I wanted to do some boating and Scuba diving. The Wife wanted to relax near the beach and see some swimming piggies. It turned out that all of those options were available on the Abaco Islands. The Boy and I wouldn't have to travel very far after we were finished with our week of Seabase. After much research, we decided on renting a vacation house on Green Turtle Cay (GTC) as it had a reasonable balance of housing, modern amenities, accessibility, and seclusion.
The Boy and I waited at the Marsh Harbor Airport until The Wife and The Girl arrived a little after noon on their flight from Miami. We hailed a taxi that took us all the way near Treasure Cay to the dock for the Green Turtle Cay Ferry for about $90. By that time, a torrential downpour had erupted. Luckily, there was a small bar with a screened-in porch where we were able to stay dry while waiting for the boat to start loading passengers.
With the thunderstorm, there was little visibility during the ride to Green Turtle Cay. The ferry dropped people off at several different locations including the town of New Providence, the Leeward Yacht Club, and our stop near the Green Turtle Cay Yacht Club. The fare for each of us was around $18 since we were the farthest stop.
Once aboard land, we were met by a representative for our Airbnb at the Coco Bay Cottages. We would be renting one of six of these houses that are situated at the northern tip of Green Turtle Cay (GTC). We loaded up all our luggage into her SUV and The Wife and The Girl hopped in. Nearby, The Boy and I found the golf cart that we had reserved from Seaside Cart Rental. It would be our main means of transportation around the island for the next week. I had never driven a golf cart before, so another passing tourist had to show me where the ignition switch was located.
 |
| Our cart was nicknamed "The Blue Marlin." |
We followed the SUV slowly around some pretty rough roads for about ten minutes until we reached our rental house.
The house was spacious with three bedrooms which allowed The Kids to not have to share a bedroom. There was also a full kitchen stocked with cooking equipment. Most importantly, there was a washer and dryer. After a week of washing my clothes with Joy and seawater, it would be nice to have some properly cleaned clothing.
The location of the rental house was superb. There was a fairly secluded beach that faced the ocean that was just a minute's walk from the house. On the other side, we were just a short distance from Coco Bay, a shallow harbor that was protected from the sea. We would have access to a shared dock that was part of the Coco Bay Cottages. The only downside for the rental house was that the included WiFi did not actually reach our abode. The main router was located in the owner's cottage about 100 feet away. We would have to walk outside and stand near his place to piggy-back on the service.
So that we wouldn't have to dine out for every meal, The Wife had brought some non-perishable food from back home in her luggage. Nevertheless, we still needed to make a grocery run for drinks and other supplies. Once the rain abated, The Wife and I drove the golf cart across the island to the main settlement of New Plymouth, located on the southern tip of GTC. Although the unpaved route near our cottage at Coco Bay was filled with rocks and potholes, the main roads on the rest of the island were perfectly fine.
 |
| The rocky road to Coco Bay |
 |
| The much smoother Loyalist Road, the main "highway" on GTC. |
Despite all the signs of being in paradise--sunshine, beautiful white sand, clear blue water, and friendly people, we were unsure whether we had made the right decision coming to GTC. However, once we spotted the 30A sticker on the island, we knew that this was the place to be! In all seriousness, those stickers are an epidemic.
Putting the pedal to the metal, we arrived at New Plymouth after a 15-20 minute's journey. The settlement is very quaint with a one-way road that makes a loop through the town.
The colonial architecture is very reminiscent of a New England fishing town. This makes sense because this area was settled by British Loyalists who moved here after they got their butts handed to them by a group of rag-tag farmers with muskets in 1783.
 |
| City Hall |
 |
| Several piers jut out into the town's harbor. |
 |
| The office building for Seaside Carts. |
The Wife made a quick stop at McIntosh's Restaurant and Bakery for some breads and cakes. We then went to Sid's Groceries and Souvenirs, one of the three small food marts in town. Pretty much everything in the Abacos has to be shipped in from Florida by boat. While the markup for groceries in Marsh Harbor is very high, it is astronomical on GTC. We bought only a couple of snacks, sandwich meat, a few vegetables, cold cuts, and some ground beef. What would be only about $30 back at the Kroger's at home was well over $100 at GTC. We did have a good conversation with the very friendly proprietors. The duo had been born and raised on the island. Our conversation soon came to the topic of health care which is greatly lacking on the island. For serious medical issues and even pregnancies, residents have to travel to Miami to get adequate treatment.
After returning to Coco Bay, The Wife and I had a relaxing walk around the cottages. While just standing on the dock, we saw a small nurse shark, a large barracuda, and a green turtle.
For dinner we ate some Shin Ramyun Black instant ramen while we sat out on the balcony enjoying the the sights and sounds of the ocean.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
It had been six months since we had last been scuba diving in Thailand. To keep our skills honed, we wanted to do a few days of diving while in the Bahamas. There is only one scuba outfit on GTC, Brendal's Dive Center. For over three decades, Brendal and his staff have been offering snorkel, scuba, and island hopping excursions using their many motor boats. We had contacted them a few months in advance to reserve some slots for us to dive.
We arrived at their center at 9 AM, bringing pretty much all of our dive gear. We had planned to rent our fins only. However, we soon found that their air tanks are Yoke only. They would not fit our DIN regulators. Unfortunately, they only had 2 converters. We would have to rent those two converters as well as two other regulators as well.
Unlike our Thailand trip, I didn't bring my large underwater photography rig. There would be no strobes of video lights. I wanted to try out a lighter system with just the Olympus TG-5 only in an underwater housing. I did add a partial wide-angle wet lens that I got from Backscatter.com.
Accompanying us on the trip would be a group of about a dozen people in their 50's and 60's. Most of them would only be snorkeling. However, two would join us on the dive. One of them mentioned that she had been coming to GTC from Florida over the past two decades and had been diving with Brendal over that entire time.
After a 30-40 minute boat ride north, we arrived at the dive site which was within sight of Fiddle Cay. After throwing a couple of fish carcasses in the water, the boat anchored and we geared up. While the rest of my family wore their 3 mm full wetsuits, I elected to just wear a sharkskin long sleeve shirt and swim trunks. I thought that the water was perfectly warm with just that. The other two divers were decked out in multiple layers including full hoods and gloves. I guess I'm just a big fatty.
The dive began in a shallow area resplendent with colorful fans, fish, and coral.
We dove deeper down to a maximum depth of 50 feet where we encountered a system of crevices and caves.
There were a couple of larger fish such as big groupers and three tarpons. Far away, a shark swam in the distance, but it was difficult to see in that visibility.
Brendal ignored the large pelagic fish and spent his time looking for smaller creatures. He has a great eye and much experience in findings small starfish and shrimp.
 |
| Flamingo tongue cowrie |
 |
| Reticulated brittle star |
 |
| Yellowline arrow crab |
 |
| Pederson cleaner shrimp |
 |
| Banded coral shrimp |
 |
| Spiny lobster |
 |
| Pallid goby |
 |
| Sand diver |
We had packed some basic sandwiches and Pringles for lunch which we ate after the first dive. We noticed that nobody else including Brendal and his staff had brought any food. We offered some of our extra banana bread from McIntosh's, but they all declined. I guess people don't like to dive and eat. After an appropriate break to get the nitrogen out of our system, we were ready for our next dive. This time, we were led by the other dive master, Mary Ann. While Brendal had more of the "no worries" attitude typical of Bahamians, she was more no-nonsense and by the book. I guess in a potentially dangerous activity like scuba, that's actually not a bad thing.
The highlight of this dive took us to a sunken motorboat sitting in about 50 feet of water. We were able to explore the wreck and swim inside. I thought that it was peculiar that there was little marine growth on the boat. Inside, everything had been stripped clean. Once we reached the surface, Brendal explained that this used to be one of his boats that we had seen. Since he had plenty of vessels in his fleet, he had completely cleaned out one of his older boats and sent it to the bottom only two or three months ago. In a few years, that boat will be teeming with underwater life.
We raced back to the dive center while being chased by a rainstorm. It eventually caught us leaving us drenched with cold water and winds. The rum punch (fruit punch for the kids) did help warm us up on the ride back. Since we would be diving with them again in a few days, we left our gear at the dive center.
Once the weather cleared up, The Wife, The Girl, and I took a stroll at the beach near our cottage. Having had plenty of water and sun for the past week, The Boy stayed back and worked on his summer reading. The three of us searched the beaches for any interesting shells. Unfortunately, there were lots of broken coral but nothing interesting.
For dinner that night, I made spaghetti with meat sauce using the ingredients that we had purchased at the grocery store the day before.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Initially, we had hoped to do two days of scuba diving on consecutive days, early during our trip. However, on Sundays, Brendal does an excursion where he takes visitors island-hopping to some of the interesting areas near GTC. Then he brings them to the Nippers for the pig roast and partying. Having been there at Great Guana Cay the previous Sunday, I was not interested in booking this trip. Our family wanted to explore those islands on our own. And there is only so many twerking contests that you can see in a week.
Instead, we did something that was completely foreign to us on a vacation--nothing. We literally sat around all day long on the porch of our beach house, reading books. We had thought about going to the beach, but we were perfectly content with doing nothing.
For dinner, I cooked a big pot of red beans and rice. Afterwards, we decided to have family game night. The Boy and I taught the others how to play his new favorite game, Hearts. As usual, I won.
Monday, June 17, 2019
We met back up at Brendal's Dive Center for our second day of diving. The same people who were with us two days ago were also going to do some scuba and snorkeling. I noticed that this time around, they all brought sandwiches and food with them for lunch.
We also did two dives this day. I was a bit disappointed as we were taken to the same exact spots as we had done two days before. We saw the same tarpons and groupers.
 |
| Nassau grouper |
A different instructor led us on the second dive. Although we did encounter a tiny seahorse and a large green moray eel, he was not as talented or lucky as Brendal in turning up any small critters.
 |
| Pipehorse |
 |
| Green moray Eel |
After the dives, we rinsed off all of our gear back at their Dive Center. It would get a much more thorough washing when we flew all the way back home.
Since we had masks and snorkels with us, The Wife and I decided to check out the reef 75 yards off the beach near our cottage. I was surprised to discover that it is really nice. There is plenty of fish and coral there. We saw a huge trigger fish and a small nurse shark both of which took off when we got near. The current was a little strong making it a little harder to get back to the beach without fins. On the way back, I found a couple of virgin conch shells in the surf. We debated whether we wanted to go to the trouble of trying to extricate the snail from inside. Since we didn't have a hammer, we decided to set them free back into the ocean.
Instead of cooking dinner, we decided to take our golf cart back down to New Plymouth and have dinner at McIntosh's. We split some conch fritters as appetizers. The Girl and I had the fried grouper and conch, while The Wife and The Boy ordered some spiny lobster. The food was good and reasonably priced at around $20 per entree. We also made a quick stop at Sid's Groceries for some green apples, carrots, and celery that we would use the next day.
Later that night, we gathered together for another family game night. This time, we played Spades. Surprisingly, The Wife won. Beginner's Luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment