Grand Cay

Whole Grain Crackers, Lobbie Salad and Sprouts!

Jennifer (The Pearl)

Light winds for the 37 miles to Grand Cay.  Grand Cay is the second most Northern island in the Bahamas.  It is a quick and usual stop for the sport fisherman from Florida.  Walkers Cay, which is right next door, was hit by a hurricane a few years back, has never been restored and is now up for sale.  Anyone looking to invest?

Grand Cay

Buccaneer and I walked Grand, end to end, about 1/2 mile each time.  The people are very friendly, and live very simply.  We met many of the fisherman who would be zipping by our anchored boat to bring in fish from their days work.  While at Grand we met George who was a former Mayor of the island.  He showed us the government clinic that is staffed by a nurse, where the visiting dentist works (he comes once per month depending on weather), took us to his store and gave us a HUGE bag of lobster! Thanks George!  Grand has a population of about 500.  Below is a photo of the streets on Grand, they use gas and electric gulf carts to get around.  As you can see from the photos, many of their widows are boarded up to be ready for the next storm.  We found 2 homes that sell baked goods- homemade white bread, banana bread (the best EVER) and pound cake.  We also peaked into 2 grocery stores.  Picture a medium sized room (about 1/4 the size of a Target or Lowe's lobby) with metal shelving, a cooler and a freezer.  The "essentials" are for sale at a higher rate than you would find in the States.  Clorox, Raman Noodles, Pasta, Kraft Mac n' Cheese, Butter, Eggs, Sugar, Flour, Rice, Spagettio's, Ketchup, Mayo etc.  No organic.  The supply boat goes to Freeport once a week to pick up the stock and fresh goods for the week.  Once the veggies are gone, you wait for next week.  Tomatoes, onions, baking potatoes, lemons and green peppers were the most commonly stocked veggies items here.

The holding was not good- silty and sandy.  With the 20-25 mph gusts we decided to head south after 5 days.  Off to Green Turtle Cay!

Typical Street on Grand Cay

Buccaneer at a public dock

Lobbies, anyone?  These are spiny lobsters, they do not have claws

Buccaneer took an afternoon to dive for Conch.  Conch are made into burgers, fried and used in salads.  They are also used for bait.  The shells are seen throughout the Bahamas!