YachtReprise said:
I remember my first magical visit to Cane Garden Bay. I worked on the Flying Cloud at the time...and we had exactly 6 hours off...on Sunday before the next group of passengers arrived.

The ship was in West End, anchored out, and someone managed to borrow a Mini-Moke. It wasn't the best choice of vehicles, because the road to CGB from Sopers was all dirt and deeply rutted. We had to get out and carry the Moke over washed out gullies every half mile or so. Fueled by an ever diminishing $2 bottle of Cruzan rum, and the words of Jimmy ('they say it gets better...'[you know the words])we managed to arrive at the last overlook before we made the descent.

Oh my God! I had never seen anything so incredibly beautiful! A perfect crescent bay, with about 5 or 6 fishing boats pulled up on the beautiful white beach. There was one lone sailboat at anchor inside of a breaking reef. There was no sign of 'development' except a green and white shack (Stanley's) which was our destination.

We drank way too many pina coladas (quite the nouveau novelty at the time - using a blender...what?), played with the local kids in the surf, danced to a scratch band in the sand...and vowed to return.

Not too many months later I brought my soon-to-be fiancé (and now my wife of 36 years) to CGB. We laid on the beach with our pina coladas, and played in the surf. Some local pigs unfortunately learned the routine. As soon as we hit the surf, they hit our drinks...probably pursuing the tasty fruit which garnished the glass. We got a couple more.

Over the years I've brought hundreds of charter guests to CGB, as a bareboat skipper, a crewed charter boat skipper, and on our own boat.

Now I avoid it at all costs.

I can get Disney at Disney.