For the second year in a row we decided to take a family vacation with the Moorings program. This time our destination was Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. The last time I had been to the Bahamas was back in 2007 and it was a very sad trip because during our stay we received word that my grandmother had passed away unexpectedly. This time we visited another area of the Bahamas, the Abaco Islands. The Abaco islands are a chain in the Northern Bahamas with the largest settlement being Marsh Harbour.
There are no direct flights into Marsh Harbour so we had to first fly to Nassau with a 3 hour layover and then continue onto Marsh Harbour via Sky Bahama. After about 8 hours we finally arrived at the dock, craving a beer and some seafood we called it an early night so we could head out early the next morning. Our first stop was Great Guana Cay which we planned to stay at for 2 nights. Great Guana Cay is famous for the diving as well as Nippers, a beach front bar known for their Bahama Mamas. My parents had visited Nippers before but we did not expect the more than one hundred boats that had been parked on the beach for the July 4th weekend. We even found out later that Justin Bieber had been at Nippers on the same day, celebrating after proposing to Gigi Hadid.
The next day we decided to go scuba diving at one of the reefs neat Great Guana. At $250 USD per person the fee was extremely high and unfortunately there really wasn't much to see on the reef besides an overly friendly Grouper giving this excursion a 2/10 overall. The next day we made our way to No Name Cay otherwise known as Piggyville, easily one of the coolest experiences of the trip. The small island is inhabited by at least 100 pigs of all different sizes, the island was busy and there were a number of ignorant tourists that actually tried to pick up the piglets before being attacked by their respective mothers. Tourists need to keep in mind that these are wild animals and they must be treated with respect. After playing with the piggies we were off to Green Turtle Cay where we'd remain for the next two nights.
We lucked out and managed to be in Green Turtle Cay for the first night of their Regatta which is basically an excuse to drink a whole lot of Bahama Mamas. The event was sponsored by Mount Gay Rum and if you order 5 Mount Gay rum drinks you were given a straw hat so naturally I ordered 5 Mount Gay Rum drinks. Let's just say I wasn't feeling any pain for the rest of the night.
Green Turtle Cay is home to one of the old settlements in the Abaco called New Plymouth. The bright colours and hundred plus year old buildings were fascinating but the 100+ degree weather was tough for a bunch of Canadians to deal with. After being sufficiently scorched we made our way to Pineapple Bar and Grill on the North end of New Plymouth. We had some ice cold beers and the best conch salad of the entire trip, we'd highly recommend this spot.
Our final island stop was Treasure Cay, I had actually visited this island back when I was only 13 years old and was excited to go back. Treasure Cay is known for it's beautiful beach which is regularly rated as one of the best in the world. We spend two nights at Treasure cay including July 4th which we celebrated with fireworks and good times at Coco's on the beach, another great spot for food including their Mahi Mahi sandwich.
All in all we had a wonderful trip to the Bahamas, I don't think I would recommend going to the Caribbean in the Summer though as some days it was excruciatingly hot out and we found ourselves constantly searching for cover from the sun. If I were to go back I would probably target a January to May timeframe.
