What is my favorite place in the Abacos? Green Turtle Cay. In the times I have chartered in the Bahamas I have stopped in Green Turtle each time. Each time I discover something new and meet someone that makes the stay here enjoyable. Frankly, meeting them and seeing GTC again justifies the cost of the charter.
Green Turtle has two harbors, only one of which I would try to enter with over 5ft draft. But I use neither since the anchorage is where the action is. We always seem to anchor no too far from the dock at New Plymouth. We have always been able to set the hook easily. But it gets crowded sometimes. In this case we were there the day before abaco race week hit the island. So there were a fair amount of boats.
New Plymouth is a great town. Off of Parliament street you will find a park and if you are a US citizen, you should find it quite interesting. The park is dedicated to the founding of New Plymouth by loyalists escaping the American Revolution. Reading many of the placards you get to see the revolution from the other (losing side) point of view. Very interesting.
In trips past we visited Miss Emily’s Blue Bee bar and this was no exception. By bar standards in the US, its not much to see. T-shirts stapled to the ceiling from many different places and as the self proclaimed originator of the goombay smash, lots of rum. But you do get to see a lot of people go by. Ok, not a lot. But some.
For eating I usually recommend Laura’s Kitchen. Great and I mean great Grouper Sandwich served with peas N rice. But this time I want to recommend another restaurant. I can’t remember the name of the place, but I remember the food and the BIG personality inside. Big JR. The restaurant on the corner of King Street and Parliament was only open for a month when we found it. But BIG JR grew up on Green Turtle and had a life time of stories to tell and tell them with enthusiasm. I really like him. But the food, well, how should I put this… Was fantastic. The stewed creole chicken that I had was out of this world good and served up with fresh hot bread. mmmmmmmmm. The best meal I think I have had in Green Turtle and possibly the Bahamas. Now it may be a little different, but I grew up in New Orleans and I know good creole food. When you try it I hope it is just as good.
No trip to Green Turtle would be complete without mentioning either the Bluff House or Green Turtle Club and Marina. Now mind you that the Bahamas keeps to “Island time”, so don’t think that the staff even cares about how fast a customer gets their drinks in Dallas. Have the Lobster and shrimp omelet. Then have a mango daiquiri from the bar. Actually, change the order that you have them. It will make waiting on that omelet easy.
You can snorkel and dive around GTC. And the beaches on the Atlantic side should not be missed if you are a beach comber. The marina can help you find all these and possibly some sport fishing. For us, we had planned to go to Manjack Cay for the serenity of an “un-inhabited” island. So after two days at GTC and at around 2 in the afternoon we pulled the hook to sail over.