CODA STILL HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (61).

 CODA : Exploring Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas.

12 March 2025 

New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay,  Abacos, Bahamas    

Beautiful mural on the side of the New Plymouth Water Department Building.

Marc-  Planning would dictate that today would be a low mileage and low key day.  We traveled only 25 miles from Hope Town to New Plymouth.  The severe cold front had passed through 24 hours before departure and winds were 10 knots from the east when we departed Elbow Cay.  Unfortunately for us the passage would include running "The Whale."  This means a north bound boat, or south bound boat for that matter, must leave the protected Sea of Abacos and go out in the Atlantic by going out one cut, traveling outside of Whale Cay, and re-entering it by another cut.  If there is a significant swell running in the Ocean this will cause large swells to form in the cuts.  We had a buddy boat after meeting the crew of another sailboat going our way .  We agreed to stay in radio contact.  It was a beautiful sunny day as we passed by Man-O-War Cay and Great Guana Cay on our way to "The Whale."  Our new found buddy boat decided to let Coda take the lead.  There were a number of boats doing this same passage.  Some were mega yachts, others were catamarans and then monohulls like us.  The mega yacht had no issues and reported on the radio that it had experienced a bit of a roll out there.  There was one large sailing catamaran ahead of us that pushed on.  Some other boats decided to anchor off of Great Guana Cay.  We could see breaking waves on the outer reefs as we proceeded out Loggerhead Channel (the southern cut).  Then the seas changed with the swells growing larger and larger until they reached about 12 feet in height as we passed out through the channel.  

Side note: To add a little more excitement to this passage there was a Mayday call 1/2 hour earlier that a large chartered catamaran had run up on the ocean reef outside of Marsh Harbor and was sinking.  Channel 16 on the VHF radio was abuzz with nearby boaters going to the rescue.  One large sailboat and one large fishing boat presented themselves on either side of the reef.  Neither could approach the sinking Catamaran with 9 people on board.  The sailboat sent help in the form of a large inflatable dinghy that was able to rescue everyone in two trips.  They even went back for the luggage.  The boat seemed to be torn up by the reef and a salvage company seemed interested.  There is no formal Coast Guard in The Bahamas.  There are volunteer rescue people, but they are not everywhere and certainly could not have responded as quickly as these Good Samaritans did.

Coda continued out into the ocean side of the Loggerhead Channel where the swells started to diminish.  The swells continued getting more manageable all the way through the re-entry cut north of Whale Cay.

I called our buddy boat on VHF to report conditions.  They responded that they turned back with the large swells in Loggerhead Channel.

Breaking waves on the reef outside of the start of Loggerhead Channel.

"The Whale."

Land Ho.  New Plymouth Settlement on Green Turtle Cay.

Beautifully restored home near the Settlement docks (brand new dinghy dock).

We soon discovered that Hurricane Dorian had come here in 2019 laying a path of destruction.

(The Category 5 hurricane was one of the most powerful on record in the Atlantic with sustained winds reaching a peak of 185 mph. It sat over the Abacos for 24 hours.)

Many of the homes and shops in town have not been rebuilt.

This business is doing well.

We also visited the Albert Lowe Museum.

The Museum is in Mr. Lowe's historic house that has been fully restored.

The docent is a charming lady who knows her island history starting with the British Loyalist migration to these islands after the American Revolutionary War.

A tribute to the British Loyalists who settled here in 1785 (I know it says American).

Another beautiful Bahamian sunset.

Sue:  New Plymouth obviously got its name from the British Loyalists who settled here.  Our visit comes as I am reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.

"The Whale" was very bad for me.  I should have taken Bonine.

This is a pretty Cay.  The museum docent was from Toronto.  She married a local and has been here 35 years.  About 500 people live on Turtle Cay year round.  It is much smaller than Elbow Cay/Hope Town, but Elbow Cay was rebuilt much faster.  She explained that a lot of the property in Elbow Cay is foreign owned, and those owners were able to get the workmen and supplies first. Then Covid hit, and that further slowed the rebuilding.  She also told us about the church groups on Turtle Cay, Spanish Wells and Hope Town getting together (they have to travel by plane, too long otherwise).  It is a good way for the young people to socialize, and they often marry someone from one of the larger Cays, as there are not many young people on Turtle Cay to choose from.  Unfortunately this results in them losing these kids to the larger Cays where there is much more going on.