Captain’s Log: 12/26/05 – Christmas on Green Turtle Cay
We arrived at Green Turtle Cay under picture perfect conditions on Friday, December 23. Sunny skies, light winds, 78 degrees… one caveat, it was less than half ebb tide on arrival to Black Sound and the controlling depth is 4.5 feet MLW. Our draft is 5 feet and we knew it was going to be skinny. Then a report on the radio from Gypsy Common, who has the same draft, that they ran aground in the entrance ahead of us. They worked their way off to starboard and suggested we stay to that side on our entry. We did as warned and lightly skidded along as our sounder read 5 feet until we reached the deeper water (8 feet) in the sound where we took an outside tie at Black Sound Marina as a Christmas treat.
New Plymouth is the cutest, most quaint, little town we’ve ever seen. We had cracked conch on Christmas Eve for lunch at “Laura’s Kitchen” and after we placed our order we could hear the proprietor/waitress/cook hammering it in the back to prepare it. It was unbelievably delicious. We explored the town and after the initial shock of discovering that a case of beer here is $40-$60, we were pleased to find that vodka is about the same, or a bit cheaper, than in the states. The afternoon was sunny and warm with temperatures in the upper 70’s as we strolled over the the beach on Gilliam Bay. The remote path leading to this beautiful, picturesque beach was lined with blooming hybiscus, palm trees, and native grasses. We were occasionally passed, on the left as this is British driving rules, by a local in their golf cart. Later that afternoon we had happy hour rum punches with our sailing companions of Gypsy Common and Attitude, at a poolside tiki bar, Pineapples. The drinks came with a complimentary beautiful sunset overlooking Settlement Harbor and Island music from local musicians.
Christmas morning was quiet aboard Lucky Peek and our cabin smelled wonderful as we (okay, just Lisa) baked fresh bread and brownies to share. The weather had changed in the night and we were getting lots of rain and some wind. The temperatures were still in the low 70’s, though. We walked into town to call family and the streets were fairly empty except for those walking to and from other houses and children playing and laughing, enjoying the holiday. There are two pay phones in town and the first one, right dowtown, was not working (but had been working the previous day). So we then hiked up the hill to the second one located at the island’s telecommunications office. In the late afternoon we had a wonderful Christmas dinner/potluck aboard Gypsy Common along with the crew of Attitude. We enjoyed Virginia ham, pork roast, rice, green beans, picked beets, and bread. Carolyn then treated us to a dessert of coffee cake and Irish Cream on the rocks. A game of Farkle (dice game we learned from Gypsy Common) rounded out the evening. We certainly missed spending the holiday with our families, but it was very nice to be able to spend it with our new comrades.
Hope Santa brought you lots of goodies. Wish you were here.
Merry Christmas,