Green Turtle Cay to West End

Monday, April 16, 2018
Day 379
152 miles to West End, Grand Bahama Island

I'm posting this on Monday morning, catching up from last week.  The last post ended with our arrival at Bluff House Marina on Green Turtle Cay on Wednesday, so I'll pick up from there.

Thursday morning was spent on boat maintenance.  We bit the bullet and paid 25 cents a gallon to hook up to the marina water supply so True North could get a good washing.  It just gets to the point that every outside surface you touch is covered in salt.  I gave the inside a thorough cleaning, too.  It just gets to the point that potato chip crumbs are everywhere!  J

Then a trip into the engine room for one thing led to several more things which meant we didn’t get done with boat stuff until mid afternoon.

After inquiring on the best spots for seeing turtles and shell hunting, I took off on a 20 minute walk to Coco Bay.  My exercise was rewarded as I immediately saw a stingray, and then turtles from an old wooden dock.  While walking the beach, I had my head down looking for shells.  When I looked up, there was a shark about 15-20 feet off to my left. I was close to shore, the water just above my ankles and the shark was out a little deeper.  By the time I got my phone (camera) out of my backpack to take a picture, he had blended into the sea grass and I couldn’t spot him.  I was glad I wasn't snorkeling!!

Others arrived at the bay and brought squid to feed the turtles.

Stingray

I was a little to the left of the sandy shore and the shark was swimming 

along the edge of the dark color!

The ocean beach was just a half mile farther so I walked there, too.  Definitely not a day for traveling through the Whale as the wind was driving breakers in with considerable force. I had been gone quite a while and knew I had a long walk back so I didn’t spend too much time beach combing.

Windy conditions on the ocean beach

The settlement on Green Turtle Cay is called New Plymouth.  We tried to rent a golf cart for the day so we all could get to the ocean beach and New Plymouth, but none to be had.  Partly because they prefer to rent by the week and not just one day.

We went by dinghy instead.  First we went past New Plymouth to a long stretch of beach that I thought was Gilliam Bay, the place I was directed to for shelling. I later discovered after looking at a map, we were not at Gilliam Bay but we found some good shells anyway  And I don’t think we would have went that far as the wind was against us and we were getting soaked on the dinghy ride.

We didn't bring an anchor so Mike had to stay with the dinghy

while Greg and I looked for shells

My first starfish sighting!

We tied up at the public dinghy dock at New Plymouth. It is another settlement founded by British Loyalists.  It has a few gift shops, 6 or 7 bars/restaurants, post office, museum, and two bakeries.  The buildings are all painted in the pastel colors that are so common in the Bahamas.  It just makes everything look cheerful and pleasant, even when things are a little run down.

In the time it took me to tour the Albert Lowe Museum, the guys had walked the entire town.  The museum was a good look at the history of New Plymouth and the Abacos.  The lady guide is a direct descendent of the builder of the home the museum was in.  Albert’s son Alton Lowe is a famous painter and his works depicting Bahamian life added color to my education.

Alton Lowe's painting of his father Albert

Alton built this model of the schooners that were the mode of transportation

for people and supplies in the Bahamas

A four-seater outhouse meant you were well off!

Sculpture Garden with busts of important people in the history of New Plymouth

and the Abacos

Loyalitst Landing

Our next stop was Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar.  Like Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe of herbs and spices, Miss Emily’s claim to fame is she invented the Goombay Smash, the signature drink of the Bahamas.  While I did my tour around town, Mike and Greg sat on the patio of the Blue Bee Bar and watched a group of local kids on the playground across the street.

Miss Emily's had a non-alcoholic version of the Smash for me!

Mike and Greg are sitting in front of the blue building in the background

We were going to have dinner at one of the restaurants in town, but time got away from us after we met up with Steve and Debbie from Gypsies Palace and with the sun setting and no lights on our dinghy, we had to get back to the boat.

Our last stop in New Plymouth was Sundowner's

Someone on board True North like the color scheme in the place-

Maize and Blue

We definitely will!

At marinas in the United States the cost of electrical power must be built in to the price they charge for dockage because it is not an extra.  In the Bahamas it is.  So our electrical use is metered at the slip.  At home, when checking in to a marina, I say how many nights we are going to stay and pay right then.  Here, before we can move on to the next place, we have to wait for the office to open – usually 8 am – and have the dockhand read the meter, relay that info to the office and then I pay.  And in this case, our water usage was metered also.  So we didn’t leave Bluff House Marina until 8:40 on Saturday morning.

Destination: West End on Grand Bahama Island.  West End is the most common stop either on the way to the Bahamas from Florida or it is the last Bahama stop on the way to Florida.  That would be us, which means our grand Bahama adventure is nearing completion.   Just like when we went to Bimini to start our trip, weather dictates when you can travel back across the Gulf Stream.  Mike says that looks like Wednesday. 

It was an eight hour ride to West End.  The first 6 were beautiful with the wind at our back.  It was smooth enough that I could make lunch, climb up the fly bridge ladder with the plates in my hands and the guys could eat up top.  And I could sit with my laptop and work on the blog.  All that while traveling 23 miles an hour. When in open water like we were, that doesn’t happen often.

We slowed down and Greg put out some lines.  Soon one was screaming and I started reeling in.  Suddenly it got easier and I was sure I had lost the fish, but Greg said he could still see it.  When I got it up to the boat, we saw why it got easier.  A shark had bit off the back half of the wahoo!  Don’t see that back in Michigan!  We had one more hit but lost that one.  Time to bring in the lines as we were making a course turn.

The lighter blue water in foreground is 20 ft. deep

When we got to the darker blue, the depth went to 1,200 ft.

The last two hours to West End were into the wind with constant pounding along with occasional slamming.  Water spray was flying over the bow and thru the open isinglass, which got quickly closed.  We pulled into Old Bahama Bay Marina at 4:45. 

Tomorrow – exploring West End.

                 

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