The next island on our northerly trac was Cat. Cat island is 40 miles long, and is oriented in a northwest-southeast direction. When we pulled into the anchorage at New Bight there were 15 boats anchored there. It felt like a return to civilization. However, the next morning 12 of the sailboats pulled out together (some rally we guessed), and when we went ashore to try to reprovision fresh fruits and veggies we were told, “…the supply boat came yesterday so there won’t be anything left in the store today.” So much for civilization.
So, instead of shopping we decided to climb to the hermitage…
From the anchorage we could clearly see this structure at the top of the hill, which is actually the highest point (206 ft.) in all of the Bahamas. The guidebooks tell a story of an English priest-architect, Father Jerome, who traveled to the Bahamas to repair the Catholic Churches on Long Island, destroyed by a hurricane in 1908. After dedicating many years to rebuilding numerous churches, he visited Cat Island in 1937, and identified the top of this hill as his retirement location.
The site was less than a mile from the beach, but the last 206 feet were a killer. A lot of thought was put into, not only the structure, but the path that led to it, as well. Along the path we passed the stations of the cross, including a miniaturized version of the rock pushed aside from the mouth of the Jesus’ tomb.
Once we got close, we realized that not all things are as they appear.
This is a miniaturized version of a monastery 😂. The left side makes up the living quarters, and Keith is resting his hand on the chapel with the bell tower behind.
The retired priest lived out his days praying in this chapel.
From New Bight we continued north to Bennett’s Harbour, with the plan to hike across the island the next day to snorkel on the east side. We got anchored fine, but the snorkeling part of the plan didn’t work out. With a close eye on an approaching front we decided to cut our losses at Cat Island and travel 14 miles to Little San Salvador where we were hoping to spend the next day snorkeling to our hearts content along the numerous reefs on the east side.
The west side of this uninhabited island is used for cruise ship excursions, on the beach of the crescent moon bay, but the east side has no traffic. We anchored in dead calm conditions and launched the Whaler to explore the beach (near the pink star). We left the Whaler in the water overnight, with the plan of getting an early start snorkeling, then spending the afternoon, at high tide, exploring the interior tidal flats of the island. The forecast was for NO wind for the next 24 hours.
Surprise…we woke up to screaming wind out of the southwest, and very large waves…ugh! The front arrived about 12 hours early, and our grand plans for the day were flushed away. In fact, we were in a bit of a situation, as the Whaler was in the water and the conditions were too rough for us to retrieve her. We had to wait until 11am for conditions to calm enough for us to attempt to lift the Whaler, and now in hindsight we definitely jumped the gun on that decision.
The waves were still pretty big, and with the Whaler hanging from a cable it has a tendency to start swing like a pendulum (or actually in this case, wrecking ball is more accurate). When I can reach it from the swim platform I can steady it, and when Keith can reach it from the top deck he can control it, but there is a small area of ‘no man’s land’ in between when the natural forces take over…and now the Whaler is in need of a little fiberglass repair🤷🏼♀️.
On to Eleuthera…we stopped in Cape Eleuthera marina to get fuel, and decided to spend the night since we couldn’t make it to Rock Sound before dark. The following day it was an easy trip to Rock Sound where we settled in for a few days relaxing in the protection of this anchorage. Our friends Eddie & Gail were also in Eleuthera, but they were about 30 miles north of us with plans to head to Abaco so it didn’t look like we would cross paths again in the Bahamas.
Until…they sent a text to say they were renting a car and would pick us up…and so began Gail and Eddie's Excellent Adventure…
LWe started the day with some cave investigation.
Went in search of ‘ruins’ from an old town. We are fairly certain this was the church.
Then we headed to a southern part of the island, recently purchased by Disney. This purchase has caused a bit of an uproar with the locals, who cherished that point as one of the favorite and most beautiful places to visit. The news was reporting that Disney had closed the road and was not allowing access…so we decided to try to get there.
We made it to the dirt road leading to the point, but we’re stopped and redirected more than a mile from the point. When I asked the ‘security’ guard if there was any other way for us to see the lighthouse we were told to turn around and take the last right before the hard top road. That dirt road would lead us to a beach, where we could walk 3 miles to the lighthouse😳.
We decided to follow the directions and have our picnic lunch on the beach, but we weren’t certain about undertaking a 3 mile (6 total) beach walk. We parked the car here, and followed a short path to an amazing beach.
This was a great place to have lunch…and relax. Eddie is still practicing his rabbit ears.
After lunch we all agreed that a nice walk was a good idea, but we weren’t committed to the 3 miles…we would just see how we felt and turn around at any time.
Of course, we never turned around, but 2+ miles in we could see the end of the beach, but we still did not see a lighthouse…and if there is a lighthouse would we have to scale those steep cliffs to reach it? Eddie joked, there would be steps…
Are you kidding me…this is NOT a lighthouse! We were disappointed in the lighthouse,
But not disappointed in the view!
The view was amazing, and sooo worth the walk!
Our car is three miles in that direction. By mile 5 we were all dragging a bit, and by the time we planted our butts in the seats of the car there was a very audible collective sigh of relief. Now that we have recovered, and had time to reflect, I believe a 4-5 mile beach walk is about the max to consider in the future.
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