Green Turtle Cay is the northernmost of the settled barrier cays and arguably the most atmospheric. The main village, New Plymouth, was founded by American loyalists in the 1780s and has retained its character better than most places in the Bahamas: a tight grid of narrow lanes, white clapboard houses, and a small central square shaded by palms.
The Albert Lowe Museum in New Plymouth is a good one-room history of the loyalist settlements and the boatbuilding era, housed in a 19th-century cottage and run by a local family. The cay also has some of the best snorkelling in the Abacos — the reef system around the cay's eastern point is accessible by kayak or dinghy from the village. Green Turtle is served by a separate ferry from the Crown Haven dock near Treasure Cay, about 35 miles north of Marsh Harbour.