Great Harbour Cay

1633 NM   N25 44.809  W077 51.500

It would seem that one of the nice things about getting into a new port in the morning is that you have the rest of the day left to explore!  Alas, this "extra day" is an illusion,  as you're usually so tired from the overnight passage that you end up sitting around and napping all afternoon!

Still, we managed to do something!

Great harbour Cay Marina tries very hard to facilitate regular activities for the boaters every week.  And today, Tuesday, it was a sunset "Dinghy Drift" out in the harbor.  It was being organized by Jeff & Karen Siegal, the founders of Active Captain!  They had their home, the large motor vessel "Red Head", docked at Great Harbour Cay for a while.  

So, we lifted our dinghy off of the foredeck, launched it, and lowered the outboard onto it.

The dinghy drift was fun and chaotic, as they brought their three (!) dogs with them in the dinghy.  Karen had her hands full trying to keep one dog from climbing into every other dinghy, while preventing a second one from begging snacks and beer!

Jeff

Karen

Blowing Sunset on a Conch Shell Horn

We stayed in Great Harbour a total of 6 days.  Joan scored a couple of large lobster tails from a fisherman one day, and we had them on the grill that evening.  They were big enough to feed the three of us and we were stuffed!  We also had fresh Hogfish another time. 

During the next day, Joan and Bill had fresh conch salad, prepared right there in the dock from live conch.  Doesn't get any fresher than that! 

We wanted to do some exploring farther afield than we could walk, so we tried to rent a golf cart.  If you recall our previous trip here, the cart we got was so badly rusted that it was flexing in the middle, as if it were about to snap in half!  We actually saw that same cart, pushed into the weeds with a "For Sale" sign on it!

Turns out, there's only one guy on the whole island who rents carts, and he only has two left.  One was already rented out for an extended period, and the other had its engine disassembled for repairs!  But it turns out he also rents "Jeeps".   What we got was a rusty Suzuki Sidekick.  Some of you may remember this as the model that Consumer Reports gave a "Not Acceptable" rating due to its tendency to roll over during high speed turns!

"Suicide" Suzuki

But wait, there's more!  Inside, the door release on the passenger side was hanging by the linkage with a broken hinge.  On the driver side, the handle was gone completely, replaced with a stiff piece of twisted aluminum wire that you had to pull on to open the door!

Quaint. But so Bahamian.

But, it got us around, and sure beat walking.  We followed the main road all the way to the northern end of the island, a place we haden't gotten to on our last time here.  It seems that all the high-dollar real estate is up there.  Saw a really puzzling "tree"(?) that looked like nothing so much as a 30 ft tall stalk of broccoli!

Eventually, the paved road gave way to an unpaved track that led off into the undergrowth, getting narrower and narrower.

I hope we can turn around somewhere!

A quick check with Google Maps (yes, even here) showed that we were headed to someplace labeled "El Panos Glicko".   A google search of this turned up only one entry, describing this a simply "a Bahamian ghost town"!

The trail ended in a loop, so turning around was no problem.  But there was no sign of any sort of construction here at all.  We spotted a trail leading off into the woods and followed it.
 

Trailblazer Joan

It popped out onto a small beach on the Banks side of the island, looking out towards Great Strrup and Little Strrup Cays.

It was an exotic looking place, with the rocks carved into fantastic shapes.
 
Back on the trail loop, we saw a blue ribbon hanging from a branch, and discovered that it marked another trail head. 

Another Trail Head.  To where??

We followed this one, and it led to the shoreline on the deepwater side, the Providence Channel.
The character of the shore was completely different here, with no sand, high rocks, and crashing waves.  A bit intimidating. And we would be crossing this channel soon!

Rocky Shoreline

Crashing Waves

We never did find any trace of "El Panos Glicko".  A true ghost town!

Back in the jeep, headed for the other end of the island, we wanted to get to the shelling beach there just before low tide.  We were a little late, and got there right at low tide, so the water soon started rising. 

But, what a place!  The sandbar goes out a half a mile!

That Little Speck Way Out There Is Joan!

The pure white sand beach goes on for 5 miles, and is all but deserted.

There are shells, starfish, sea urhins, and hundreds of sand dollars, both live and dead.

This is How a Live Sand Dollar Looks in the Sand

Or Sometimes Like This

Rinsed Off, They're Dark Brown, Not White Like the Dead Ones

Something Got Part of this Starfish

Once the warer started getting ankle deep, we called it quits and headed back to the Marina.

In the Evening, the three of us took the Jeep over to Coolie Mae's resturant, overlooking the western shore, and known for its sunsets.  Unfortunately, it turned overcast and rained, so no sunset :( .  But dinner was great and well worth the trip.

Tomorrow, we would return the jeep, and begin preparations for crossing the deep and often treacherous waters of the Providence Channel, on our way to the Abacos for the first time!

Life is good.