Green Turtle Cay, when the name rings in your ears, you immediately want to go there to explore its wonderful hidden treasures, and that warm fuzzy feeling you have for the name, is solidified when you step on its shores. It is a tourist village, but not a tourist trap. The places, and of course the people are authentic, there is no put-on or showiness for the tourists. The people are also the laid-back, kind, and lovable bohemian types. This makes Green Turtle Cay one of the top destinations in the Abacos for cruisers.
Green Turtle Cay from a boaters perspective is split into two areas, Black Sound and White Sound. Black Sound is south and is closer to the lovely town of New Plymouth. White Sound is north and is closer to the resorts. Both nice places to have your boat. There are marinas in both Sounds, with moorings available as well.
Anchorages
If you want to forego the dockage or moorings at a marina, there are still plenty of places to anchor. The worst one being Black Sound; There really is no room in Black Sound to anchor, we have seen a boat or two anchored in the south end of the bay, but the room is not really there to be confident if the weather should turn sour. The saving grace is just outside of Black Sound, directly in front of New Plymouth, is a great anchorage for a ton of boats if the wind is out of the east to south. White Sound has room just east of the moorings for 4-5 boats with decent swing room. We rode out one or two moderate blows in White Sound. There is also a number of what looks like decent anchorages to the north of Green Turtle Cay, we did not try them as we wanted closer access to town, but if the other anchorages were full, we wouldn’t of hesitated to set our hook in their sandy bottoms.
Things To Do
The Abacos is protected by a great barrier reef to the north and east. These are shallow water reefs that are fairly easy to access. We say fairly easy because we never did get to dive the outer reefs. The winter winds kept the Atlantic Ocean crashing on the reefs most of the time we were there. If you don't want to attempt diving these yourself, Brendal's Dive Centre in Green Turtle can take you out there to enjoy the reef safely. We did find a small reef off a beach on the east side of Green Turtle Cay that was easily accessable from the beach or with a dingy. It had some protection from an outcrop of rocks so snorkelling here is possible even if there are fairly strong North Easterly winds.
If you have been following us for any length of time on Instagram and Facebook, you will know that Cyndi loves shelling. Its a treasure hunt for her and a day is not complete unless we hit a beach to look for the gems on its shores. Green Turtle has a few places to do this, so you can check out the shells daily that have come ashore in the waves and tide cycles.
For eating out and socializing there are no shortage of great establishments in Green Turtle Cay. While in Black Sound you can take in the many restaurants and watering holes in New Plymouth, with the special place for us being Pineapples, just next to The Other Shore Club and Marina. In Black Sound, Green Turtle Club and The Bluff House are the happening places. Don't be surprised if you happen to be in either Pineapples, Green Turtle Club, or The Bluff House, and you hear The Gully Roosters and/or Kevin McIntosh playing live bohemian music for all to enjoy. If you do see Kevin, make sure to say hi to him and tell him, the crew of the C-Shel and Living on the Edge sent you.
Green Turtle Cay not only is a destination in its own right, but what makes it a great place to explore is the fact that just north of it is an amazing island of Manjack Cay (aka Nun Jack Cay), and to the south is No Name Cay, where the Abaco Pigs are located. In the next episode of Searching for C-Shels, we will be feeding the pigs on No Name Cay.
If you have any questions on the video or other things about Green Turtle Cay, or things we should have done and we missed, please feel free to comment on YouTube or in the comments below. If you have been to Green Turtle Cay, we would love to hear what your favourite adventure was in there. We look forward hearing from all of you! Cheers!