It’s the cay we landed on three years ago when we helped Hal bring his boat to the Abacos.  The destination was supposed to be Marsh Harbor but alas the boat gremlins intervened and broke the drive shaft.

With no motor, Ed and Hal sailed 10 hours to the nearest boatyard at Green Turtle Cay.   Then the ferry there towed us in.

We spent about 10 days there and came to regard GTC as our home in the Abacos.

So we rented a car and made our way back there yesterday to check on our cay.  It was about a 30 mile trip, mostly  desolate roadway north.

We walked around and revisited places we remembered from the past.

Macintosh was the breakfast place. The Wrecking Tree was our lunch spot.  It was the same tree where centuries ago they brought the salvage from wrecked boats to sell.

We visited the Albert Lowe Museum and the Memorial Gardens, both commemorating the history of the Abacos and the Loyalist settlers who came here in the late 1700’s.

They left after the Revolutionary War, many of them persecuted by the Patriots, leaving behind their farms and businesses to try to build a new life in the islands.

It was not a hospitable agricultural environment; cotton wouldn’t grow well here.  So they developed shipbuilding and wrecking enterprises.  

Many had brought slaves with them but over time with the lack of agricultural work, the need for slaves diminished.  They were allowed to develop other skills and eventually buy their freedom.

Emancipated before the slaves in the United States, the Bahamians built their trade with the new country.  Wrecking, turtling and exporting pineapples and salt were among the most lucrative endeavors.

The ties with the British remain visible today.  They speak somewhat formal English to others but an almost unrecognizable version (at least to our ears) to each other.

They drive on the left side of the road which can be a challenge when the steering wheel is on the right.

Fish, lobster and conch are staples.  And sides of macaroni and cheese, peas and rice, coleslaw.

They call the native white Bahamians “conchy Joe.”  We have met a few along the way.

We enjoyed our visit back to Green Turtle, brought back good memories.  Since then we have seen much more of the Bahamas, but GTC will always have a special place in our hearts.