Before Pollie and I left on this little adventure, a colleague of mine at MITRE Corp told me, “DON’T MISS GREAT GUANA CAY.” She was right, of all of the cays and islands we have visited, Great Guana Cay rates in the top five, if not the top. It’s not so much the infrastructure as the feeling. We arrived at Settlement Harbour hoping to score a mooring ball, but all were taken. So, we did a quick negotiation by radio and went into Orchid Bay Yacht Club and Marina.
By reading the local newspapers, we had learned that Orchid Bay had fallen on hard times and the electricity for the marina had been cutoff for non-payment, the restaurant was closed, no fuel at the fuel dock, and the people that had bought vacation homes in the compound were not happy campers. It looked to us that the management was scurrying to make amends, and they gave us a slip for $1 a foot. On the second day, the electricity came back and on the third day a fuel barge showed up. The staff was very friendly, the grounds were great, and the pool was clean even though it had unexpected visitors.
But, the real reason cruisers visit Great Guana Cay is for the legendary Nippers Bar.
More than just a bar, Nippers has two pools, an outside and inside restaurant, and beach access.
We went snorkeling from the beach, and enjoyed the pools.
Of course, we had to try out those rope swings.
While there, we made a few new friends.
Besides Nippers, there was Grabbers, a great place for dinner while watching the sunset.
North of Settlement Bay is Baker’s Bay where a high end, controversial development is being built on a failed Disney cruise boat landing site. Pollie and I biked up there for a quick look-see.
If you could only visit one place in the Bahamas, you might want to consider Great Guana Cay.
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