This Tiny Island in the Bahamas Has Empty Beaches, Old-School Charm, and Can Only Be Reached By Boat

You get there by ferry—after a flight into Marsh Harbour, after a cab ride to the dock. That’s the beginning. Then the boat cuts across the shallow blue sea, the sun catching the ripples, and in ten minutes you’re on the dock at Green Turtle Cay. That’s when it hits you.

No traffic. Just the scent of salt and pine, the low hum of a golf cart in the distance, and a row of colorful cottages that look like they were painted by hand — and maybe they were.

Welcome to Green Turtle Cay, one of the quietest, most wonderful places in the Bahamas. A three-mile-long jewel in the Abacos that feels more like a neighborhood than a destination.

The Art of the Uncrowded Beach

It starts at the water. The beaches are brilliant and mostly empty—especially the long sweep of white sand at Ocean Beach. You could walk the shoreline for an hour and not see another soul. You could also just stay in the water—snorkeling through coral heads just offshore, spotting rays and turtles, or pulling your cart down to Gillam Bay to catch a tide so low you can walk into the sea for a quarter mile.

The Heart of the Island: New Plymouth

You might spend the afternoon in New Plymouth, the historic village with clapboard houses and one of the best little museums in the Out Islands. You’ll want to stop at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar — home of the original Goombay Smash, sweet and strong and legendary. Or find your way to Harvey’s for the daily catch and the best cracked conch this side of anywhere.

The Perfect Beach Bar?

On the breezy shore of Coco Bay, there’s a little beach bar with a big personality. It’s called The Tranquil Turtle, and it might just be the most laid-back spot on all of Green Turtle Cay.

This is where you come after a morning on the boat or a lazy day on the sand. You order the Tipsy Turtle, the signature cocktail—icy, fruity, and just strong enough to remind you you’re on vacation. The kind of drink that doesn’t need explaining. You take a sip, and you get it.

The bar overlooks the sea, just steps from the dock, with tables that spill out onto the sand and a view that shifts from blue to gold as the sun gets lower

Where to Stay on Green Turtle Cay

There are no big resorts here. That’s the point. But there are charming waterfront inns and villas that whisper the soul of the Out Islands.

The aforementioned Green Turtle Club Resort & Marina is a classic—colorful cottages, a peaceful marina, and a legendary restaurant that’s been serving conch fritters and lobster since before you were born.

Bluff House Beach Resort & Marina is just a lovely place, perched on a private bluff overlooking the Sea of Abaco, with a beach bar that feels like the set of a Hemingway novel and a dockside restaurant where you watch the sunset with something strong in your glass. We’ve stayed here countless times and never stop being enchanted. 

Or go completely local: rent a cottage in town or a villa by the beach and live like you belong here. Because after a day or two, you just might.

What You’ll Remember

You’ll remember the way the water changed color by the hour. You’ll remember the silence at night. You’ll remember the golf cart rides under a canopy of casuarina trees and the way the stars looked from the end of the dock.

How to Get to Green Turtle Cay

Fly into Marsh Harbour International Airport (MHH) on Great Abaco, with service from Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Nassau. From there, take a taxi to the Treasure Cay Ferry Dock and hop on the Green Turtle Ferry — less than a 10-minute ride across the channel. Golf carts are available for rent at the dock.