Green is THE color!

The wind shifted to the north, and we had a more restful night finally.  Thursday 3/16/17 looks like a great day to move!  Once again, it doesn’t look like the calm will stay long.  What is with this crazy windy weather?  I guess it is the left overs from the crazy winter weather in the U.S.  If Western Washington can get snow in March, I guess the Bahamas can get wind.  The wind is actually the cold front pushing down from the northern U.S.  First wind, then cool, then calm, then warm, then it does it all over again.

We originally hoped to spend a couple of nights anchored at the next two cays on our way south from Spanish Cay.  Powell Cay and Manjack Cay are great deserted islands to throw out the anchor, dinghy ashore, and enjoy beautiful Bahama beaches.  But alas – the wind doesn’t want us to do that yet.  So – our destination is set for Green Turtle Cay.  It’s only 16 miles south.

We head out about 9:00, and we are there before noon.  And OH BOY does it looks wonderful!!  It looks all paradisey tropically perfectly great!

We got Island Girl all backed into her new spot, with calm water and exceptional dock hands helping us!  What a cute and friendly place!  It wasn’t long before I was begging Kenny to get our bikes out and go exploring.  So we rode to the south end of the island to the town of New Plymouth.  This was a beach view we stopped to check out on the way.

Looking east over the Atlantic, and you can see the breakers way out on the offshore reef.  So pretty!

We got into town, and it is so cute!  Sooooo different than West End Grand Bahama!  This town is well taken care of.  Golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation on the island.  Don’t be fooled – we are on a one-way street.  They drive on the left here.

Green Turtle Cay … Adventure, Infamy and Enterprise – Ye Be Warned!  Welcome

We’ll come back to town tomorrow.  We need to get back to the marina.  There is a pool bar opening party tonight!  We gather up our One Eye Dog friends, and hit the two-for-one happy hour.  Here is me & Kenny, April & Larry (and Abby the little fluff dog), and Ellen & Kimbob.

Ellen and I are the playful ones, so we get out the pool deck Connect 4 game.  We had a fun evening, and are so glad to be in a place where there is life, activity, fun, adventure, and very little wind!

Friday is St. Patrick’s Day, and apparently is a very favorite holiday celebrating the color green, on Green Turtle Cay!  Both boats are excited to FINALLY get the dinghies in the water!  On our bike ride yesterday, we discovered that it is a much shorter dinghy ride than bike ride to town. So we pile into the dinghies and away we go!  After all, there’s going to be a parade and everything!

We wandered around town and checked out lots of shops, grocery stores, and restaurants.  Looking for a bite to eat, we checked out 2 Shorty’s.  It was quite popular, but a sure hour wait to get your food. Lots of places have outside picnic tables.

We found our way to Miss Emily’s.  We ordered some Goombay Smash drinks.  And they were green, of course.  Come to find out, Miss Emily Cooper at the Blue Bee in New Plymouth originated the famous Bahamian rum drink!  The original recipe is a secret, but it was yummy!

And here we all are at our picnic table at the Blue Bee.

One of the places I was sure to check out was the bakery.  Here it is!  She had guava bread, coconut chocolate chip banana bread, and a cinnamon roll that made it into my bag.  There were some young local construction workers there having lunch that really reminded me of my boys.  One bigger guy who visited with me, and a slender guy who just smiled and watched quietly as he ate his lunch.  They were so sweet.  I told them about my boys and how each of them reminded me of them, and the big guy gave me a big hug.  It was such fun!

Speaking of my boys… in the name of the Irish holiday, the liquor store was giving out shots of Jameson Irish whiskey.  So I got one, since it is my youngest son’s favorite.  Here’s to you Bubba!

And if I have too many, I might end up in the jail.  The pink jail.

We stopped at Harvey’s Island Grill to order dinner to go.  Tonight was BBQ Ribs night.  The places here in New Plymouth are well taken care of.  It seemed like most of the buildings in town had fresh colorful clean paint.

And then – parade time!  This is in the staging area.  They said that anyone and everyone could be in the parade.  They were having so much fun getting their golf carts all decked out.

And there they go!

We got our ribs to go, and headed back to the dinghy dock.  Hmmm. The tide we out a bit, so getting down to the dinghys was fun.

And then there is Kenny’s treasure of the day – a harpoon!  HA!  We had checked out these hunting sticks and spear points in the hardware/marine shop.  This is how to hunt lobster here – you have to either lasso or spear them.  We didn’t buy one.  But then, I saw a family in a golf cart, and they had one.  So I asked how it works.  The dad showed us, and admitted that he didn’t catch any lobster, but did get a nice fish, and showed us pictures.  He asked if we wanted to buy it, since they were headed back home to the states tomorrow, and didn’t have a use for it on Chesapeake Bay.  So we bought it from him.  Now Kenny has a triton spear!  Watch out!!

We are really enjoying Green Turtle Cay.  The marina gives a price break for a weekly stay.  Sounds good.  We’ll stay a week.