CROOKED ISLAND

       From a distance, the approach into the anchorage at Crooked Island in the Southeastern Bahamas is a wide open expanse  along a gently curving white sand shore.   About two dozen houses stand scattered here and there along this coast.  When close enough to anchor, though, you get a clearer picture of the condition of the buildings and realize that many are missing roofs, a wall or two, and some windows.  These were, no doubt, picturesque structures designed with island paradise dreams in mind, but last fall Hurricane Joachim changed all that and more.
                                                                                    
          Up close, it is evident that most of the sand at the shoreline here was blown up onto the land, over and through the residences and beyond to cover the road from town that leads to the small airstrip at the northwestern point of the island.  We were awestruck by much of what we viewed, yet we didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the hurricane’s power until we interacted with the local people who lived through Joachim’s assault.

       One of the grocers in Landrail Point Settlement recalled his experience during Joachim.  The worst of the hurricane came during the night and brought chest deep water into the village and his store.  He said that the water came from the south out of the shallows of the Bight of Acklins.  When his home flooded, his family tethered their boat to a strong beam of the house and sixteen people- a mix of children and adults- climbed into the small vessel to weather the storm as best they could.  Thankfully, no lives were lost on Crooked Island during the hurricane.
      
         Two seasonal residents described the damage incurred along the beach.  One man from Florida said his garage, that faces the sea, was filled with sand after Joachim blew off the doors.  Another man from New Orleans said that sand and sea water destroyed most of his furnishings, so they had to replace everything.  Other houses along the shore wound up with huge pieces of limestone inside necessitating removal with heavy duty equipment.  Surprisingly, a few residents have not yet come down to assess the damage to their property.
         On another afternoon, we stopped to have lunch at GIBSON’S RESTAURANT #2.  There, we were pleasantly surprised and privileged to meet the founder of GIBSON’S RESTAURANT # 1, that was a fine business for fifty years.  Now very elderly and wheelchair bound, Mrs. Gibson related her recollection of the night Hurricane Joachim made landfall in the settlement.  At that time, living alone and in bed,  she was suddenly awakened by the fierceness of the storm. Then she saw the water begin to flood into the room.  Being that she had limited use of her legs, the only thing Mrs. Gibson could do was pull herself up to be higher on the bed and begin to pray.  Hours later when the force of the hurricane subsided, her son found her still in bed, praying, and soaked with sea water.  Parts of her home had crumbled down around her and a portion of the roof had blown off.  In order to get Mrs. Gibson out safely, they used a crane to lift her out though the roof.  She now lives with her son and we were fortunate to chat with her on a day he brought her to her daughter’s restaurant.
        
        Certainly, our stay at Crooked Island was not all doom and gloom.  Actually it was quite the opposite.  We found the people to be kind and giving despite their struggles and they exuded a rare resilient attitude that was most admirable.  Near the jetty, we noticed scads of these lovely flowers thriving in the rocks that Joachim piled on the coast.  Mrs. Gibson of Restaurant #2 told us that they are weeds, but they seemed symbolic to me of Crooked Island- the warm, beautiful people have a thorny path ahead as they recover.
        PS:  If you have a youngster from sv Honu Kai approach your boat to sell you a homemade HOT pizza, BUY 2!  They are GREAT!
  

KEEPING the FAITH

 

 

 

  













       In the islands, one is constantly immersed in all things beautiful and natural and cannot help being ever mindful of God's almighty power and loving grace.  We are grateful daily for His mercy and protection as we wander these waters.  So whenever it is possible, we seek out a Catholic Church to in which to participate in Sunday Mass.  In fact, one of our main objectives when going ashore in some place new is to ascertain that specific information.  And then we note it in our worn guidebooks in case we ever pass that way again. 

  

       

          In the states, most Sunday Masses are forty-five minutes to an hour in length unless it is a special holy day or sacramental celebration.  We've found that to also be true for masses in the USVI.  The masses in the Spanish and French speaking islands tend to follow suit as far as their length. However, the mass is said in the native tongue and we understand very little Spanish and French and speak even less.  Ah, then there are the masses in the British Islands that are said in a language to which we can relate- all be it, the Queen's English.  Those are the masses that really "rock" and customarily last about two hours.

          My most favorite Sunday Mass is celebrated weekly at 8 AM at St. John’s Catholic Church in the British West Indian Island of Portsmouth, Dominica.  This parish is a short, quiet walk (when no Saturday night rowdies are left on the street) from Prince Rupert Bay where we anchor our boat.  Indeed, the pastor knows well how to lead his flock because St. John’s currently has a building project underway that looks like it’ll more than double their worship space. Father Herman is an island boy and he delivers his sermons with enthusiasm and a sprinkling of local humor.  He is quite an articulate shepherd and invites- no, DEMANDS participation. Every now and then he’ll pause and say, “Amen, Church?” And if the parishioners don’t heartily respond he’s quick with the retort, “I can’t hear you, Church!”  Fr. Herman has also modified the mass to include an extra half hour or so of worship and prayers before he begins his half  hour plus homily and this suits savage soul well.

            

          On some occasions we find ourselves anchored in remote locations where there is no Catholic congregation.  That is when I rely on our on board Bible to at least spend part of Sunday morning reviewing the Readings for that weekend.  The website http://wordtoworship.com/lectionary/catholic has been a good resource for that.  Also, recently I  found and tapped into the convenience of having the daily readings posted to my email box by using http://usccb.org.    

         

            Currently, on our way out of the Bahamas and island hopping toward the Turks and Caicos, we stopped in Clarence Town, Long Island where we planned to attend mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.  On Saturday evening we walked by the church and noted that the Sunday Mass time was posted as 9AM, followed by “TAITS”.  We wondered what TAITS meant and if Hurricane Joachim had a hand in whatever it was.  Down the next road, we stopped to inquire about it with a man on his front porch.  He didn’t know the answer, so he sent us two houses up the road to where the Catholic Catechist lived.  There we were disappointed to learn that, since Joachim, services were being rotated weekly to various congregations.  Mass would not be held in Clarence Town this weekend.  It would be held in a town farther south called TAITS.

      Ah, the best laid plans…

                  

    

RUM CAY

         

        With a name like RUM CAY, how could we not visit this small island located in the Central Bahamas?  It is  mostly surrounded by reefs and was originally named Santa Maria de la Concepcion by Columbus.  Later it became known as Rum Cay after a ship wrecked on a reef and many bottles of its rum cargo washed ashore.  We searched the beaches at great length and must report that no rum is left to find. 

               In fact, over the years, there has been little to find on this relatively small piece of paradise except more friendly Bahamians and a healthy dose of solemnity.  But Hurricane Joachim hit last November and now there is even less to find on Rum Cay.  Much damage was incurred and, although there is an inordinate amount of huge heavy duty earth moving rigs, not much looks to have been repaired.  USAid tarps still flap upon rooftops while other buildings have been reduced to rubble (left photo below).  Many of the few coconut palms here have either had their top lobbed off or are now growing almost parallel to the ground.  Joachim even blew the top planking off of the sturdily constructed goverment dock (right photo below).  

       

        

      

       Years ago, in an effort to control the erosion of beaches along the coasts of many Bahamian Islands, casuarina trees (from the fir family) were planted.  When we were in Georgetown, Exuma, we learned that these trees are currently considered an invasive species.  Casuarinas readily reseed and their roots grow very shallow, so when high winds and surf hit the beach, they tend to fall over, die, and need to be removed.  Joachim toppled many casuarinas on Rum Cay.

 

         One of the highlights of our stay in the bay at Rum Cay was most certainly the afternoon we spent with cruising friends Mike, Kimberly, and Ally of sv ALLY CAT.  We invited them on board Exit Strategy to play a round of games.  It began with playing a few hands of Mexican Train Dominoes and then they taught us how to play Chicken Feet Dominoes (photo below).  The crew of Ally Cat also brought an Apples to Apples card game and we enjoyed that, too.  And we heartily say “THANK YOU!” again to Ally for sharing a freshly baked loaf of Oatmeal Cinnamon Bread with us.

The “Skinny” on LONG ISLAND

         We eyeballed our way through scattered coral heads and anchored off of a long, lovely stretch of soft buff-colored sand in CALABASH BAY, LONG ISLAND.  As many of our stops have been, this was another recommended area to suit our deep keeled-boat.  The Santa Maria Beach Resort is located there and, thank goodness, was classy enough to not host all sorts of daytrip venues.  Two or three cruising vessels came and went almost daily, but the bay is so expansive that it still offered much privacy and ultimate relaxation.
        
        Long Island is another narrow ribbon of land that is approximately eighty miles long.  Like all islands here, it lacks much elevation, but you can usually see both the east and west coasts from a ridge.  So after walking the local dirt roads to view what little there was in the vicinity, we rented a car for a day to undertake a self-guided tour.  As soon as our rental hit the dirt road, it began to rattle loudly, sounding like something was going to fall off its bottom.  We pressed on toward The Columbus Monument, our first stop, which took us along a rough path through thick brush that often scraped the side of the car.  We had to drive so slowly that we may have gotten there faster if we had walked.  Once there, though, the views from the rugged northern coast of Long Island made it well worth it.

The Columbus Monument

     

Sweet corn grown near house to conserve water.

                                                   Long Island has been experiencing a drought this season and as we drove southward (now on paved roads)the ill effects were readily apparent.  Much of the landscape was withered and any garden areas looked rather bleak.  We kept looking for fresh produce stands mentioned by cruisers, but found none.  In addition to the lack of sufficient rainfall, the island also was hit badly by Hurricane Joachim last November and much of the destruction remains in place.  We noticed many roof repairs underway as we proceeded.  At the gas station in SALT POND, a local told us that Joachim loomed over them for thirty-six hours and when they thought the hurricane was leaving, it swung back over the island again.  The force was so powerful that it lifted a large fiberglass resort pool out of the ground and deposited it about one-quarter of a mile down the coast.  It is no doubt that Joachim will long be remembered.

Sts. Peter & Paul's Church built by Fr. Jerome.

          Finding an ATM was not easy on Long Island as we learned the the nearest one to our anchorage had been closed during the past year.  So we drove on through countless small settlements with the car now occasionally squeaking loudly.  CLARENCETOWN was to be our southernmost stop because we wished to check out the anchorage for future use and for provisioning there.  The folks at the marina informed us that Joachim blew away the groceries and a number of other businesses, so after a tasty lunch, we began our return drive northward.

         
             DEAN’S BLUE HOLE, the world’s deepest blue hole at 406 feet below sea level, is on the island’s eastern coast just north of Clarencetown. We spent time there swimming, walking the seldom visited beach, and climbing the rocky remote coast. The annual Free Dive Competition is held in late May and the platforms seen in the photo (that I think detract from its beauty) are used for this event. 

Cape Santa Maria Beach

           Being that there were no groceries to be had in Clarencetown, it was necessary for us to stop and shop in several different towns on our way back to Calabash Bay in order to find almost everything on our list.  The last grocery we found was in Salt Pond.  Had it been our first stop, it would have been our only stop as it had EVERYTHING and MORE!

As Far NORTH As We’re Gonna Go

Google image

         If the Captain has his way, the latitude of 24°37.05’ N is as far north as Exit Strategy is ever going to go.  On a chart of the Bahamaian Islands, HALF MOON BAY, LITTLE SAN SALVADOR and ARTHURS TOWN, CAT ISLAND roughly lie at this latitude.
      
         We had read that Little San Salvador– just five miles long and surrounded by a maze of coral heads and reefs- was owned by Holland America and served as a cruise ship stop.  But we hadn’t seen a single ship since arriving in the Bahamas so we expected there’d be a lull in visitors at this small island.  We were very WRONG.  On our first day in Half Moon Bay, we were the only vessel in sight, but early the next day, and the next day, and… then Dan googled the cruise ship schedule.  Ships would be in the bay six out of seven days a week!  Again, we don’t begrudge anyone of the way they make their living, so we watched the bay bubble with activity between 9 am - 4:30 pm and were happy to be left alone each night.  One day we dinghied around the northwestern point of the island and enjoyed an untouched, long stretch of beach.   

Rake 'N Scrape music is quite lively and played using
 saws, drums, and a concertina accordian.

         Nevertheless, the next morning the winds were in our favor and we headed toward the northern part of Cat Island to Arthurs Town.  There we found ourselves alone in the bay day and night.  When we walked ashore the locals knew we were the people from “de boat” and were friendly and helpful.  Arthurs Town is a welcoming place where the people not only recommend a good place (in this case, the only place) to eat dinner, but also call someone to take you there at no charge.  We had a delicious mahi mahi dinner at De Smoke Pot Restaurant and when the owner learned that we had never heard Bahamian RAKE ‘N SCRAPE music, he rallied a few men to perform for us after dinner. 
          Cat Island, the birthplace of the actor Sidney Poitier, is about sixty miles long and not more that a mile wide at most points. So a few days later we moved southward along the coast to NEW BIGHT.  Once more, we stood out as “de people from de boat” for a couple of days until a few motor yachts stopped there to wait for better weather.  There were more businesses around New Bight, such as a place to get propane refills, fuel, and groceries, although we still had to let the ladies at the Blue Bird Restaurant know we were coming to make sure they’d have food.
          A main attraction at New Bight is Fr. Jerome’s Hermitage that he built on the highest peak of the entire Bahamas at 206 feet above sea level.  Fr. Jerome studied architecture before becoming a Jesuit priest and was sent to the Bahamas from England in 1908 to save souls and build churches that could better withstand hurricanes.  His churches, built for all denominations, have held up well and still grace many of the islands.

Fr. Jerome's Hermitage

Stations of the Cross

                 
      On our last evening in New Bight, we met and talked at length with a kindly old gent who filled us in on more Bahamian history.  The islands were first inhabited by the Lucayans which Columbus noted in his log of 1492 when he claimed the islands for Spain.  The Lucayan population dwindled quickly as they were exposed to diseases brought by the “white man“ (Spanish).  Then in 1648, the first English settlers came seeking religious freedom.  And finally in 1776,  a great  influx of Loyalists occured after England lost the War for Independence in the New World.  The inhabitants of today are either descendents of the Loyalists or “Fat Cats” from the USA and Europe.
                               We thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of Cat Island’s shores and its people.

EXUMA CAYS LAND & SEA PARK

 

       Exit Strategy entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP) through WARDERICK CUT one sunny afternoon.  Mooring fields are situated at all the popular spots for exploration within the park, one being right at Warderick Cut. To use a mooring, one must contact the park via radio the day before you intend to arrive and be put on a waiting list.  Then the next morning at 9am the park assigns moorings via radio broadcast.  So if you are close enough to transmit and hear the daily park net, it is a simple, efficient system.  However, if you're not within VHF range, then you need to proceed to an approved anchorage. Prior to our arrival we were not within radio range, so we proceeded to one of the few places where anchoring is allowed, namely EMERALD ROCK.  The safe and suitable route  to Emerald Rock was yet another case of "you can't get there from here" easily due to a massive shoal area on the Exuma Bank.  By way of crow, the distance from Warderick Cut to Emerald Rock is about 1.5 nm, but the course we had to carefully motor was about 5 nm. 

 

                                       

       The ECLSP offers a collection of beautiful sites to snorkel, as well as many well-maintained trails to hike.  While we visited, the weather was more conducive to land activities, so we plodded through a number of trails on WARDERICK WELLS CAY and took in some beach time.   The Bahamas are coral atolls, so the trails oscillated from being soft sand to being hard, rough coral rock. Nothing substantial can grow on this type of terrain and finding a little shade ashore was a problem.  



 

 

       At the top of Boo Boo -as in GHOST- Hill. Boo Boo Hill on Warderick Wells Cay is so named because a ship wrecked near it off the Atlantic coast of the ECLSP.  It is said that you can still hear the cries of the crew at night if you are on the hilltop.   (Note the boats in mooring field over my shoulder.)

 

Vessel monument on ridge by Boo Boo Hill



       This impressive Humpback Whale skeleton is on beach near the ECLSP Office.  It was salvaged in the 1990's from Highbourn Cay- Exuma after the whale beached himself.  They believe the whale may have been confused by sonar signals being  emitted by a US Navy vessel who was conducting tests in the vicinity.

 

We hiked many trails since the current was too
 strong on many days to snorkel safely.

 

       On days when the weather was calmer and the current was not as strong, we snorkeled a couple of sites.  The area around Emerald Rock was disappointing at best.  Two dinghy moorings were available there, but after swimming over and around the first spot, we decided to skip the second. So far, we have been somewhat disenchanted by snorkeling in the Bahamas.  The coral heads strewn throughout the Exuma Bank waters are often small with a distance between.  Also,  swimming has been difficult because there often exits a forceful current.

 

Vivid corals in cut at Hog Cay.

One morning while hiking to the top of the ridge, we caught a glimpse of a completely empty and visually inviting mooring field (of 5) in the ECLSP by HOG CAY.  We were giddy with delight- if you can imagine that- and radioed the park office to make a reservation for the next day.  Spending the night there along the Atlantic coast would also serve us as a great jumping off point to sail to our next destination.  At 9am the next day we got our mooring assignment and began our 5 nm. trip out of the Emerald Rock anchorage.

        Upon entering the mooring area at Hog Cay we found one huge motor yacht on a mooring.  We carried on toward our assigned ball and saw another even larger motor yacht power towards OUR ASSIGNED MOORING and pick it up!  Words and a few hand signals were exchanged and then we took the next ball past them.  Danny radioed the park office who immediately sent two ranger boats to take charge of the matter.  What we didn't fully realize was that the ball we were assigned was the ONLY one on which we wouldn't go aground at MLW.  The yacht apologetically released our ball and we picked it up. 

        Shortly afterward, another motor yacht- this one SUPERSIZED- picked up the mooring next to us.  Then the "circus" really began.  A 40' transport vessel pulled up to the shore and unloaded SUPs, kayaks, jet skis, umbrellas, coolers, etc...  There were about 20 guests, aged maybe 18-24, on the mega yacht perhaps doing Spring Break on Daddy's Gold Card.

         We were no longer giddy with delight.