Alone in Green Turtle Cay

From Powell Cay we backtracked about 15 nautical miles to Green Turtle Cay, a popular destination among boaters with its lovely beaches, protected natural harbors, several marinas and boatyards, good anchorages and mooring fields, and a historic town. A lot to offer in a small three-mile long package with less than 500 inhabitants. We chose a mooring buoy in Black Sound, because it was close to New Plymouth, the historic town.

We had an additional reason to stop at Green Turtle Cay: Kathy was democratically elected as the parental representative to our daughter’s graduation in California, so she had to make a flash trip to an ocean far away. Green Turtle Cay is a very convenient place to drop off or pick up crew. After a 10-minute ferry ride, a 5-minute taxi ride and 60-minute flight in a propeller plane, you are in Florida. And the ferry will detour from its route to pick you up right at the boat. I stayed taking care of the boat, feeding the cat, and provisioning for our upcoming passage back to the US.

One late morning I was brushing my teeth, not expecting Kathy until the early afternoon ferry. I heard a faint voice shouting “Juan!” and there she was, way too early, calling me to help with her suitcase as she approached Ñandú aboard a skiff. It turns out that a woman she shared the flight and the taxi with was coming to a nearby boat; her friends picked her up and brought Kathy as well. The downside was that instead of the glamorous reception to a clean and tidy boat I had intended, I received her with a pile of dirty dishes and a toothpaste-drooling, perplexed face.

Kathy came back with a hair cut, a load of nuts, and as many chocolate bars as we had provisioned for our entire stay in the Bahamas, even though we expected to be back in the US in a week. You don’t find good quality chocolate in the Bahamas, and the original provision was long gone.