Most of the vehicles on the island are golf carts. In the Abacos, the VHF marine radio is used like a telephone. Even the golf carts list a phone number, along with VHF channel 16. You can hail just about anyone on the VHF. (This wasn’t our cart… our’s was from “T&A” 😕 )
Ellen & Kim decided to rent a cart and tour the island. Unfortunately, April (from One Eye Dog) received a call that her dad had passed away while in Mexico. So she, Larry, and Abby (the one eyed little dog) had to fly back to the states, and then to Mexico to identify his body and take care of all the details. From Green Turtle Cay, they had to take a ferry to Treasure Cay, then a taxi to Marsh Harbor, then fly to Florida and then back to California. They were gone within about 18 hours of the call. So – we joined Ellen & Kimbob for the golf cart adventure. Here we go! Kimbob at the wheel, Ellen in shotgun, and Kenny & I facing backwards in the rumble seat.
Pretty fabulous parking lot for golf carts! “Cart Parking”
Cute signs pointing to all different cays.
Some of the roads on the island are actually blacktop. Some are compacted rock with an oil topping which is sort of like pavement with a lot of rough bumps and dips. Some are just kind of sand like this one. They drive on the left, and lots of roads aren’t really wide enough for two vehicles. But everyone is so nice, and nobody drives crazy fast.
And then some roads have seen better days. We had a blast discovering some lesser used roads! This one was pretty steep and rough, so we all had to pile out and Kenny had to help push the golf cart up the hill.
And then some roads just have a palm tree in the middle for fun. And the sign says “Private Way”.
We found this very interesting entry way to a house. A funky little wooden gate…
With an unusual coconut head to greet you. To both the left and right were tunnels carved through the stone with very smooth surfaces.. The tunnel on the left went back to a cool room area where maybe 6 people could sit in a round room. A seating bench was carved out of the wall and all very smooth like the tunnels. There was a hole in the ceiling. Then the tunnel to the right went up a long stairway to the yard and house! This is the bottom of the stairs.
And this is the top! It opened up into a beautiful garden area.
Across the street from the unusual entrance, we found an airplane hiding in the trees on the beach. I think who ever lives here is just a bit eclectic!
This was a really windy day. Here is a view out over the Atlantic.
We had heard that Gillam Bay at the south end of the cay was a great place to find sand dollars. Not that we needed sand dollars, but finding the right road to take us there was a fun challenge. We finally asked directions, and at least got to this road. Then we found this sign: “Beach Dat Way” – with a huge stick figure pointing to the right.
And then this one “Keep Goin Mon”
We found the beach! It was beautiful! It was very windy, and the sand was blasting us. We didn’t find any whole sand dollars, just pieces.
But we got a cute picture in the wind with beautiful water behind us.
This is an example of the best directional signs on the island.
While we had the golf cart, we made a stop in town at the liquor store – which serves breakfast, lunch, happy hour, and dinner. Of course! It’s a multipurpose establishment! This is where I had the sample of Jameson whiskey on St. Patrick’s Day.
Our dinner destination was Pineapple’s. It was Friday, and Pineapple’s is where the live music on the island is on Fridays. Follow the fancy sign, down the dirt road. Oh! And Kimbob noticed that one of our tires was going flat. Hmmmm – I wonder why that happened?
And here is what you find. A little bar with a pool,
overlooking the bay. Doesn’t every bar need a pool?
And of course, they have their own conch salad guy.
He stayed busy all night! I asked if there was any sort of conch salad without onions and peppers. Of course there is! Conch with mango and pineapple, tomatoes and lime juice. Sounds great! But we don’t have any fruit tonight. Oh well.
The bar was busy with locals and visitors.
Yvonne the bartender on the right, mixed VERY strong drinks! Happy hour was two for one, and that’s pretty much all that was needed for the whole night! Holy schnighkees! She was very nice and called our golf cart people about our flat tire so that we didn’t have to use our U.S. phone for the call. (We should have brought our handheld VHF radio along for the evening!) They brought us a new cart.
Our local friend Mary Anne was there, and made sure we danced the whole time we were there. The band was a keyboardist with a built in drummer, and a lead guitarist. And then Brendal joined them on the acoustic guitar. They were fun, and it was a great time mixing with the local folks.
