Thanksgiving in the Bahamas! Do they celebrate it here? The answer is no….and yes. It is not a Bahamas holiday, but the Americans still celebrate it and I had a great one!
I started the week leaving Grand Cay and I made a stop at Double Breasted Cay, which is only 2-3 miles away (the attraction is a big sand bar in the middle of all the rocks – see 1st photo). Once I got going again I tacked back and forth to make it upwind to Carters Cay, which is an out of the way cay where I met several local fishermen. On Monday I again
tacked my way upwind to visit Moraine Cay. There is a great little beach, but it is a private island. The highlight is the reef which is just a couple hundred yards away from the anchorage.
I ended my day at the next island called Allen’s-Pensacola Cay. Several decades ago this was two different islands, but a hurricane joined them. There is a nice trail to the Signing Tree (a place where cruisers leave mementos – see 2nd photo). I could not find the start of the trail, because someone erected a tent called the Allen Cay Hilton (see 3rd photo) and had a sign for the trail. The problem was the trail started at a little beach to the left. After three trips ashore I finally found it! I ended up staying here two night, because I was waiting for the wind to be more favorable and I dropped my generator fuel cap in the water. While I was already in to retrieve the cap I decided I should scrub the hulls of the
summer growth, like I did the props in when I left Brunswick. After 2.5 hours I had the keels and 1/3 of the hulls cleaned before I called it quits. I will finish the rest in the near future.
On Wednesday I continued south in light and variable winds (that means another front is about to come through) to Powell Cay, where there is a rock bluff you can hike up to and two nice protected beaches (see 4th photo), and Manjack Cay, where there is the beginning of a development (roads, but no houses) where you can stretch your legs by walking down the “King’s Highway” (see 5th photo and let me know if you think highway).
Right when I was leaving Manjack Cay a guy introduced himself as David and he invited me to Thanksgiving Dinner at his parent’s house on my next stop…Green Turtle Cay. I accepted and have had a wonderful time getting to know the Van Dyke family through dinner and just hanging out the next couple of days. They helped make Green Turtle Cay my #1 spot in the Bahamas…and the island did not need any help!!!!! This place has everything from great protection, a cute community (see 6th photo), long sandy beaches,
offshore reefs, and I could just keep going with the list. My two favorite sights were the Loyalist Sculpture Garden (see 7th photo) and the Albert Lowe Museum. I even stopped at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar (see 8th photo) for her famous Goombay Smash. I feel I need to warn you to be careful with these…they will knock the snot right out of you!!!! Man they are good and strong.