26:46.4N 77:20.4W

 

For the last couple of days we have been anchored off the Green Turtle Cay, so named because the waters around here used to be filled with Green Turtles.  Not much evidence of that today.  The only one we have seen since being here is nailed to the wall in the Green Turtle Club.

 

I was not impressed with that club.  We went in for sundowners.  They did not do happy hour.  I ordered three $7 rum punches and the bartender asked for $27.60.  Apparently it is $7 for the drink plus $1 for the plastic cup plus a mandatory %15 service charge (despite my standing at a bar to order and collect it).  So, if I am carrying it to my table myself, and you are making me pay $1.00 for a plastic cup so you don’t have to do any washing up, then why am I paying $1.20 per drink for “service”?  A mojito would require some effort from the bar staff, but a rum punch just comes out of a big plastic bottle.  The cost of the drink is irrelevant, but saying the price is $7.00 and asking for $9.20 just makes me mad.  A place to be avoided in future.

 

Today was our last day in the Bahamas, before a long sail to Chesapeake Bay, so we took the opportunity to visit the town of New Plymouth and then go snorkelling.  New Plymouth is an old town, settled  by the Brits who were kicked out of the US with the tea.  It was a bit rough out on the reef so we snorkelled in sheltered water.  There was not much to see apart from grass, but we did find an octopus in a bottle, which amused us for half an hour trying to coax him to come out.

 

The big question is whether we sail tomorrow or not.  Tropical storm Chantal passes by our anchorage tomorrow.  She brings with her plenty of wind, but if we wait until she has passed then we will have little wind for three days, and what there is will be in the wrong direction.  The latest reports are that Chantal is now just a tropical wave with winds max 25 knots gusting to 35 knots. Nothing we haven’t sailed in before, and the strong wind is in exactly the right direction.  Still, you have to think twice before setting off on the coattails of a storm.  We will check the predictions tomorrow morning.  If they predict that the storm continues to abate, and the winds here are less than 25 knots then we will sail.

 

The pretentious and overpriced Green Turtle Club

 

The sculpture garden in New Plymouth, with busts of the descendants of some of the settlers

 

The little octopus in a milk bottle

 

Not sure whether brown or white is a better camouflage