Green Turtle Cay

(11/29/17) Green Turtle Cay lies at about he halfway point down the Sea of Abaco.  The Abaco Islands waterways can be divided into to three distinct bodies of water–the Atlantic Ocean, The Sea of Abaco and the Bight of Abaco.  We are currently in the Sea of Abaco.  Green Turtle Cay is about three miles long.  It is so named because the Atlantic side of the Cay used to be a major breeding ground for green turtles. 

The island is about 3 miles long.  New Plymouth is the main settlement of the cay.  It has a sister relationship with Key West, Florida.  Sometime in the mid 1800’s residents took their houses down and boarded them on barges and set out for Key West.  They then reassembled the homes and started out to make a new life in this remote Florida Key.  William Curry was among those leaving Green Turtle.  He was 15 when he left with his family. William went on to become the first millionaire in the state of Florida.

Since the Customs & Immigration office is in New Plymouth, about 3 miles away from us, we rented a golf cart to check in and to explore the island.  Our first stop was to see CoCo Bay and the Bluff House and Marina.  There were no turtles in Coco Bay as we were told, but we saw another Fleming at a dock.  We decided to see out the Fleming by land later in the day.  The Bluff House is somewhat historical but no longer in operation. A storm caused significant damage and now it sits boarded up.  The Bluff House Beach Club and Bar is still open.  There are homes for rent here which would make a great vacation destination.  The marina was mainly vacant but everyone says their busy season in June and July.  

We were told to follow the power lines along the road to get to New Plymouth.  After a few wrong turns, we were on our way.  The decorations at the Leeward Yacht Club invited us to turn in and take a look.  

The restaurant looked good and the view of Black sound was good so we decided to come back here on our way back for lunch.   New

Plymouth looked much the same as it did when we visited in 2013.  The homes are painted pretty pastels in shades of blue, green, aqua and pink.  They all sit close together as if to protect themselves from the sometimes harsh winds and storms that come through.  

A quick visit in to Sid’s market turned into a longer one when we discovered that the owner’s daughter attended UGA and Emory.  She worried that all the young people of Green Turtle Cay will choose to live elsewhere and that the island would not prosper.  

Traveling the beach road back to our marina gave us a great view of the Atlantic.  Blue water dotted with white spraying waves.  The trees swayed in the high winds.  It was not a great day to be out in the water but it sure was a beautiful vision.  

Even though these beach roads were not close to homes, it was evident that care was taken to make sure the visit was comfortable.  We discovered chairs and picnic tables and even a fire pit for guests to enjoy.   

At close to dusk, we went out to find the Fleming and the house to which it is attached.  We decided to walk around CoCo Bay to get as close as possible.  We read the name CoCo Lady.  We never could find the home but found several on the CoCo Bay which we would love to rent one day.  A night-time drive to New Plymouth to see the Christmas lights was to be our last outing of the night.  The roads are not well-lit but, the golf cart did have lights.  It could be a bit unnerving to travel along on the wrong side of the road (to us) at night and see car lights heading toward us.  The entrance into New Plymouth is covered with metal arches that lead the road down a steep hill toward the settlement.  The arches were covered in red and green lights.  All the street lights had decorations much the same as we do in Monroe or Lawrenceville or any other small town in the US.  

Just a few of my favorites of the day

Joy