Hanging Out at New Plymouth

We’ve been on a mooring here in Black Sound since we arrived in the Bahamas about 10 days ago. The original plan had been to clear customs here and then move onto Hopetown for Christmas and New Years like we did last year. After a little discussion we opted to stay here on Green Turtle Cay through New Years and try something different. The main settlement (also the only settlement) on Green Turtle is New Plymouth. We’d been here a few times before but never stayed long.

We were greeted by our mooring ball neighbors Joe and Yvonne on Modaki and got the rundown on the upcoming holiday activities. Along with an assortment of potlucks and fundraisers was a unique Christmas caroling opportunity. It’s a tradition here in New Plymouth to carol through the streets every day during the week before Christmas. No one remembers how the tradition started but it’s been going on for many decades. The thing that makes this unique is that the caroling is at 5:00 in the morning with drums. We awoke at 4:00, made our coffee, and jumped in the dinghy to head to town. We met up with the caroling crew and made two laps around town. Everyone was awesome as was their singing. It was great having all the kids along. At the end we were all treated to a breakfast of grits and chunks of bologna cooked in some sort of bologna sauce. Gotta say that was a new one.

We’ve had our first experience with international medicine here. I had been having minor pain in my ear for a while and it wasn’t getting better so we went to the clinic here. After just a short wait the nurse practitioner examined my ears and both had an infection in the inner part but the eardrums were fine. We talked about the medicated ear drops that she wanted to prescribe but they weren’t available on the island. She talked about having them brought on the ferry or going on the ferry herself to get them. After some texting on her part, she brought in some drops that she had on hand and gave instructions on how to use them. Total cost for the medication and the visit was $55. Not bad. After we got home we looked a little closer at the medication and it was intended as an antibiotic for use in the eyes. My ears may or may not be getting better but my eyes are just fine.