{"id":1964,"date":"2013-04-29T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2013-04-29T14:08:18","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T14:08:18","slug":"new-plymouth-settlement-on-green-turtle-cay-a-great-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1964","title":{"rendered":"New Plymouth settlement on Green Turtle Cay, a great spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are enjoying our time here in Green Turtle Cay. \u00a0Since coming here a few days ago we have spent a good deal of time exploring the island, including visits to several beaches and most recently a visit to the largest settlement, actually the only settlement on the island, New Plymouth. \u00a0 This “town” like so many in the Bahamas was settled shortly after the American Revolution by families loyal to the British Crown.<\/p>\n

New Plymouth is very compact and well kept village, surrounding a tiny harbor. \u00a0 As is the case in the Bahamas, there are many churches serving the locals and they are very active. \u00a0On the day we toured the area there were both a funeral and wedding going on. \u00a0 What’s a local to do, so many choices? \u00a0No wait, for those who wished, they could go to both after a quick stop at home for a change of clothes. \u00a0It was clear that these two events were timed so that they would not conflict with one another, or at least not bump into each other on the narrow streets. \u00a0And, to make things easier, they were taking place at two different churches.<\/p>\n

The funeral was a pretty big deal with a large procession of mourners processing on foot from the church to the\u00a0cemetery. \u00a0The wedding reception, scheduled for later, was being set up under a large tent that had been erected over the local\u00a0basketball\u00a0court just adjacent to the cemetary . \u00a0The streets are very narrow, just about wide enough for a golf cart, the preferred mode of transport around town. \u00a0I understand that the bride was to be delivered to the wedding via golf cart. \u00a0 We did see one tooling around with purple and white balloons all over it. \u00a0We also noticed that there were plenty of drivers of carts going down the streets with a beer in hand. \u00a0Hmm… \u00a0Hope that doesn’t lead to more funerals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The streets are very well kept with tidy buildings. \u00a0The plantings are great. \u00a0This was a particularly robust\u00a0bougainvillea. \u00a0Pretty impressive.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Hey you, drinking a beer and driving the golf cart, how about a visit to the old jail? \u00a0 The creature comforts at the jail are pretty stark. \u00a0 However, it is pink…\"\"<\/a>The homes are very well kept. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>There are several museums of life on the island. \u00a0Unfortunately, due to the funeral and wedding, they were both closed. \u00a0 Great garden in back of one though. \u00a0Notice the detached kitchen. \u00a0That was to keep the heat out of the main house and to reduce the chance of burning your whole home to the ground in the event of a mishap. \u00a0 Makes sense.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>The government offices were quite simple but nice. \u00a0There is even a immigration office, something that is available on quite a few islands in the Bahamas. \u00a0However, some if not all have restricted office hours limited to just a few days a week and never during lunch hours. \u00a0 I expect that the new jail is nearby. \u00a0 Wonder if it’s pink too? \u00a0Probably or a nice light blue. \u00a0What self respecting male criminal would want to spend a night in a pink jail?\"\"<\/a>Brenda posed in front of the Methodist church. \u00a0She plans to write an article for the newsletter from our last church in New Jersey about some of the Methodist churches in the Bahamas. \u00a0Alas, we haven’t been good enough\u00a0Christians\u00a0to have actually attended one of the weekly services. \u00a0We did hear that the locals are very welcoming and encourage cruisers to attend.
\n\"\"<\/a>The gardens were great around town. \u00a0This\u00a0cactus\u00a0was really nice and about to go into bloom.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Another of the local orchids. \u00a0This one also growing on a tree and was in someone’s yard.\"\"<\/a>I don’t know what this flowering tree is. \u00a0Pretty amazing display.
\n\"\"<\/a>A sort of datura. \u00a0However, unlike the other ones we have seen, this one flowers in an upright manner. \u00a0Notice that the 6″ flower is a double, with a second trumpet growing out of the first. \u00a0 Quite dramatic.
\n\"\"<\/a>Sort of looks like a gardenia. \u00a0The flowers look almost like velvet and are quite large.
\n\"\"<\/a>There is a ferry service that runs on a very regular schedule, more than once an hour, from the mainland (if you can call Great Abaco Island the mainland). \u00a0The gang waiting on the dock were some of the may funeral attendees. \u00a0There was quite a crowd. \u00a0I guess that these folks weren’t on the invite list for the wedding.
\n\"\"<\/a>Now that I have\u00a0successfully\u00a0segued from gardens to water, how about a shot of a wonderful red legged heron near if not in the water? \u00a0Not the actual name but he did have red legs. \u00a0We saw him when we were out on a harbor cocktail tour in our dink last evening. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>We also stopped at a little beach out near the harbor entrance and enjoyed checking the area for shells. \u00a0As it was low tide we saw lots of fun critters. \u00a0Brenda was very brave and walked among the skittering crabs, one of which actually had the audacity to bump into her foot. \u00a0The nerve…<\/p>\n

We were thrilled to spy this beautiful sea slug in about a foot of water. \u00a0They swim gracefully through the water by undulating the “wings” that run down their sides. \u00a0 This little guy was about 6″ long. \u00a0What a unique creature. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>It seems that each time we visit a beach we see something quite amazing. \u00a0We also found a few great shells including these. \u00a0 Hard to believe that we could just stroll along and find shells this nice just sitting there waiting to be picked up. \u00a0I wonder how they sat there after being washed up on shore. What a treat. \u00a0The long one was the first of that type we have found and was certainly the find of the day.\"\"<\/a>Today we will take another walk, have lunch ashore and hang out at the marina pool for a while. \u00a0I expect that it will be an all together trying day in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are enjoying our time here in Green Turtle Cay. \u00a0Since coming here a few days ago we have spent a good deal of time exploring the island, including visits to several beaches and most recently a visit to the largest settlement, actually the only settlement on the island, New Plymouth. \u00a0 This “town” like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1981,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions\/1981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}