Turtle Bay customers are people of culture and refinement, who have discriminating taste and who appreciate the finer things in life. We, too, care about finer things, like art and music, good food and great wine, the company of wonderful friends, good health, and time to enjoy life. At Turtle Bay, we strive to deliver Bay Rum products that suit the kind of customer who cares enough to use a premium after shave or cologne without the strong perfume oils used in many of today’s cosmetics for men. Women, too, appreciate the subtle fragrance of Turtle Bay products. We are here to serve our customers by providing this premium product at an everyday price.
Island Memories (Bob Auletta)
My earliest recollection of Bay Rum was at about the age of about eight. I spent many happy summers in the Virgin Islands. After a long day on the island of St. John, a shower at the end of the day was never appreciated more than during my frequent visits to the Knight family’s home, enjoying their gracious hospitality. I was somewhat oblivious to the reality of a shortage of water one finds on an island, growing up, as I did, in a New York suburb where hot and cold running water was just another certainty of life. After a refreshing shower, mosquitoes, sunburn, and scratches from running amuck through the island’s overgrown bush seemed a lot less annoying because Bay Rum was part of the Knight family remedy always at the ready.
As I remember, the first bottles of this life-saving liquid were purchased at one of the local bars in Cruz Bay – in a reused Heineken beer bottle, with a cork placed in it to protect the vital concoction. And this, for some reason, is the only container for Bay Rum I remember until perhaps the late 60’s, when I recall buying St. John’s Bay Rum in its famous palm weave bottle. Tourists would stock up on this well-known elixir as they disembarked from their cruise ships to relieve St. Thomas’ shops of their Duty-Free treasure. For fifty years, I have used Bay Rum every day and I can’t imagine a morning shave without it.
Years after my boyhood visits with the Knights, I purchased a piece of property, near the summit on Bordeaux Mountain close to Coral Bay, from the Marsh family who owned extensive land in the subdivision known as Estate Carolina. To my surprise, decades later, while researching Bay Rum, I would be reminded that one of the Marsh family’s business endeavors was distilling the bay oil from trees on and around Bordeaux. My life-long affair with Bay Rum now has me touting its many virtues to readers of this website.