Maybe Guana or GTC This Time -- Have ?'s

[ebseckar]

This board has been very helpful to us in planning our prior 3 trips to the Abacos. We stayed on Elbow Cay all 3 times and loved it. We enjoyed renting a boat for the week and exploring the beaches and snorkeling between Little Harbour and the north end of Guana. As much as we love staying on Elbow Cay, we're ready to stay some place further north so that we can snorkel new places, etc.

Here are some initial questions:

1. Boat Rental -- We've used Island Marine and Sea Horse before and we were very happy, but they would not let us go north of Guana. How far north and south will other boat rental companies let us go?

2. Lodging -- We usually stay on the north end of Elbow and love the solitude up there. Nice and private and quiet. Anything like that on Guana or GTC? We've been to Guana before to snorkel and eat/drink, but never really explored places to stay.

3. Restaurants -- For dinners, we like to go out to the restaurants on the island we're staying. Which cay wins for the best/greatest selection?

Thanks for any and all input.

[elcahun]

Blue Wave and Dive Guana allow you to go to GTC, depending on your experience, I believe.

Plenty of places on both cays to suit your needs.

Nippers has great food and Blue Water Grill is excellent. Have not eaten at Orchid Bay on GGC.

[abacomah]

Seems like with Abaco questions...there is always an "it depends"
Green Turtle would be closer to Hopetown when it comes to size, number of resturants, etc. They both are great places. Green Turtle would have more options than Guana but it depends on how long you or staying and how many options you want. You can't go wrong with either one.

Guana..you would fly into Marsh and take the Guana/Scotland ferry over

Green Turtle..you would fly into Treasure and take the Green Turtle Ferry over. You could fly into Marsh but you would have a much longer taxi ride to get to the Green Turtle ferry.

1. Boat Rental -- We've used JIC rentals in Treasure for years so someone else will need to help you with GTC and Guana rentals. With JIC out of Treasure we were able to go up to Munjack. Officially you are not suppose to go on to the Atlantic side....but that's officially.
2. Lodging -- There are plenty of homes/places to rent on either Cay.
3. Restaurants -- Green Turtle would have more options.

Couple of more comments....with either Cay I would plan a day or two to explore with a golf cart. We stayed on Guana at Guana Seaside before they closed and really needed a golf cart since they are a ways from the hub of Guana. Probably the same on green Turtle....depends on where you stay.

Be sure you do a search above on both Cays. You'll find a bunch of info, experiences and opinions.

Hope this helps. emai or PM me if you have more questions.
AM

[CaptainTim]

Just returned from our first trip to Green Turtle last night. Like you, we wanted to try something different. I took 400 pix and hope to boil them and my notes down for a good trip report soon... but I wanted to let you know we really liked the change that Green Turtle brought us this time around. It just felt like we plugged in to the community more, if that makes sense. Just one very simple example: We rented our boat from Reef Rentals. Honestly, our boat from Water Ways last year (we were on Elbow but rented it on Man 'o War) was immaculate - and this year's boat wasn't quite in the same showroom shape. But it was fine and we soon discovered to our pleasure that the owner checked our dock nightly to be sure we had made it back in and our boat was tied properly. That was really neat. Everybody we dealt with - from the ferry crews to the golf cart rental to the grocery stores to the people who helped get us our lost luggage (again!) to the rental agency - was that helpful and nice. The property owner even took us back across to Treasure Cay to catch our flight in his boat. We also went out to the Atlantic side twice and tied to mooring balls and had great - I mean great - snorkeling. Last year's trip to Elbow was wonderful in many, many ways... but Green Turtle really, really scratched all the right itches this year. You can't go wrong wherever you go - you already know that - but I am really pleased with the choice we made this year. A few quick pix, below. I hope to get to the trip report by the weekend... took lots of notes.

[elcahun]

What moorings? We did the same one day. It's a tribute to the people that put them out. Makes all the difference, imho.

[CaptainTim]

One near Crab Cay and one near No Name. I agree - what a great service to all. I need to send this photo to the Reef Relief people. I would not want to be tied to this one (near Crab Cay) when the rope gives way. I noticed a lot of them were missing. This one looked partically cut, as well. (Second photo is No Name mooring, with dive boat about 50 yards away. This is the wonderful sea state we had for the first few days there).