS (it’d been over a week!).  Walking around the Green Turtle Club, I noticed everyone just seemed so darn happy! Staff seemed happy, guests seemed happy, fishing charter captains seemed happy. People who hadn’t seen each other in a year were exchanging hugs. Fishermen were showing off their catches. Everyone immediately came across as friendly and helpful. We couldn’t help but smile. Dave says hello to everyone so this just multiplied the good vibes.

Clean and refreshed, we were ready to hit the town- but New Plymouth is at least a 40 minute walk from the more touristy White Sound area, and we weren’t up for getting wet in the dinghy or changing our clothes to meet the Green Turtle Club restaurant dress code. The most popular form of travel on the island is by golf cart, but we’d already found out there were no more available today. We talked to the dockmaster, and he called a friend who is not officially a taxi but is willing to drive folks around. The guy didn’t answer his phone, so we decided, with some disappointment, on a shorter 10 minute walk to a nearby restaurant.

We’d just stepped onto the road, when a truck pulled over. A man leaned out the window and said, “Are you the ones looking for a ride? I’ll be back in 10 minutes!”

He returned promptly in a car and introduced himself – we’ll call him “Mr. Z” (obviously, not his real name). We said we were looking for “a good bar with some good food.” He said he’d take us to one spot, and if it wasn’t what we were looking for, he could keep taking us to more.

The roads to New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay.

First stop was Pineapples, a bar just outside of town down a bumpy dirt road, that faces the water and has a very deep swimming pool within stumbling distance of the bar. Dave went to order a round of beers, and while we were waiting on them, I asked Dave if he thought we should arrange to have Mr. Z pick us up somewhere in town so we could check out the restaurants there without having to come back to Pineapples to meet him. “Oh he’s not leaving yet,” Dave said with a mischievous smile, “I’m buying him a beer.”  With those words, I should have known it would be a fun night.

Next stop was Sundowners – Mr. Z said it should be popular tonight because Sax Man was playing – and sure enough the nearby parking lot was jam-packed with golf carts. Inside we found a pool table, a bar, a deck overlooking the soon-setting sun, and a stage where Sax Man was setting up. The place was crowded and getting more so, with both tourists and locals, and even families that seemed to be there for some sort of charity event. “Another round of beers?” Dave said and we all obliged.

The problem is, Dave is just thirstier than the rest of us. “Another round?” he said, before we were halfway through with our drinks.  The rest of us laughed at our pitiful drinking abilities as he gleefully passed around more bottles of Kalik or Sands. Mr. Z told us Green Turtle is a great place with no crime – “No one dies here unless they are sick.” He told us about becoming a Bahamas resident (he’s from the Carribbean), the lack of rain the past 2 months, and the town’s important people and places, like the police officer, the school, and his wife’s business.  Then finally, taking pitty on my small stature, as Dave calls for another round, Mr. Z told us the key to surviving a night out with Dave: “There is a female drink! The pink one!” Well, we have to try this – mercifully the next round  we order is Sands Pink Radler – a 2% ABV beer that tastes like sparkling grapefruit juice. Everybody had one, and I wisely stuck to them for the rest of the night.

Photo Courtesy of Sands Brewery, bahamianbrewery.com

Maybe it was alcohol-induced hallucinations, but after Paul explained the green flash to Dave and Mr. Z, they swore they saw it as the sunset. Paul and I still don’t believe them. For any doubters the Green Flash is indeed a real thing.

After swaying to the music of Saxman for a very long time and singing along to Bob Marley tunes, we had worked up a pretty good buzz and one heck of an appetite. Dave knew that Lobster season was quickly coming to an end. “Mr. Z, do they sell Lobster dinners here?” he inquired. “Nah mon, but I know just the place,” he replied.  After a short drive across the tiny town we arrived at the Wrecking Tree. “What does Wrecking mean?” Paul inquired. Mr. Z explained that Wrecking was once a big industry on the island of Green Turtle and throughout the Bahamas where locals would be licensed by the government to go salvage shipwrecks. The goods were then collected at the Wrecking tree before being transported to Nassau for auction. At one point the Bahamas had over 300 ships dedicated to wrecking and two-thirds of the islands’ exports were salvaged goods. This was all very interesting as we sipped on various local beers, but we were starving. Dave and Mr. Z ordered up the cracked lobster (cracked=fried) while Paul and I both got orders of cracked conch and Grouper. The fried conch and grouper was the best we’d ever had by far. We actually didn’t know conch could be so tender or grouper so flavorful. The portions were also huge so we struggled to finish them and have one more after-dinner beer.

Mr. Z, ever the gentleman, drove us home safely, but as I watched the golf carts scatter as the bars emptied out, there was the disturbing thought that in a country where you drive on the left, there are way too many partying Americans who might accidentally drive that golf cart on the right. When we arrived at the Green Turtle Club we asked how much for his services. “You guys don’t owe me anything, I had a blast, mon!” he replied. We gave him a nice tip and hearty handshake for showing us a tremendous time.

The next morning, we rented a golf cart and got a tour of the local real estate market  and headed to town for lunch and groceries. Luckily, the lady at the golf cart rental declared, “Left to live!” as we pulled out and this became our mantra at every turn or anytime the driver got too close to the right.

After booking Dave’s flight and doing laundry (around $5 per load, ouch – it’s at least $4 everwhere here), we headed over to Coco Bay, where we heard some people feed the sea turtles.

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay

We didn’t take any food for the turtles and the bay didn’t look like much at first glance. We couldn’t see a turtle or really any fish from the dock but we figured it would be nice to cool off even if we didn’t see anything. Paul was the first in and had barely made it into chest deep water when he exclaimed, “Turtle!” Soon we were surrounded by turtles and though we had no food for them, it did not  stop them from wanting to eat! We quickly learned to keep our fists closed as an outstretched finger looks a lot like a piece of squid and greatly interests the turtles. The turtles swam with us until we got cold, occasionally dashing off then sneaking up behind us, popping up to breathe, or going to visit a boat that may give them a tasty morsel.

Coco Bay Green Turtle Cay
Green Sea Turtle at Coco Bay

After our swim, we drove past Mr. Z. He rolled down the window, laughing about last night. With a promise to see him at Sundowners later, we headed to the Bluff House Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar, not realizing they closed in about half an hour, at 6:00. It is one of the most idyllic beach bars we have ever encountered and a worthy stop if you are in Green Turtle Cay. There was no one else there, so we had the deck, beach, hammocks, and palm trees to ourselves as the sun started to set. We watched the distant flames of a wildfire flicker over Great Abaco.

Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar Green Turtle Cay, photo from bluffhouse.com

We ended our night at Sundowners, where we watched people dance and mingle, snacked on fried food and pizza, and took it easy as we would be traveling the next day. Unsure of the weather, we had debated taking the Green Turtle Ferry to Treasure Cay on Great Abaco (at $15 per person, one way) to see the island before Dave’s flight. This would allow us to avoid crossing the notorious “Whale Cay,” a short but potentially rough passage that requires you to leave the Sea of Abaco and be exposed broadside to ocean swell for 2 miles. Luckily, the latest weather report looked clear and we would be able to take our own boat through the Whale and around to Treasure Cay (ironically not a cay at all).

The next morning we prepared to cast off, and realized we were facing a conundrum: The boat to our port side had a dinghy on davits, easily sticking out of their slip 8 feet. The bow on the boat across from them stuck out nearly 10 feet. This meant we had very limited space to back out our boat into the fairway for a forward exit and wouldn’t be able to pivot around the piling without the potential for crashing into the neighbor’s dinghy. On top of that, the wind would be fighting us. With our heavy, under-powered, full-keeled boat, this was not an ideal situation. Precision is not our forte. Brute force is our specialty… Not a good combination here. The other option was to back our boat in the opposite direction, which would mean backing up for a longer distance. As we were debating this, yet another (super nice, super expensive) boat that was way longer than its slip pulled in, adding yet another obstacle to consider.

The docks at Green Turtle Club, photo from greenturtleclub.com

We started brainstorming with our starboard side neighbors, debating using his dinghy to tow us out, or redirect us if things went awry.  We discussed numerous way to tie, control, and release our lines. We were somewhat limited in our options as the boat’s deck sat several feet below the dock, making it unsafe for any of us to leap onto the moving boat. We grabbed a dockhand and got his opinion as well. 6 people and 30 minutes later, we had a workable plan though Paul didn’t like it much. The dockhand controlled our bow while the neighbors helped with the stern. We smoothly backed into the fairway away from 2 of the 3 obstacle boats, waving and yelling “thank you!” to everyone who had helped. We continued to back until we cleared the last slip and fully exited the marina. Like they say, proper preparation prevents piss poor performance!