After short stays in Marsh Harbour, Fisher's Bay and Baker's Bay (Great Guana Cay) we arrived back here in Green Turtle Cay - the place our Bahamas visit started in 2007.

Things are going well!! We're seeing lots of boats heading south, as the rest of us make our way north and west. I'll write a more interesting posting later - with luck, before we leave here - but this is to let you know that we are within a week of being back in the USA. It looks like we have a weather window starting Monday that will take us to Fernandina Beach, Florida - our planned landfall. We'll head north along the Abaco cays to the edge of the banks and then away we go.

Wish us luck!


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And some more about our stay here...

We really like the village of New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay. It was home base for us for a month or so back on our first trip to the Bahamas, and it felt good to be here again. The houses are tucked in along the edges of narrow streets, with a jumble of flowering trees and shrubs overhanging fences and gates. These homes are mostly all occupied by locals who take pride in them so they are well kept and tidy. Sapphire, Solitaire and Savage Son were here too and we all gathered at Miss Emily's Blue Bee bar for the requisite Goombay Smash (mostly rum with a splash of fruit juice!) After a wander through town to check out the shops, we gathered again at Pineapples - the pretty little bar beside the pool at the other Shore Club in Black Sound.

The others headed back to their boats, but Jim and I took a stroll over to the dock in Black Sound to see if we could find Kevin MacIntosh - the dockmaster who was so kind to us on our last trip. Sure enough, he was there cleaning conch. He said the conch are not so plentiful in this area now - and we found that to be true ourselves up in the Manjack area. There are so many of them further south - we hope they don't get scarce everywhere.

On Wednesday, we joined Sapphire and Savage Son aboard Solitaire to celebrate Nancy's birthday with a Mexican brunch - stuffed jalapeno peppers, ouevos rancheros, tortillas, fruit, cinnamon rolls. The others left for Manjack, while we lingered here for a few more hours. We picked up a few groceries at Sid's - the family owned and so friendly little store close to the wharf. When we were here before, the matriarch of the family sat on the settee just inside the front door, chatting with all comers. I was worried when she wasn't there, but we discovered she is over in Marsh harbour for a visit with her other daughter. At 88 she still sits in the store when she is here. We bought some engine oil at Robert's Marine - chatting with Mrs Roberts who is still behind the counter.

Over at Pineapples, we checked email, munched on the best conch fritters ever (excepting maybe Marilyn's!) while we chatted with Bruce and Adam (Skimmer).

My heart had a little twinge as we walked past the public phone on the verandah by the post office where I spent so much time talking to the hospital and my Dad last trip when my Mum was ill. The same feelings welled up as we looked down the harbour in Black Sound where we left Madcap to fly home when Mum passed on, and when we sat again on the little rock wall where we begged the airlines to get us on flights to go home.

Green Turtle Cay will always be close to our hearts and we were glad to have even this little time here to soak up its warmth once more.