Week 2: Green Turtle Cay


 Our second week in the Bahamas was just as nice as the first. We had a beautiful five-hour sail from Marsh Harbor to Green Turtle Cay on March 4th and stayed there until March 10th.

We anchored in Coco Bay, and then took a short dinghy ride each morning and evening with Jake to north end of the island  The beach there looked like a scene from a postcard and there were lots of treasures to be found among the sand and seaweed, including sea urchin shells and sea biscuits.

Picture-perfect view of the northern end of Green Turtle Cay



The holes in the sea urchin shell (its exoskeleton) allow its spines to protrude through the shell. 

Sea Urchin Exoskeleton

 
Underside of Sea Urchin (photo not mine)

                      




Sea Biscuit:  Also a sea urchin exoskeleton!


The water here is unbelievably clear, and I spotted a beautiful crimson starfish from the dinghy during one of our morning trips to shore. Unfortunately, I didn't have my phone so I wasn't able to get a photo. I did find a similar, but dead, starfish washed ashore on a different day.

Starfish Washed Ashore


Jake is a Happy Dog

On our first day at Green Turtle, the wind and waves were calm and we were able to snorkel reefs located on the Atlantic side of the island.  The reef was fantastic and home to many types of coral.  We also spent time looking for lobster on a nice rock shelf, me driving the dinghy while Steve held onto a "sled" which was attached to the boat.  Although there were lots of nice ledges, no lobster were to be found.

On one of the windier days, we went to the town of New Plymouth on Green Turtle to take in the sights.


Mural on Green Turtle Cay
Original Tabby Structure on Green Turtle Cay


Most of the houses on Green Turtle Cay seemed to be vacation rental properties, and the island was very quiet.  There were a couple of restaurants and marinas, but not much else.  

Conchistador House - a typical home on Green Turtle


We visited the cemetery in New Plymouth and found many old graves alongside new.  


One of the more recent graves was decorated with tiles that had been drawn by family members; I found this to be a lovely memorial.

Loving Memorial in Green Turtle Cay Cemetery

The weather prevented us from doing too much more in the way of exploration at Green Turtle Cay, so we spent the next few days taking care of more mundane matters....i.e. finding health insurance, etc. 

We motored back to Marsh Harbor on March 10th to prepare for our first visitors!




Comments

  1. Mary EvansMarch 26, 2023 at 7:06 PM

    Beautiful pics and so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 30, 2023 at 6:39 PM

    Don’t worry, be happy. It seems like island times agrees with you! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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