Great Guana Cay

Every morning in the Abacos, volunteer cruisers and local businesses in the area put on a VHF radio "net" on Channel 68 that provides information to cruisers about events and activities. Just like your favorite radio station, if you listen to it for any length of time, you get to know the personalities of many of the participants. Cheerful Troy from Dive Guana is one of the most helpful contributors, providing information about weather and sea conditions. Nippers' famous Sunday pig roast is another perennial announcement ("Nippers! Nippers! Nippers!"). Both are based on Great Guana Cay, and since we'd never been there before, decided to give it a  try.

 

We took advantage of favorable winds to carry us from Marsh Harbour to Great Guana. We got there quickly and decided that we are becoming spoiled by the near-perfect winds and relatively calm seas that we have been experiencing. We met Troy's charming daughter (we think; she was charming, we're just not positive she's his daughter) at Dive Guana and got to sample Nippers' pig roast (and famous Nippers "orange" drink--several kinds of rum and fruit juices that harmonize into a delicious, albeit costly, frozen concoction that goes down way too easily; Grabbers also has their own version, also delicious). Mark and Conrad had a great time playing with Sebastian and Isabella, whose family was visiting from London and had chartered a catamaran for a couple weeks. They played in Nippers' salt water pool and body surfed in the waves. The boys, Conrad especially, were sad to say goodbye.

 

Even though we have lived on the boat for a year, Nippers was the first spot we have visited that has had a strong resort vibe. The pool, American bar music, and boozing tourists reminded us of some of the tropical vacations we used to take before we moved onto the boat. It was a fun diversion for an afternoon, but too costly (and probably too rough on the liver) to do everyday

We'll try a different anchorage tonight and then make our way back to Marsh Harbour to seek shelter from a cold front that is scheduled to come through on Christmas Eve Day into Christmas.