Green Turtle Cay, Inside and Out

3/25 - Around mid-morning we decided to head for Green Turtle Cay. We took the Whale Cay passage, while our buddy boat, Second Star, chose to take the shallower “No Rock” passage in the Sea of Abaco as they draw less than 3 feet. There is a shallow sand bank that extends all the way from Whale Cay to Treasure Cay and boats drawing more than about 3-4 feet must pass outside Whale Cay in the Atlantic Ocean. The Whale Cay Channel is fairly shallow also (about 12 feet) and is susceptible to a rage sea condition when ocean swells come from the northeast. Fortunately, conditions were fine and we had only a few rollers during the passage.

The winds were quite light and out of the south so we decided to anchor outside of Green Turtle Cay at the far south end. We went exploring in the dinghy checking out both Pigeon Cay and No Name Cay. We walked the beaches on the southern end of Green Turtle and also the beach on No Name. Back at the boat, we decided the wind/wave conditions were light enough that we’d spend the night anchored outside and then go into either Black Sound or White Sound tomorrow. We noticed a sailboat ahead of us that appeared to be aground. The guys took the dinghy over and asked if they needed assistance. They declined, saying they’d just wait for high tide to float them off. We had happy hour aboard Second Star enjoying the sunset.

3/26-3/27 – Plans were to do a little snorkeling/fishing before going inside the harbor at Green Turtle, but the wind had picked up some making it a little uncomfortable. Gerry tried a bit of fishing without any luck and Michael and Jana decided it was a little rough for snorkeling, so we decided to raise anchor and head in. We planned on staying at a marina in White Sound, but first decided to check out Black Sound. Once in the Sound, we ran into friends on Sharpie’s Dream who talked us into coming into the Leeward Marina there. We called the dockmaster and he said he had 2 slips left. We got tied up and then waited for Second Star to dock. However, because of some confusion about the slip that was available (an outside tie susceptible to the wind), they decided to head up to White Sound and ended up docking at the Green Turtle Club. With our Royal Marsh Harbor YC discount, we only paid 50 cents/foot at Leeward and Michael and Jana got a dock and dine special at Green Turtle Club (your eating/drinking costs are subtracted from your dockage fee).

The next day we thought about taking the dinghy up to White Sound where Michael and Jana were docked, but it soon became apparent a dry dinghy ride was not in the cards. Didn’t feel like getting wet and salty today so instead we parked at the dinghy dock and explored the town by foot. Eventually, we ended up at Pineapple’s and ran into Michael and Jana who had rented a golf cart to explore the island. We rode around with them the rest of the afternoon and then headed back to the boat for a quiet evening.

Leaving the Treasure Cay channel

Second Star took the shallower passage called "No Rock"

Arriving at Green Turtle Cay, we anchored on the outside
at the very southern end of the island. The white
sand you can see is the very end. We were
anchored far enough out so that at low tide we
were still afloat. In the background is Pigeon Cay.

A close up of Pigeon Cay -- a private island with one house

Exploring the southern beach at Green Turtle

Michael and Jana doing some beachcombing

The boats at anchor

Exploring No Name Cay

Looking out at the ocean

Red sails in the sunset ?? Not quite, no sails up on this
boat as it was aground

Marina grounds

More of the grounds

The pool and docks

Sunset taken from the bar

There was a C-Dory 22 in the anchorage by the marina.
We chatted with them about their experiences in the Bahamas
on such a small boat. This is about the size of something
we "might" buy.