Great Guana Cay - What's in those Nippers?

Saturday morning proved to be another windy day so we decided to take the 10:30 ferry from Marsh Harbour over to Guana Cay. We walked uptown from the resort and grabbed some breakfast by the ferry docks.

Hopped on the ferry (another $50 for a round trip ticket) and off we went

I love this boat...
It was about a 30 minute run over to Guana Cay
Entering the harbor area at Guana Cay:
Ohhhhh... here's the place we are looking for...
There is a few small stores on the waterfront but we were looking for the famous Nippers which is on the ocean side of the cay. There are bunch of little nippers signs leading the way down this dirt path.
Turns out this is not a path but a dirt road
More signs
Tractor painted like a sign:
OK... then we have a tree with a warning:
I'm starting to feel like we are walking down the path of the enchanted forest from the Wizard of Oz. I'm waiting for the trees to start talking and grabbing us.

We come upon what looks to be some utility buildings
And lo and behold... it's NIPPERS!
We are completely overdressed for this place... I should have just worn a t-shirt and a swimsuit... the views from the place are incredible
Wanting to fit in and not look like a tourist (other than the big camera around my neck and clothes that are totally out of place), I walk up to the bar to order a drink. I ask the guy for a pina coloda with Myers rum (for my wife) and the guy looks at me like I have three heads and says "I don't have a blender". I asked what he served for frozen drinks and he points to this slush machine that has some sort of orange stuff in it and says "Frozen Nippers!" Soo... he suggested to put a little "Myers kicker" on top of the Nippers. I have no idea what a Nippers is... hell... I didn't even know if it had alcohol in it. I started a tab...

The people started rolling in and the bar got busier..
People were getting their noodles out for snorkling
The beach started to get busy
And we kept sucking down these Nippers things... damn... they taste really good.
Susie went and got me a bathing suit and a t-shirt and she picked up a t-shirt for herself so we could do a little swimming. The water was just incredible. Here's the noodle snorklers:
You can tell I've had a few too many Nippers as I've got my expensive camera out in the water with me.


A view of Nippers from the beach:

So... Susie and I have had four of these Nippers drinks over the course of 3 hours and I believe my limit was two drinks. Susie's should have been one. Someone told me after the fact that "Nippers" have grain alchohol in them so by the time the little rum was added, we were feeling pretty... what's the word... "tipsy"

Things are little fuzzy at this point... we stumbled back to the ferry... met some man in a shop on the side of the street and bought a conch shell from him
Saw a marina for sale:
What a great boat name:
"This is shut up calling the US Coast Guard"
"Go ahead shut up"

Got on the ferry... and headed home:

So... we stumbled home... Susie went and got some club sandwiches to go at the restaraunt here and we stayed in the room and ate...

I think I should have used sunscreen... just thinkin'....

There is hope in Hope Town

We woke up yesterday morning and it was windy and cool. We were not in the mood to go out and get pounded in a rental boat while freezing. Just didn’t sound like fun.


I still wanted to get over to Hope Town and check it out and so after breakfast, we hiked on down the road to the ferry docks. First lesson of the day is these stupid little cartoony maps are not to scale. Based on the map, I thought it would take 10 minutes to walk there as it was INDICATED to be close than town and that’s all it took to walk there… but nooooo…. It was about 54 miles down the road.

Hopped on the ferry to Hope Town about 12:30 and left Marsh Harbor



We met a woman on the ferry who had a Golden Retriever and struck up a conversation. Her and her husband had a 55 foot Viking they used to spend cruising around the Bahamas on and sold it. She gave us a lot of tips on what to see around Hope Town.

It was about a 20 minute ride over to Hope Town. Some pictures as we approached:


The entrance as well as the actual harbor was much smaller than I expected from looking at the charts for some reason.

We wanted to check out the lighthouse here but there is no way to get there other than by boat. It’s in a weird spot on the island so you can’t walk there.


As we got off the ferry, it appeared everything was closed because it was Good Friday. We walked across to the ocean to check out the beaches. It was very cold and windy.

Golf carts dominate the town here and all the sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate them. The sidewalks are like “golf cart streets.”


Everything was closed but we peeked at a few houses for sale. I was surprised to see the “10,000 gallon cistern” item… huh?

We ended up walking east on the island trying to find a place called “On Da Beach” with the visions of sitting on the beach with a beer and in the sun. We walked for what seemed like hours… maybe days… or weeks…

The light house was always in view

Saw some more of these “cisterns” under the houses

We finally arrived “On Da Beach”

And it was FREEZING. The wind was blowing probably 25+ knots off the water and this little place on top of the hill was extremely cold. Susie was shivering the whole time. I’m guessing it was in the lower 60’s.

We ended up walking back to town and some woman in gulf cart pulled up and asked if we needed a ride. I guess she saw me limping on my bad foot (I am starting to think I need a cane… sucks).


This woman owned a house here and I asked about the cistern thing and she said it was to collect rain water and that was how they got their fresh water… hmm.. I would have thought they would have a water maker facility here.

Anyway, back to the little downtown area:

Went back to the little bar/grill on the water to wait for the ferry:


Susie thinks I read too much:

So I decided to see if I could take some pictures of stupid stuff around me… and not to be disappointed:

I’m sure the kid is thinking “I’m sure Dad can stop the boat in time if I fall off.”
Some other shots:

Our waitress told us she was taking the ferry so.. at least I knew I would get my check in time.
Hopped on over to the ferry…

I’m sure the electrical worked just fine

Our waitress showed up.. but with only a beer for herself.

Taking the ferry out of the harbor:

Even teenagers text while driving here:

I’m always amazed at the skill people have here with being able to read the depth of the water. For example, we are coming up on a shallow area here:

Our trusty and way too happy crew

And the singing crowd on the boat:

It was about a 20 minute ride

Got back to Marsh Harbour and decided to get a taxi. I’m not real crazy about the taxis here… but what can you expect for 10 bucks.