April 18, 2015 -- My Boy Turns 16!!! Finding Treasure, Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas

Just like the songs say, every cloud has a silver lining, every rose has its thorn, every case of diarrhea has its . . . oh, never mind.  I think you get my gist. 

After uncurling myself and rejoining the functioning world, I found that we were coming into a marina on Treasure Cay.  Here we would relax and maybe meet up with our friends Ken and Len (late of Goombay Smash at  Miss Emily's fame).  We did both.  Len was actually docked just a little ways from us on the same pier.   One of the most beautiful sailboats I've ever seen was docked right across from us; we later found out from its crew that it was a Cherubini.  Just a gorgeous boat and this guy was always working on it to make sure it stayed kept up and beautiful.

The bar at this marina is called the Tipsy Seagull.  We visited there to check out the place and see the pool.  We had drinks with Ken and Len.  Elliott and I played the ring game and I actually made the point after just three tries; Elliott got it twice after me.

We had a crowd cheering us on; I think that helped and the Goombay Smash could have played a small role, too.  (This Goombay Smash was okay, but nowhere near as good as those on Green Turtle Cay.)

It was a nice enough marina; water, fuel if we needed it, showers, laundry nearby if you needed it, a grocery store about a block away.  We were hot and sweaty, so the pool beckoned.  Elliott's friends from Great Harbour Cay Marina were there, so I got to meet them formally.  One of the guys in the group reminds me so much of folksinger Pierce Pettis; really strong resemblance.

All that was good, but it wasn't until the next full day that we found the real treasure of Treasure Cay--the beach!

Now, you would think that I would be getting sick of beaches, having seen so many on this trip.  Like chickens, we crossed the road to get to the other side of the island and there it was, Crossing Bay lapping gently at the shores of an incredible sight for sore eyes.  The colors were indescribable, the gentle water clear and temperate, and the sand like silk.  Like a broad horseshoe in shape, the land sloped down to the water, with beach chairs for lounging and palapas set up for shade.  I wanted to stay here forever.

We spent a great afternoon enjoying the water and yes, I did get in and swim.  It was irresistible and it met all my criteria.  I felt safe because you could see far out to where the underwater grasses began.  

Gary originally wanted to spend just one night, but I insisted on two; smart me.  That gave us time to get a few groceries, too, before we left to anchor out before heading east to Guana Cay, where the famous bar called Nipper's beckoned. 

Now, you might also think we're quite the lushes, but that is so off base.  We are still in the extreme lightweight category of drinking and as you can tell, we mostly drink fruity rum beverages.  This is not something we'll continue to do when we get back to the States.

A friend of ours told us that Nipper's is really like Red Eyes Dock Bar on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which sure can be a mess on the weekends.  Red Eyes has bikini contests and lots of drinking and retching into bushes.  So, we don't go during those hours; we'd been to Red Eyes quite a bit, especially during our boat's convalescence at the marina there after being struck by lightning, and we enjoyed the food and the camaraderie of our boat friends (whom we still stay in touch with).

So we did the same thing with Nipper's; we went early.  The road to Nipper's is off the main road and has been cleared a bit, but remains jungle-y and cool at the same time.  The only other people there were a couple with young children.  Nipper's is like a big tree house on the beach cliff; they also have a pool that customers can use.  It is filled with seawater and we jumped right in while waiting for our lunch.

The beach below Nipper's on Guana Cay

After we ate, we walked down the steep set of stairs to get a better look at the beach.  Here again, the surprise of beauty floored us.  There is no blue to describe the blue of the sky, nor the streaks of blue in the water, near and far.  The waves were up and the coral reef near, so the explosions of water over rock were crisp and loud and raging and never ending. 

I took many photos and have one of Gary just before a large wave washed over rocks and gave him a bit of a dousing.  I am sorry (not really) to say that I was laughing while I snapped the shots.

The bar was filling as we left; one woman came in and with her best Valley-Girl accent, lifted her arms and exclaimed, "I LOVE this bar!"  We were happy to be going the other way.

We had anchored out at Guana Cay and we had to pass another bar on the way to the dinghy.  We did not imbibe, but Elliott and I played some more of the ring game.  The balance on this one was off a bit and I did not do well, but Elliott kicked some butt. 

Another beautiful sunset, and then we were off again, back to Green Turtle Cay.  This was Elliott's wish as it is his birthday today.  My youngest is 16 years old!!!!  I made him a birthday brownie so that we could sing to him terribly as he entered his Sweet 16 day.

We anchored at Green Turtle, hopped into the dinghy and went ashore.  At the dock, we saw the lobster man (he also makes conch salad--like a ceviche).  He and some friends were chatting and one of the friends chatted us up and then, they made the fatal mistake.  They had us try a bite of the lobster salad; oh my!!!  I'm not a big lobster fan but what this guy does to lobster is just short of amazing.  We said we had errands to run and that we would be sure to stop by on our way back out of town.

One errand had to do with getting another Goombay Smash at Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar.  Gary needed a drink that day; when we were making our way in to the anchorage at Green Turtle, we had some trouble with our genoa and we encountered an especially low tide and couldn't make it any further than an outer lay.  While there at the bar this time, we found out that Miss Emily had died in 1997 and that her daughter Violet was now the proprietor.  Very nice woman who is outgoing and very smiley.

If only the server at the restaurant where we went for Elliott's birthday were just a tad more happy.  We did have a great lunch at McIntosh Bakery and Restaurant (Elliott had a grilled lobster).  Everything is always good there, and I'm always surprised that the place is not packed, though they do seem to have a steady stream of folks stopping by.  No bread was available, unfortunately, so we said we'd come back in the morning to get a loaf.  It was as we were attempting to settle our bill that our server mentioned that the phone lines were down so we could not use our credit card.  We might have had about ten dollars on us.

We didn't load up with cash like we should have and now we were stuck.  So, we had to ask her to trust us and let us finish paying for the meal, too, the next morning.  Frustrating that she didn't mention it to us BEFORE we ordered.

We had a little time, so we walked around town some more; we found a sculpture garden paying homage to the original Loyalists who had settled the town.  A large statue in the middle was flanked by busts of notable townfolks on a design like the British flag.  

This guy and the one following were much
respected, but gave me the heebie jeegies;
Day of the Dead zombies!

In my ignorance, I figured "Bahamians" had settled here long ago and that the white folks came later.  Lucayan Indians were on the land first and they were enslaved and deciminated as a race by the Spanish explorers who never even settled here permanently.  Those Lucayans not killed by harsh living conditions of slavery and disease were shipped elsewhere as slaves to work on other plantations.  The Spanish just came here out of greed for gold and human expense was of no consideration.

Then there was an English wave sparked by trade and Eleuthera became a haven for Puritans leaving England in the late 1600s.   Privateers, buccanneers, and pirates provided trade of other shorts in the Bahamas.  At one point, there were a thousand pirates in Nassau.

Finally, the British sent a governor to take control and the success of that effort brought on English Parliamentary rule.  Later in that century, the Loyalists emigrated from England to populate many of these islands, thus the statuary garden in their honor.  The Bahamas is now an independent commonwealth who thinks Queen Elizabeth is the bomb!

Lobsta'!!!

After our history lesson, we stopped back by the lobster shack and ordered the lobster salad.  A couple of guys were sitting around shooting the breeze, arguing about vitamins and whether it was a good idea to take them.  The discussion shifted into a bit of an argument with raised voices and heated words, but nothing more, thankfully.  Another sailing couple came up to get some lobster, so after Elliott signed the lobster man's cart with "Goldens on s/v Nalani," we chatted briefly with the couple on s/v Harmony and went back to our boat.