Travel Guides – Pelagic Explorers

June 20, 2021

Long Island Adventures and Baby Boomers On Board

These events took place in March 2019

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A little background here:

I was always a goody-goody kid. Followed the rules, saved my money, did my homework, didn’t call off work unless I was sick. I get it from my parents. They are, in general, extremely responsible adults.

So their reaction was no surprise, in 2015, when I told them we’d done something irresponsible like make an offer on a boat. I had sent a picture of it first, so they knew how big and how theoretically expensive it was. Their reaction was, “Well, for your sake, I hope your offer isn’t accepted!” and “You know the best two days of a boat owner’s life are the day the buy it and the day they sell it!” That probably sounds worse in writing than it did over the phone – they were nice about it; they just were very obviously shocked and concerned.

Given that initial reaction, you might imagine my hesitation to tell them that Paul wasn’t joking that time my dad asked him why we bought a bought, and he responded with “to go to the Bahamas, and maybe through the Caribbean and the Panama canal.” We’d picked a departure date less than a year away, and I hadn’t told my parents yet.

“You HAVE to tell them,” Paul demanded one weekend as I headed over to my parents’ house to watch the Steelers game.

Time was running out before the game began. 20 minutes to go. “I have something to tell you,” I blurted out.

My mom had so many worries instantly spring up after I told them we’d be leaving for the Bahamas in 10 or so months that she had to walk out of the room, either to calm herself down to keep from hearing any more about it. My older brother researched the trip and how many people do it every year to show my mom this was something a lot of people do very safely, but I’m not sure how much that helped.

A year and a half later, after we’d proven we could get to the Bahamas and back with boat and body all intact, my dad started talking about coming to visit, and even sleeping on the boat a few nights. “Stay on the boat…??” my mom uttered, eyes wide.

I didn’t know if the visit was really going to work out, so when my parents booked the plane tickets from the US to Long Island, I was THRILLED (like multiple-occasions-of-spontaneous-tears-of-joy-muttering-“I’m just so excited”-type of thrilled).

We had to be strategic about their visit though. This being a totally new experience for them (they’d been on board for a ride only once, for less than an hour, under motor), combined with the fact that we wouldn’t be staying at marinas (i.e. no showers!), we weren’t sure how much they’d want to stay on the boat. This meant finding an island with an anchorage easily accessible to hotels or vacation homes, and not much island hopping, since we couldn’t guarantee that the weather would allow us to sail to their reservation on time. Not to mention, on some of these remote islands, your accommodations (assuming you want “American standards”) can easily cost you $200-400 a night, (and of course there are always places to spend more). And without a fast boat to take us island hopping, how much would my parents get to see?

When we decided to head Long Island, we recognized this might be the perfect opportunity for my parents to join. It was the turnaround point, so we’d be taking them to places we’d already researched. Plus these were bigger islands with multiple towns so we’d have plenty to explore even though we wouldn’t be moving the boat a lot. With about 40 miles between Long Island and Exuma, they were guaranteed a “real” sailing experience, but it would be shallow enough to see the bottom most of the way, so it didn’t seem so intimidating.

When we got to Long Island, we had a week until my parents arrived, so we set off around the island to find things to do and places to stay.

Thompson Bay is a sweet location. There is a secluded beach bar (with accommodations) called Tiny’s on the north side of the bay, and one family owns several businesses along the water and has built a public dock on their property, which leads you right to a grocery store, bar, and car rental ($60 or 70 a day for car rental, in cash, but when you rent the second time and they trust you, you get the option to pay upon return! I thought this was funny.) You need the car as the mile is 80 miles long with a paved “highway” but otherwise a lot of crappy roads. It’s best to have the car for at least 2 days so you can spend one day to the north and another day to the south. My parents were appreciative of us researching places to stay ahead of time, since some of the coolest sounding ones would have involved driving down the pothole-riddled dirt road 20 minutes each way every day.

My advice for Long Island is head to Santa Maria resort first (during happy hour for the free conch fritters). The manager at the restaurant there (Canadian guy) is full of tips for exploring some off-the-charts places on the island, and we didn’t get to hit all of them because we didn’t chat with him early enough!

We did have fun exploring, both by land and by water. In addition to checking out Thompson Bay and Dean’s Blue Hole (see previous blog post), we did a lot of driving around the island. We hung out in the waves of the Love Pools.

We snorkeled the Coral Gardens – an area that, had it not been hit by Hurricane Joaquin (2015), would’ve had some of the most impressive coral structures we’d seen. Unfortunately it showed almost no signs of recovery and Paul said it was the most depressing snorkeling he’d ever done.

I went to morning yoga, hosted by some of the American home-owners, but I regretted it as the no-see-ums were vicious (this is why we live on a boat, far away from the land-lubber bugs!)

We tried to get to the Columbus statue, but they are building a development in that area and the road was all torn out. We tried to walk the rest of the way but it was near sunset and the malicious mosquitoes sent us sprinting back to the car.

I can’t believe believe we didn’t get the car stuck

Running to Columbus. If we’re fast enough, maybe the mosquitoes won’t catch us!

We spent a day watching kids sailing dinghy races and stayed through lunch and dinner, buying many hamburgers and hotdogs at their fundraiser (real ground beef – what a treat!).

(I don’t remember if we’d mentioned before, but at this point in time, Paul was under the impression that he wasn’t going to get work assignments for the upcoming summer. This news had been a gray cloud following him around, but when we were in Long Island, he got a call that their was potential work in Poland. Spoiler alert: Poland didn’t pan out but work in the US did. I mention this because, since I’m writing this 2 years later, the Poland call seems to be the catalyst for something else Paul has been scheming up! More to come on that in a future post.)

Finally the day came when my parents were to arrive! That afternoon we stood outside the tiny airport and watched them land in a surprisingly not-so-small plane.

After they checked into their AirBnB, we took them to Thompson Bay Club – it was a great introduction to your typical Bahamaian restaurant. Semi run down building, where we ordered food at the bar, on a tiny slip of paper where you circled the meal you wanted (Ok, maybe it was unusual to have a menu – often they just ask “chicken, fish or conch?”). Then we sat in a little dining room in the back, full of ex-pats who rotate restaurants based on the happy hour specials. Overall, we were pleased with most of our dishes.

Fortunately, my parents seem to be a magnet for good food. After eating so many mediocre, overpriced meals, we found a lot of good or great meals with my parents around:

Chez Pierre, a French restaurant, which also has beach front cottages which you can rent at a pretty reasonable price considering the food is included (if you like a no frills vacation).

Did we mention Chez Pierre has fill-your-own drinks?

The marina in Clarence Town, lobster pizza and happy hour at Santa Marina, Tiny’s the beach bar that also has adorable cottages;

…and even back at Georgetown, at Peace and Plenty, Blu, and Splash. (The only place we failed them was cracked [fried] conch, which was chewy and not tender when they got it.)

We had a beach day at Dean’s Blue Hole, where we found out my dad’s mustache is not suitable for mask wearing and snorkeling.

Kathy and Kerry so happy to be at the beach!

Kathy at Dean’s Blue Hole, just steps away from 663 feet of pure deepness.

We saw beautiful churches and sharks in Clarence Town.

We went shopping at Judee’s Creations, which is part unique craft shop and part museum, showing the ‘old way of life’ with artifacts she kept from her family. Judee is the sweetest lady so we bought some teas and souvenirs.

Judee's Gifts and Souvenirs — Judee’s Gifts and Souvenirs

We hiked to the Shrimp Hole, which is quite literally a hole in the rock full of tiny red shrimp.

The trail to shrimp hole starts at the old church

A crab eating a shrimp from the shrimp hole

One of the highlights of Long Island was the Hamilton Cave tour, with Leonard Cartwright as our guide. The cave has been in his family since 1849. He grew up playing hide and seek in the caves, and he has hunkered down in them, with many other people from the community, for protection during hurricanes. There are crabs living in the caves and it was fun to spot them in the holes.

I realize this is blurry but it gives perspective

The true highlight of the cave tour was after my mom commented that one rock formation looked like “a fat lady’s bottom,” Leonard exclaimed “Oh, we’ve got a fun group today!” He then gave us the inside scoop on the formations that he and his friends identified when they were kids, including “big willy” and “small willy!”

The original plan for departing Long Island was to get my parents on the boat the day before setting sail, so they’d have a night to get settled in. However, we checked the forecast, and if we wanted to sail, we had to leave that day since there was no wind predicted for the next several days. Thankfully, the owner at Tiny’s was nice enough to allow us use to their wonderful dinghy dock to load up my parents and their luggage (since there were no cottage guests that morning). Otherwise it would have been a struggle on the steep ladder of the public dock. The morning was overcast and the water had a bit of a chop, so the short dinghy ride was a bit of an adventure and my dad said it made him feel like he was a contestant on the show Survivor!

Lindsey pulling up the anchor. She appreciated her parents acknowledging her newfound muscles!

A fellow boat heading from Long Island to the Exumas

We had good wind and started sailing straight out of Thompson Bay. Like every time we have guests on the boat, a dolphin darted past the boat to say hello. We talked on the radio with another boat of retired biologists that I’d previously befriended on facebook since they were fellow scuba divers. My mom was shaking with nervousness at the start of the trip, but when the waves picked up, I just smiled and she relaxed. Soon enough, she was doing better than me as I felt a twinge of sea sickness, but my mom was happily chatting in the cockpit with Paul and my dad was climbing up on the bow.

After about 4.5 hours of decent sailing, the rain came in and pushed the winds out. We started up the motor and my parents went down below for a nap. Our chartplotter was mounted on a swinging arm inside the boat, and when underway, we’d swing it out to the cockpit through the companionway. Paul had built a hatchboard with a window in it so we could close everything but still see the chartplotter, but we hadn’t needed to use it (or at least not since the cold days on the Chesapeake). On this day we put the window board into place and closed up the hatch to keep the rain from dripping down inside the boat. We laughed about how we’re normally smart enough not to travel on days like this!

That fun moment where you’re trying to prevent the sail from dropping in the water.

After a few more hours, the rain started to clear and as the sun was setting, we made our way into the George Town anchorage to begin part 2 of my parents’ adventure.

The end of the road, southern Long Island

April 23, 2019April 23, 2019

Being the Ultimate Exumas Tourists

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One of the nice things about having guests is that it forces us to get up and do things. When you have no schedule, even in paradise, it’s easy to be lured into late breakfast and lazy afternoons. With Wes joining us for the trip to the Exumas (home of the famous swimming pigs and many other hungry animals), we were ready to be fully engaged in tourist mode! You have to be as there is just SO MUCH TO SEE in this part of the Bahamas.

Wes arrived on Sunday Funday – luckily his flight arrived in the afternoon so we had a good excuse not to accept our marina neighbors’ invitation to start drinking at 9am! Despite getting up in the wee hours of the morning to start his journey from PA to the Bahamas, Wes was ready to hit the town upon arrival.

We walked to Potters Cay (near the Paradise Island bridge) for some local grub, including cracked conch burgers and Sky Juice that was much tastier than what we’d had before, and then headed to the cruise ship tourist area. Here we ran into our marina neighbors (a dive boat crew) and some of their friends. We headed into Pirate Republic Brewing. We had told Wes he could stay as long as he wanted and he planned for 1 week. By the time we left the brewery, Wes was telling people that he would be staying 2 weeks – that didn’t take long!

After leaving the brewery, we met up with Stefan and Catherine who we’d not seen since waving goodbye north of Fort Lauderdale. It was so great to meet up with them! We wandered around town a bit and Paul made all the non-vegetarians try the conch fritter dogs.

The next day Paul and Wes headed off to their cigar rolling class at Graycliff Cigar Company. They received private instruction to make and keep 3 cigars. The cost of the class about the same price as buying 3 cigars. They thought it was a lot of fun and highly recommend it! Catherine and I tried the Bahama Barrels winery across the street – it’s $5 for 6 huge samples. We chatted with the winemaker, who was very honest with us: “Please tell me you don’t want to talk about the swimming pigs!” We thought it was funny though that when we asked for things to do in Nassau other than eat, her recommendation was the fish fry – which is a group of restaurants. Oh well, we tried.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor at Graycliff Cigars

Dinner that night was at a Japanese restaurant that is tasty but SSSSLLLLLOOOOWWWWW. Despite being the big city, Nassau seems to represent “Island Time” more than anywhere else. Tip: if you are traveling in the Bahamas expect service to be horrifically slow! Nobody likes it but its not going to change just because you showed up, so sit back and relax. The views usually make up for it.

The next day we departed for the Exumas, excited to get back into the middle of nowhere. We were surrounded by rain clouds all day but never got wet. A couple dolphins swam by the boat to welcome Wes. Over 40 miles later, we anchored on the south side of Normans Cay and were treated to a moonless night with amazing stars.

Squalls over the Yellow Bank – somehow we didn’t get wet

Like much of the Bahamas, Normans was an area well used in the drug trade just a few decades ago. Some drug dealers crashed a plane here, and it makes for a surprisingly good snorkel spot. Much of the plane in tact and tons of fish swim through it and under its wings.

We entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea National Park and anchored at Shroud Cay. The Park is a no-take zone – no fishing, no collecting, etc. – so it’s full of wildlife. Shroud has creeks that are fun to explore by dinghy. We spotted a sting ray and multiple turtles, who would swim quickly away when they heard our motor.

The Park charges an anchoring fee, so Paul and Wes went to find the dropbox for the money. Strangely, it was perched on the side of a rocky hill but they shimmied up to it and gave our payment and made it back to the boat around sunset. The boat rolled side to side while I was cooking dinner as the bow was pointing into the NE winds but the swell was coming from the west, but this luckily calmed down for the rest of the night.

The next day we sailed (Real sailing! Not motor sailing!) to Warderick Wells. It’s hard to admit this, but we find so few days where wind, waves, and route all combine to allow us to sail in the actual direction of our destination at a speed that wouldn’t benefit from some motor intervention. (Admittedly, our skills of sail trimming are not great and we are heading into persistent easterly trade winds.) And I don’t mind sailing for the sake of sailing, but adding time or distance to a trip just to avoid turning on the motor drives Paul up a wall. But anyways, with that fact admitted, we were pretty excited to show Wes a good day of sailing!

We spent several days at Warderick, where the Park headquarters are located. It’s an interesting island – supposedly once lush with vegetation, it was logged and never fully recovered. We hiked for the views from Boo Boo Hill, spotted the native mammal called the hutia, walked by the ruins of walls and houses from the late 18th century, and snorkeled near Emerald Rock. We saw groupers, snapper, lobsters, lionfish and some types of rays we’d never seen before. After dark, the bioluminecence made the water sparkle when we splashed.

View from Boo Boo Hill – ocean to the right, mooring field on the left

We took the dinghy to an area near the south of the island called Pirates Liar. The current was rushing out of there with such force that it took all of the power our dinghy had to make it in! Once inside, we were greeted by a variety of pretty blues, as the area between islands ranged in depth. There was a snorkel spot marked on a map provided by the park. There we found a small section of coral housing fish, 2 nurse sharks, and a sea turtle. We swam up current and then would drift back to the anchored dinghy, but it was hard work! We decided to head up-current with the dinghy and drift down with Paul either riding in the dinghy or holding on it to it as he swam.

Nassau grouper center, part of a lion fish top left

Paul dropped Wes and I to snorkel over the stromatolites. According to Wikipedia, “Stromatolites are layered bio-chemical accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms (microbial mats) of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria.” In other words, they are living rocks. They are one of the oldest lifeforms on earth and were once thought to be extinct. To our untrained eyes, they looked like… gray rocks. But hey, we can say we saw them!

Back at our boat, we had the two largest remoras I had ever seen hanging out on our hull. These are the fish with the suction-cup-like heads that catch a ride on sharks, turtles and whales. Soon they had a friend – a nurse shark we named Javier. I was way too amused by putting the knockoff GoPro on my new selfie stick and sticking it under water to capture video of our tenants. The remoras, greedy buggers that they are, even tried to eat the camera.

What I look like when I’m hanging off the side of the boat taking pictures of sharks

We had a rainy boat day involving crepes and movies, but when it cleared up late afternoon, we headed for the Park’s BYOB “happy hour,” which was mostly a group of boaters standing in the water trying not to get eaten alive by sand flies and no-see-ums. Strangely, almost everyone there was pre-retirement age but not necessarily new to sailing. There was a couple who were on their 18th season of sailing down here whose kids are only 9 and 11 years old! There were women named Sue, Susan, and Suzanne – so I stood next to woman named Lindy and we formed out own competing club. Lindy and her husband Zach have a website and YouTube channel documenting their journeys – www.funonholiday.com if you want to check it out.

We exited the National Park, having barely seen all it has to offer. Our next stop was Compass Cay. You might recognize this place from the “Instagram model bitten by shark” headline that got some publicity last year. The Compass Cay Marina is best known for their “pet” nurse sharks – wild sharks that gather here since they feed them from the docks. I’ll tell you a secret: there are lots of places with fish cleaning stations that attract sharks that don’t charge you $10 per person to hang out. But this place is so well known that we had to do it.

Apparently its been a while since Compass Cay served food at their restaurant

Sure enough, there were some people, who I’m sure call themselves Instagram models, that arrived around the same time we did. Their guide chummed the water while they tried to take the perfect picture. This is how people get bit though – the sharks have bad vision, and if you’re floating on your back, eyes closed, with your arms spread while someone throws shark food around you, your hands can look a lot like a piece of cut bait. Nurse sharks have no interest in a human snack, but I recommend keeping your hands to yourself and in fact I think I heard the tour guide telling people to ball their fists.

Paul patiently trying to stay out of this girl’s photos while she does what you shouldn’t do

Eventually, we made our way into the water, at first without snorkels and masks, and honestly it is a bit freaky without the mask to help you see them clearly! We had about 12 sharks swimming around us. We pet them – their skin feels like sand paper. We snorkeled under their docks – it’s a surprisingly good snorkel spot with lots of coral, fish (including a big puffer), and sea turtles. Plus, during this swim Paul and Wes more than made up for the entrance fee by finding a boat hook, a Patagonia tshirt that fits me, and a really luxurious Turkish cotton towel!

Wes and I were much more hesitant while entering the water

Paul with his new turkish towel and apparently about to stomp a shark

We chatted with the recent high school grad that worked there. He said about 5 people live full time here. I would be surprised if they had much company since the marina and villas are very expensive: villas are $3000-4000/week and docking is $4/foot/night. For our boat, that would be $144 for a parking spot! And that’s before you add $50-160/day for electric and $0.50/gal for water! And 12% tax! I’m sure you can guess that the only boats we saw parked there are the same ones that can afford the Turkish cotton made-in-Turkey towels without having to untangle them from a piece of coral!

We did scope out the beach on the other side of the island, and it was one of my favorite beaches ever. A curved bay with white sand, clear water, and a large rock protecting you from any big waves. Just gorgeous.

Paul and Wes went out spearfishing that evening, but only popped a few invasive lionfish and brought back only 1 fish that will probaby end up being used as bait. As I watched the sunset while waiting on their return, I thought I saw a bright light as the sun dipped below the horizon. Was that the elusive green flash? I wondered. I’m still not convinced that I saw it when I was the only one on board to witness it!

Originally we planned for Staniel Cay to be Wes’s departure point. Wes was hoping for a real shower before getting on the plane. We thought we could accomplish this at the Yacht Club, but when I asked if they offered day passes for the facilities, she said, “What facilities?” Paul had told me some of the big yacht marinas didn’t have bathrooms since all the yachts have their own, but I was still surprised!

We made quick work of the tourist attractions in this area and moved on. We swam Thunderball Grotto, which is named for the James Bond movie that was filmed there. It was better than expected! The cave is full of fish, cool swim-throughs, neon sponges and even bats. Outside the cave we saw rays, trumpet fish, aquatic worms and coral. The current picks up frighteningly quickly there though, so I was glad to be wearing my fins.

We checked out the original swimming pigs. We thought about skipping it after seeing Abaco’s pigs last year, but we decided we just had to see the famous ones since we were anchored only a couple hundred yards away. I was glad we did! Unlike the Abaco pigs, these ones really DO swim, and I laughed my ass off as Paul tried to back away from them into deeper water and they just kept paddling after him. I also saw them try to climb into someone’s boat. These pigs do have a reputation for biting people, so we were careful not to turn our backs. They did seem to understand that open hands means “no food.” The piglets were of course adorable.

We headed to the town of Black Point, which is often described as the “authentic Bahamanian experience” compared to touristy Staniel Cay. With a population of around 400, it has multiple restaurants, shops, and businesses that attract boaters.

The people here are some of nicest we’ve met (OK, let’s be real. All over the Bahamas, people tend to be extremely friendly and helpful). For example, at Scorpio’s, home of the 2-for-1 (very strong) rum punch happy hour, I asked if they had conch salad. She said no, but when I asked if anybody else had it because Wes was leaving soon and hadn’t tried it, she sprung into action. She yelled to some guys outside to see if they had any. Nope. She disappeared out of the restaurant, headed down the street somewhere, and returned a few minutes later with information that we should try near the laundromat after 5:30. I ran down to see if anyone was selling conch around that time. Not seeing anybody, I asked two guys sitting on the wall near the gambling center, and one of them pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and let me speak with the local conch source, who told me his wife should have some the next day. We never did get the conch salad, but I appreciated the whole town trying to make it happen for Wes!

No conch salad but plenty of conch fritters…

We had a huge lobster dinner at Dashamon’s one night and awesome BBQ at Lorraine’s Cafe another night. We had wings several places – the plain fried wings are so good! We ordered coconut bread from Lorraine’s mom by knocking on her front door. Her house always smells delicious!

We hiked to the blow hole and to a beach with a cool sandstone cave.

We like beaches best when you can avoid the sun!

We wandered around town and saw tiny planes come in right over the rooftops for landing.

We found a new restaurant with a sunset view. And most importantly, we showered! The laundromat offers 8 minute showers for $4. Worth it!

Rockside Laundry – best laundry ever – they have showers!

Wes had morning flight out, so Paul dinghied him to the laundromat dock at 7:00 so he could walk to the airport from there. I bet you’ve never gotten to the airport by boat and on foot, have you? Thanks for visiting, Wes. It was awesome having you aboard!

When Paul returned to the boat and woke me up, he asked what I wanted to do that day. I reflected on all we had done in the past 2 weeks before replying, “Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019

The Friendly Side of Nassau

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So where did we leave off? Oh right. Here:

We continued to watch as the funnel cloud tried to stretch for the sea. After several minutes, it lost steam and disappeared into the clouds above.

“There’s another one to the left!” I pointed out to sea.

I kept my eyes on the second funnel until it too slowed down and broke up without ever reaching the water’s surface. As the dark clouds faded into the distance, I returned my somewhat seasick self to my berth.

When I came back up a couple hours later, the rooftops of Baha Mar (we at first thought it was Atlantis) were just coming into view. I noticed the swells were a bit bigger than earlier, and they seemed to be growing. The approach to Nassau is kind of interesting – you’re in 1000 feet of water and a mile later, you’re in 30 feet, so the waves can stack up, particularly with a north wind like that day, and I read that the harbor entrance can be nasty in a strong northerly. We weren’t planning to enter the harbor, but we were headed behind Salt Cay, which meant turning east and taking the waves broadside. As the swells were starting to reach 6 feet, we really didn’t want to take them on the beam and cause the boat to rock wildly. As we approached our turning point, Paul noticed waves breaking in the distance, which set off alarm bells in his head. I verified on the charts that the waves were breaking over rocks (in other words, not on their own and not in a place we would be sailing through), but the cockpit was nonetheless thick with intense concentration. Dave and I watched silently as Paul steered through the waves. They rolled in about every 8-10 seconds, giving him time to make some progress east in between them, before turning south momentarily to take the waves on the stern. We zigzagged to calmer waters behind Salt Cay before anyone spoke.

“Good job,” Dave said.

“Well, that was mildly terrifying,” said Paul, turning to me. “Some day it’s gonna be your turn to steer through this shit!”

Our anchorage that night turned out to be quite rolly, so everyone was tired and cranky the next morning, but it was time to make some decisions. We knew that two fronts carrying 30-40 knot winds were forecast for the next week, so we would likely be sitting in one place for a while. Our options were to head to the Exumas so that Paul’s parents could see their beauty (with the risk of getting stuck somewhere expensive or not interesting enough to keep us entertained for a full week) or to stay in Nassau which we knew could keep us entertained (with the risk of being irritated by “the big city”). Nassau won the vote, so we looked for a spot to enjoy one more night at anchor before heading to a marina.

We headed to Rose Island, knowing nothing about it. It’s barely noted on our charts, so we were surprised to see a restaurant there. Though the restaurant was only open for a private tour boat, we discovered a pretty awesome artificial reef in front of it. I was excited to finally get to show both Dave and Naomi some clear water snorkeling with a big variety of coral and fish! I was surrounded by a school of ballyhoo and Paul persuaded a large green sea turtle to come say hello to the rest of us! Luckily we finished up just as the tour boats started to arrive. Off to Nassau we went!

Rose Island artificial reef – So many fishies!

You may have heard that the US issued another “warning” about Nassau due to issues with pickpocketing, theft, etc. However, don’t let that deter you! Sure, you need to be cautious in any city, but once you get 100 yards away from the cruise ships, you’ll start to find the same friendliness and helpfulness that you would find on any of the smaller Bahamian Islands. We ended up spending 11 days in Nassau!

One of our favorite experiences was the public bus. At $1.25 per person, it was a lot cheaper than the $35 taxi and a lot cooler than walking in the sun. You never knew what you were going to get – with the sometimes wild driving and blasting music, Naomi described it as “like riding Magic Mountain!” — she loved it!

I’m not sure what it is (though I suspect Dave’s mustache), but it always seems like more people talk to us when Paul’s parents are around. One guy started to give us a “tour” of the neighborhoods the bus passed through, and when he got off the bus before us, he yelled, “Driver, give them the full tour!” and the driver did indeed happily continue the tour, showing us 300-year-old cotton trees, old parliament houses, and various schools. On another ride, we chatted with guys selling fruit out of a bucket, and I ended up trying some jujube fruits. They didn’t recognize “Tennessee,” but when we said “Nashville” they started strumming their air guitars.

Whenever a bus pulls up, some passenger will usually yell out the window to find out where you are going and confirm the correct bus. As people board, they say, “Good afternoon” before taking a seat. If the bus is crowded, the aisles have fold down seats, so no space is wasted, and it’s amusing when someone in the back reaches their stop, so everyone in the aisle seats has to stand up, fold their seats, step off the bus, and rearrange to let that person out. Sometimes you lack sufficient head room or foot space. Sometimes the person in the seat next to you might be mixing himself a cocktail. If there is traffic at a corner, cutting through parking lots to avoid the intersection is totally acceptable and running red lights is not uncommon. The bus is not for the faint of heart!

When we did take a taxi, the experience was good as well . Our first driver told us we had to eat crab’n’rice (though we still haven’t found anyone selling it) and that she prays for all the visitors to have a great experience in Nassau. Another guy who worked for the water taxi gave us a ride in his car so we didn’t have to wait in the rain. Our last taxi driver mostly said “okay” in response to everything, except to deliver a couple of zingers to Dave. After a few drinks, he had the guts to tell her how he really felt about one of the Bahamas famous drinks, Sky Juice (gin, coconut water, coconut rum, condensed milk, or something similar).

“I don’t like Sky Juice,” he admitted.

“Oh, so you LOVE Sky Juice!” she retorted.

Dave scoping out the lobster selection at Lukka Kairi

We explored a lot in the downtown Nassau area. When it comes to eating out, “Island Time” is alive and well! You never know how long it might take, but we enjoyed the variety that Nassau offer – including East Villa Chinese, which actually has exceptional service, really good food, and sometimes a piano man.

We checked out the National Art Gallery, which had a pretty cheap entrance fee, some cool exhibits, and a beautiful building.

The great deck at the Bahamas National Art Gallery

Next was Waitling’s Distillery – amusing free tour, OK rum, really tasty pina
coladas and daquaris. For lunch we hit up Fish Fry, a famous area of restaurants serving Bahamian food.

We enjoyed Ardastra Gardens and Zoo – the “marching” flamingo show is kind of a joke, but the flamingos wandering freely around the zoo was totally cool!

Lots of birds and small animals at the zoo, but still entertaining

Flamingos are native to the Bahamas – they live on the island of Great Inagua

We checked out the Atlantis shops and casino. It was neat to see and Dave and Naomi both got lucky in just 10 minutes of slots!

We drank decent beer at Pirate Republic Brewery. I believe this is the only craft beer in the Bahamas.

We watched the Patriots earn their way to the Super Bowl in an Irish Bar that was full of New Englanders (Dave and Naomi included), which made it a lot of fun – and even Paul enjoyed the football game, something he does once only every year or two!

We watched the lunar eclipse – or I did, most of it, before I got sleepy like everyone else.

We explored the beautiful Graycliff Hotel.

Graycliff Hotel Pool – beautiful, but where are the guests?!

We tried to explore the Cable Beach area, but we discovered it’s pretty lame since the resorts block the beach view, and even though all beaches are legally “public” below the high water mark, this doesn’t stop Sandals from asking you to leave when you are trying to walk along the water. We did enjoy the fresh fruit daiquiris at the Daiquiri Shack, as well as Sabarro pizza (don’t judge – it brought back very fond childhood mall food court memories for both Paul and me). We explored the Baha Mar resort, which seemed pretty nice, and it seemed the casino luck (or lack thereof) was still with us from Atlantis.

Enjoying the beach, moments before Sandals kicked us out

We stayed at the Nassau Harbour Club marina. Though it was the cheapest we found in the city, it was still the most expensive marina we’ve ever been in. Since water, electric, and laundry all cost extra, the internet barely worked, and the pool and bathrooms were usually dirty, not to mention out of toilet paper, I’m not really sure what we were paying for – other than, of course, convenience to land and protection from the wind (and peace of mind). And for that, it was worth it but barely. Up your game Nassau Harbour Club or cut your prices by about 75%. Our handheld knot meter didn’t measure more than 20, but it sure felt like it was blowing harder, and when the winds came from the east, it smacked waves onto the boat at weird angles, tugging on our dock lines and making weird noises. With reports from the Exumas of boats experiencing 35 knots, we were glad we stayed to enjoy Nassau for Dave and Naomi’s final few days.

We were wrapping up breakfast when Paul’s phone rang with the news that Dave and Naomi’s flight was leaving an hour early, so their departure was pretty rushed. Four people on a little boat for 2.5 weeks and we all survived! Amazingly, I don’t think we ever had a moment where the boat felt too crowded. (Thanks for being great guests!) The day wasn’t even over before we had made plans for our next guest to arrive!

Naomi was sad to leave all her pirate friends!

We had cleaning and shopping to do – Nassau had the last full size supermarket we would see until… well, probably until we return to Nassau in a few months!

We did however decide to escape the boat for a day. We used Paul’s hotel points from work to book a night at the Hilton British Colonial Hotel. His status level got us into the executive lounge for free tea, snacks, and happy hour. After drinks, we were hungry and headed to Imperial Diner for take-out. Paul ordered the fritter dog – essentially a corn dog but instead of corn batter it uses conch fritter batter – and he declared it a “national treasure.” I ordered the whole fried snapper and declared it was “amazing.” Our dinner was the two of us sitting in our hotel room repeatedly exclaiming “This is so good!!” and taking pictures of our food. Rediculous.

I’m telling you: looks questionable, tastes amazing

The next day was Paul taking advantage of the king size bed and TV while I took advantage of the clean swimming pool and hammocks. Then it was back to boat life and preparing to depart the marina!

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019

The Forgotten Island: Great Harbour Cay

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After spending a night at anchor outside the island, we motored gently though the imposing pass that had been cut straight through coral rock some 60 years prior. The marina at Great Harbour is tucked into a very impressive hurricane hole with outstanding protection from every direction. We checked in with customs/immigration (they gave us a full 6 months here) and after some quick showers, we proceeded to rent a car from Krum’s Grocery Store. It didn’t take long to realize this island was different than anything we had visited prior. It had beautiful grand buildings everywhere but they all lay in ruin. It turns out that in the late 1960’s some $38 million was invested into making this the an island paradise for the rich and famous. A top notch golf course was built with an extraordinary clubhouse. Jack Nicklaus was even hired to promote the island and given a house. (If you want to golf, bring your clubs and balls as the 9 holes are still maintained by the HOA). A private club and a great beach resort was also constructed along with numerous condos, villas, and bungalows. We were lucky to meet an American woman whose family had owned a home here since the glory days, and she told us stories about dinners at the club house and the everyone being “dressed to the nines.” This place had class that we just don’t see anymore. I wanted so very much to sip a Manhattan at the pool with the movie stars but alas we were left to explore post apocalyptic ruins. It was heartbreaking to see the the foundation of the clubhouse was still in good shape. It wasn’t a hurricane that caused its demise but neglect and abandonment.

I could still drink a Manhattan by the pool, but…

It was then I remembered the Bahamas resist change, they resist occupation, and they resist persecution. The Bahamas are meant to be free. Some have changed an island here or there but as I see time and time again, nature in the Bahamas is always ready to take back what is hers. When the losses become more then the rich can bear, the buildings fail, the concrete cracks and what’s left behind is the true magic of the Bahamas that we love so very much.

Club House… decorated for Halloween complete with “body bags” (stuffed with leaves)

After viewing the old clubhouse ruins we made our way into the town of Bullocks Harbour where all the locals live. We drove up and down the streets with our useless guidebooks trying to find any restaurant that was still open, only to give up and pull into Brown’s Garden, which is not listed in any guidebook but clearly is the place to be in town. We all affectionately refer to it as “Ronnie’s place” after the proprietor Ronnie “the entertainer”. Ronnie wasted no time in serving up an ice cold round of Kalik beers for the very fair price of 3 for $10. He then asked if it was our first time in the Bahamas to which Naomi replied an enthusiastic, “Yes!” Seeing that we had ordered cracked conch Ronnie said to Naomi, “Come wit me m’am. I got someting to show yah”. I instantly knew what was up and grabbed a camera as we all piled out of the bar and across the street to the water where in a tiny little cove lied several thousand empty conch shells. Ronnie pulled on a old weathered rope and up came half a dozen conch. He pulled two off and expertly began showing Naomi how to remove and clean them.

Of course the part we were all waiting for came when he removed the translucent crystaline style from the conch’s body and offered it to Naomi. It looks like a piece of clear spaghetti. Naomi looked hesitantly to us and we reassured her that everybody does it. She slurped it down as we all giggled. While we have all tried it before, we didn’t mention that it’s widely referred to as an aphrodisiac by the locals. Ronnie was living up to his name the entertainer, and well, the food doesn’t get much fresher.

The next local we encountered was Hubert “Da Fishman”. Hubert was part entrepreneur and part hustler. He rented boats, fishing guides, sold beer and tobacco (only when they were processing the catch) and had all the best fresh fish on the island. He was also located about 100 yards down the dock and became pretty good entertainment every evening when he would arrive with his gang of fishing boats and fishermen. Most days they would show up with piles of conch, lobster, snapper, hogfish, yellowtails and more – all available at very reasonable prices like the lobster at $12 a pound tails only. Dave and even more so Naomi were instantly captivated by this and asked us to cook some up for them. So I ordered up three pounds of lobster tails from Hubert. Hubert grumbled to one of his guys who tossed up a bag and weighed it. Hubert, not liking what he saw, grumbled something about a new scale and came over to inspect it. Now we were all thinking the tare was off and we would probably loose a tail. On the contrary, after inspection Hubert ordered up another small tail for us and we promptly paid him. I didn’t weigh them but it sure as heck felt like more than 3 pounds to me and came out to 6 tails. We broiled up 4 tails with creole herb butter and used the remaining two to make lobster scampi which was pretty darn tasty.

We were treated very well at the marina in addition to Hubert having fresh fish most days. Monday and Wednesday the dockmasters took orders for fresh bread. The banana bread was the best any of us have ever had. There was also pizza night where wonderful pizzas were delivered piping hot right to your boat. But the best value was the $10 Friday night BBQ where chicken, ribs, steak, corn, mac and cheese, and peas in rice were served up in generous portions to cruisers and pretty much everybody else on the island that had access to cars or even bicycles. It was all great, but we loved the mac and cheese with its spicy kick. Yep that’s right when you add some tangy Louisiana hot sauce to mac and cheese something truly magical happens.

While we still had the car for another day, we drove the length of the island. On the northeast side there are more club ruins. An unassuming driveway takes you uphill to the walls and patios of an oceanside club where the Rat Pack hung out and where it was said that the french owner/bartender liked to serve drinks while naked. He was french after all. The only guest there now was a Bahamian racer snake!

Nearby, a pullout led to a small sandy beach with rocky cliffs and a cave. The contrast of this landscape compared to the Abacos was startling! And of course, where there is a rock to climb, we must climb it.

Continuing our tour of the beaches, we also explored the Beach Club – an outdoor restaurant and bar overlooking yet another beautiful beach and serving surprisingly good and fresh food.

We headed south towards the sand bars near Haines Cay. The paved road ends with a several-inch drop off to a rough, rocky dirt road that makes you question if the path is actually intended for cars. As usual, Lindsey was driving as she has mastered “left to live” driving and doesn’t get too freaked out by the massive potholes or it seeming like everyone is on the “wrong” side of the road. However, she didn’t have faith that the little car could handle some off-roading.

“I don’t know if I can take the car down this!” Lindsey said.

“The lady said to take the dirt road all the way to the beach!” Dave urged.

“Just do it!” I chimed in.

Nervously, slowly, she proceeded forward while the rest of us volunteered steering directions to try to avoid the divots, rocks, and bushes scraping the car’s paint. Amazingly, we only bottomed out once and didn’t knock any parts off the car. The road ends at the mouth of Shark Creek, where a huge hammerhead was once tagged. The beach itself is clear water over shallow white sand, and at low tide many sand dollars and mysterious creatures of the sea can be found. The snorkeling at Haines wasn’t great (sounds like Hawsknest is better) but we did see a huge barracuda and a lobster.

Tailgating after surviving the drive down the dirt road

Mystery creature – guesses include sea pickles and moss animals

After returning our rental car to Krum’s, we had to find new forms of transportation since the marina is a bit of a walk from many of the restaurants and attractions. We took to the dinghy to explore what is left of the former drug dealer island Cistern Cay. Putting 4 adults in the inflatable dinghy is not usually something we do, and will try to avoid repeating, but we all made it there safely though perhaps a little wet! We forgot the map of course, so we didn’t find the little blue hole or the wrecked plane, though we heard the plane isn’t much to see. The drug dealer island was pretty interesting though – there are ruins of homes with great views, an extensive road system, old cars, and even a go-kart locked in a garage. However, the joke has become, “What they call ‘ruins’ in the Bahamas, we would just call ‘abandoned’ in Tennessee!”

We had dinner at Carriearl, a boutique hotel that offers rides from the marina to their restaurant. We took the ride with another couple and enjoyed talking with them over drinks while we waited for dinner. The house that was converted into the hotel and restaurant was once owned by fashion critic Mr. Blackwell. Carriearl is run by a British couple with a few employees, but they seemed to having a hell of a night. The place was busy, and the power went out a few times, though hardly anyone batted an eye as this happened. However, the water wouldn’t turn back on, so now, in addition to serving drinks, taking orders, giving rides, and supervising the cook, the owners were also running from pool-to-bathroom with buckets of water to flush the toilet! Despite the chaos (and varying quality of our dishes), the ambiance of this restaurant is really fantastic and we had a lot of fun.

The marina also offers bikes. Lindsey and I took these into town one afternoon on a search for beer and food – turns out if you are willing to ride into town and up and over the hill, you can buy a 6-pack for $10 rather than pay Hubert $24! By the time we found the beer, had snacks while watching the sunset at Coolie Mae’s (it took a while… island time, mon… they were making the conch fritter batter fresh), and ordered conch salad at Ronnie’s, it had gotten dark. Really, really dark.

Lindsey assessed the situation. “OK, we weren’t planning on being on out past dark…. so I didn’t bring the headlamps. And now it’s dark AND raining. So this should be a fun ride back, right?” My wife has a twisted idea of fun. Time for another one of Lindsey’s death marches I muttered under my breath.

We put our food in the baskets, got on the bikes and started pedaling furiously through town. There are some infrequent street lamps to light the way – and the potholes. Lots and lots of potholes… some deep… some really deep. “Hole!” we yelled to one another. “Car!” If the car was on our side of the road, we’d scurry into the grass or bushes to avoid being hit. If the car was coming the opposite way, we’d use the shadows cast by the headlamps to scope out the upcoming potholes. Lindsey giggled most of the way home. Like I said, twisted idea of fun.

Having spent a week in Great Harbour, we made some friends at the marina. We were docked between two boats with chefs, one of which was a fishing boat, so we got spoiled with wahoo sashimi and sushi. We got tips for the rest of our trip and got to hear some wild stories about working on mega yachts… especially ones that the owners sink for fraudulent insurance claims! Another neighboring boat was Jack Nicklaus’s yacht, and it sure looked like he was onboard, though we only saw the crew step foot on land. Nicklaus himself may have been out fishing on one of the yacht’s three flats fishing boats.

We enjoyed walking up and down the docks, spotting critters – lots of sergeant majors, little fish, an occasional nurse shark, barracudas – even an octopus! (What we didn’t enjoy was climbing up and down the docks – our boat is low and the docks are high, so our climbing moves got a workout at low tide!)

Despite the magic of this place, it is not all that popular for cruising boats to stop here. (To clarify, in our world, “cruisers” or “cruising” refers to people socially boating on sailboats or trawlers, to distinguish from racing boats, not to be confused with cruise ships!)This adds to its allure as we love to have a place to ourselves or shared with only a few other cruisers. The crazy part is – just to the north are the Stirrup Cays, where cruise ships send folks to enjoy the Berry Island beaches with hundreds of other people – while just a few miles south, you can have the beaches all to yourself!

We set sail from the marina, planning to round the Stirrup Cays to head south along the eastern side of Great Harbour. A dolphin jumped in our bow wake and a giant loggerhead turtle floated by, ensuring this forgotten island wouldn’t be forgotten by us.

(Interested in visiting Great Harbour? Here are a few other resources:

https://www.greatharbourcaymarina.com/history.html

https://isimpo.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/great-harbour-cay-in-the-berry-islands-bahamas-2/

http://www.consultresearch.com/GHC2.htm

Enjoy!)

July 18, 2018

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

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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?”

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.