Cat Island - 'Out There'

March 22, 2013

 

We are currently anchored off New Bight on Cat Island.  After a rocky (literally) start, we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.

 

The Exumas and Abacos are great, with beautiful beaches and friendly people, but they are crowded with cruisers.  For example when we arrived at the Black Point settlement (one of our favorite spots in the Exumas) we expected a hand full of boats – but there were 40 there on arrival and at the peak 70. 

 

Cat Island lies about 50 miles east of Exuma and has no all-weather protection, so it does not get a lot of visiting boats; at most there have been 6-7 boats here in total in a very large bay.  To us it, feels like what cruising should be about – visiting far-away places and meeting people of different cultures.  People here often ask which boat you are on and have a good handle on what types of boats are visiting and where they are anchored.  It reminds us of when we used to take a boat to Everglades City in the remote Ten Thousand island in south west Florida in the 90’s, when people would ask us – “You’re the people on the sailboat at the Rod & Gun Club aren’t you?”

 

Wednesday night featured some moderate west winds which produced a significant swell that rocked us pretty good for about 12 hours, but by Thursday afternoon the swell had died down and by Friday morning it was very calm.

 

On Friday we dinghied into shore on the north end of the island to walk around some more, and hopefully get some lunch and some fresh provisions.  As we neared the end of the side road leading to the main highway we noticed an African Bahamian man sitting under a porch in front of a fairly nice house. We exchanged greetings and complimented him on his landscaping.  We struck up a conversation and he ended up inviting us to join him on the porch.  His name is Al Russell and he is a 6^th generation Bahamian. He is descended from Lord Russell, an Englishman, who was granted the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama  in the middle 1700’s.  He has had a varied career as a mail-boat owner/captain, owner operator of the Bridge Inn, which is currently largely out of business due to the economy and damage from two hurricanes, and other pusuits.  We had a great conversation about  Bahamian politics and churches (4 of his sons are pastors).  Although you would never know it from looking at him, we think that he has done well financially over his life; he and 4 of his brothers/cousins own Powell Cay in the Abacos – which is currently for sale if you are in the market for an island.

 

We then continued our walk to the New Bight Market, which to our delight was well stocked with fresh produce and a wide variety of goods.  Inquiring about lunch, we were referred to the small kitchen where  we had eaten on Tuesday.  In that it was about 1 ½ miles south, we took the opportunity to ask the woman driving the C&O Taxi in front of  the market if she could take us to the kitchen.  She said yes and we piled in.  We learned that she was Olive King who, in addition to driving the taxi, runs Olive’s Bakery near the government office – she had been at the market to get some baking supplies.   When we arrived at the kitchen and we went to get out I asked her how much we owed her for the ride – she responded “ Oh nothing – I was going this way anyway”.

 

We had eaten curried chicken at this same kitchen on Tuesday, which was OK; I had joked with the young woman at the counter that curried chicken (Roti) was  one of my specialties.  After joking about whose was better – I said if the bay was not so rough I would bring her some.  Today, the dish that was ready when we arrived was steamed fish (grouper that had been swimming yesterday) that was delicious!  The woman that I had talked to ended up taking her lunch break and joined us at our table.  Her name was ‘Ceedell’ but said that people called her ‘CD’ for short.  We had a delightful conversation which included exchanging some recipes, and I said that when we return to Cat Island, she and I will have a curried chicken ‘throw down’ which she thought would be fun.

 

 After lunch we got some great provisions at the New Bight Market and after returning to the boat, we moved back down closer to the New Bight settlement.  We hurried to get ashore to visit Olive’s Bakery.  When we approached the house, it was not obvious where the bakery was (it is basically in her kitchen) or if anyone was home.  After knocking at the side and then front door, we were greeted by Chris, Olive’s husband, the ‘C’ in C&O Taxi, and the principal at the Elementary school in nearby Old Bight.  We had a great conversation with Chris and bought two loaves of bread and a pound cake.

 

Overall, Cat Island has been great, and may be our favorite destination yet.  The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming and it feels remote compared to other parts of the Bahamas.

 

Tomorrow we will move to Old Bight to get better protection from the southerly component of an upcoming front;  we are not sure what we will do for the westerly winds due on Monday but we have several alternatives, although we have definitely decided to not move north in the next 7-10 days as originally planned, as that would move us towards some pretty nasty weather.  

 

As the weather allows, we will travel north to Eleuthera and then the Abacos if we have time. This move north will be be clearly 'turning the corner' to start heading back to Florida by late May.

 

Tom

Anchored New Bight

Cat Island Bahamas  

Map of Cruise 2012-13