Green Turtle Cay

A few more pics from Grand Cay:  A pile of discarded conch shells along side of the fisherman's boat, along with some other miscellaneous trash.

The Grand Cay residents don't seem too concerned with trash, it's everywhere.  On a small island away from the town, there is a dump with evidence of periodic trash burnings.  Not attractive, but what are their options?

Many of the buildings appear to be unfinished and in other states of disrepair.  Here's one built on the very edge of the island, housing a family. 

The island took a hit with Hurricane Sandy as evidenced by the ruined docks in this little canal.  The island is littered with abandoned boats in all stages of decay scattered along the shore and beside the houses.

 

After 5 nights, we got our weather to get down the island chain to Green Turtle Cay.  We wanted to visit some of the islands in between, but with the northern winds, there were no options for protected anchorages.  So we took advantage of the good day that we had and went about 60 miles in light seas and sunshine.  A beautiful cruise through previously unseen by us waters.  What could be better?

 

Green Turtle Cay is an island of much different character than Grand Cay.  There are two large totally protected sounds with marinas and anchorages and a historic town to tour.  We are in White Sound at Bluff House Marina and Beach Resort.  A pretty good price on dockage, this is, afterall, the off season, and decent enough WiFi that I can blog from the pilot house.  There is a pool, bar and restaurant and beautiful deck overlooking the harbor. 

 

 

Yesterday was another perfect weather day, sunny, light winds and 75 degrees, so we unloaded the bikes and pedaled the 4-5 miles into town.  On the way, we saw many well kept homes for sale and for rent and stopped briefly at two beautiful beaches right along side the road.  This one was in a little protected cove....

 

... and this one open to the Atlantic.

 

 

New Plymouth is about as charming and quaint as they come, with well maintained homes and small businesses lining its two main streets, each a narrow one way. 

 

The settlement was founded shortly after the American Revolutionary War by the Loyalists, colonists opposed to separating from England.  About one in five people opposed the war and the effort toward independence.  After the war, many of them fled to England, Burmuda, and the Bahamas. The town is very proud of its heritage and has done a great job in archiving the history.  We toured the Museum named after Albert Lowe, one the influential boat builders, fishermen, and civic leaders.  It is in one of the homes that date back to the early 1800's.

We met Albert's son, Vert, in his model ship building shop.  He shared some of his family's history with us and showed us his dozens of model boats.  His father's model boats are displayed in the museum.  His daughter runs a restaurant in town and his son is harbor master at the Green Turtle Club Marina.  Great guy and a bit of a living legend.  

This is the building where he has his shop.

 

And lastly, a view of the town as we approached it.  The two one way streets converge here and the house in front is probably the biggest house in the town. 

Today we are just relaxing on the boat and around the marina.  It's raining intermittently, and the winds are gonna pick up again tonight and tomorrow.  There is one more navigational challenge between us and our destination marina.  The challenge is a brief open ocean passage called "The Whale" and the destination is Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay, where we have a slip reserved for a month .... details to follow.