This morning we moved the boat south from Powell Cay to the Green Turtle Cay and investigated anchorages in Black Sound which is a narrow finger of water reaching safely up into the island. The bottom did not hold there though, so eventually we anchored out by the Government pier where several sailboats were already at home.
After lunch we took the dinghy to shore to visit the 
quaint village of New Plymouth. The little community is really like a fairy book with its pastel colored cottages, white picket fences and winding narrow streets with an occasional golf cart traveler going by. The crowing of roosters added to the ambiance of the place and we wandered into town hoping to find an internet connection.
At the Captain Roland Robert’s house, we found lots of good information. This cottage is now the 
center for the environment run by Reef Relief of Key West. Captain Roland Robert’s wooden frame house, built in 1863 is the only 2 story conch house left in Abaco, as settlers moving from here to Key West took their houses with them. The house had 
the wide porches on both stories. Robert was the sea captain of the first motorized mail boat to serve New Plymouth. The volunteer who was staffing the center had a wealth of knowledge about the coral reefs off Green Turtle and recommended a spot off the small island south of it named “No Name Cay” for our snorkeling trip tomorrow.
There is a close connection between Green Turtle 
Cay and Key West. William Curry was one of the many settlers who moved from here to Key West in the mid 1800s to be a “wrecker”. He made his fortune in salvage, and was Florida’s first millionaire. He built the amazing Curry Mansion which is now a hotel in Key West, but he also had the Curry House, which was constructed in New Plymouth and carried to Key West on barges. The term Conch Republic is a reference to the Bahamian culture of Key West.
We took a walking tour of the architecture of the place documented by a team from Texas A&M College 
of Architecture and the local Department of Archives. Many of the homes dated from the mid 1800’s. We saw a loyalist saltbox colonial house of 
timber, frame and post and beam construction. It was built in 1820 and had wooden shake shingles on the roof. The library was also a very old building; a two room stone house built in 1840. One of the rooms had a stone oven and a wall sized fireplace now lined with library books. We asked at the library about internet, and while they could offer use of their computer for 50 cents a minute, they could not connect my laptop to the net. They suggested that we try Sid’s Grocery. but Sid’s no longer had internet and they suggested somewhere else.
Finally I decided that if we could just find a place to sit, I would look for a wireless signal. That is when we discovered St Peter’s Anglican Church built in 1879 and just rebuilt and rededicated in January, 2009. There was a welcoming sign in eight languages and a wide porch facing the 
beach. There I discovered the Out Island Internet which offered a connection with the ease of providing a credit card number. It was funny that while we were stopped there updating the blog and down loading email, two other couples came and connected there as well.
Tom when on a mission to the bakery and returned with a delicious coconut mini-pie and a diet coke to 
share. We also trekked around the island to explore the other side to see the marinas on the sound and found the roads away 
from town were basically bumpy, rocky trails. It was interesting to see the tiny “Pineapples” Restaurant with its salt water pool and picnic tables around it (no indoor seating). We walked about to town and ate dinner at Laura’s Restaurant – Tom had Cracked Conch as one of the local favorites. It was also served with rice cooked in dark colored beans which was very similar to food we had in Belize. Laura was born in the house where she now runs her restaurant.
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