We’ve alluded to a “totally unexpected boat repair,” and we will get to that tale eventually. For now, the situation brought us to New Bight with time on our hands. No problem. We enjoy exploring! First day ashore, we asked at a gas station ($7.75/gal) about a possible rental car and lo and behold notice a neat “ruin” right next door – an old church that must have been beautiful in its day. Really cool. ’til the mosquitoes chased us away. Let’s keep exploring and see what else we can find!

And within just a day of exploring New Bight by shoe leather express……

Then, while walking along the “beach road,” we met Duke. You can probably tell from our website that Todd is extremely fond of sunsets. Since Bahamian tradition is to blow the conch at day’s end, Todd’s been looking for just the right conch shell. (I could make a joke here about plenty of hot air and all that, but this search has been a somewhat serious affair.) Well, guess what Duke has at his Conch Stand? Right! Plenty of conch shells! And he’s made some into horns, which is a more labor-intensive process than simply harvesting the conch, which leaves a hole in the shell that would have to be “patched” to turn the empty shell back into a horn. Todd was beside himself to find just the right shell, without a patch, and with just the right heft and tone.

He’s been practicing for days, and sometimes we hear Duke playing a response from his shop on the beach road. At least, we think it’s Duke…

Todd isn’t the only one making noise, umm, I mean music. Cat Island has a signature sound known as “Rake & Scrape.” If you’re curious, here’s a link to a 2013 news article that provides some history on Rake & Scrape. The time-honored tradition is celebrated with an annual festival and contest held up north in Arthur’s Town the first weekend of June. (Wish we could be there for that!) One of the masters and teachers of this rhythmic island music is Pompey Johnson, right here in New Bight. Pompey, now almost 80, is a local gem with music in his heart and soul. We were fortunate enough to hear him and his small group play a few nights ago, and Susie was privileged to spend more than an hour just talking to Pompey about his life and experiences. It was a special moment in time with a warm and genuine gentleman. Hey, not to mention the great party at Cee Dee’s with good food, dancing, and even tumbling (the local children, not the cruisers…) Pompey, it has been a pleasure getting to know you!

The late Monsignor John Hawes was an interesting guy. An architect who became a priest. Those skills brought him to the Bahamas the first time to help fix four Anglican churches damaged by the 1908 hurricane season. (The 1908 season is unique; it remains the only season to have two hurricanes before June). He goes on to do a bunch of work all over the world, namely Australia, but early in his 60s, returns to the Bahamas, and settles here to build his last. Known locally as Father Jerome, he first builds four churches on Cat and one on Long Island before spying and buying eight acres on the top of Como Hill. It’s 1940, so after renaming it Mt. Alvernia, he hand-builds his little hermitage and chapel to live his life as a hermit.  Think very tiny house, as his “bedroom” was 6-feet square and the “kitchen” 5-feet square, all lovingly built with local stone and mortar. Amazing. But, 206 feet above sea level (which is where we live), so up we go!

We’d been forewarned that it is an uphill climb through the Stations of the Cross with a bit of scrambling at the end.

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Truthfully, only one of us had to “scramble.” The other one has stronger legs…

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Although it’s impressive, it isn’t nearly as large as it appears from below.

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The tiny bedroom is on the right hand side, with the small kitchen in the center near the chapel, and a bell tower on the left.

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Todd shimmied into and up the little tower, hoping to ring the bell. Alas, just a couple of low-volume clanks on an old rusty bell.

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You can’t really see it for the trees, but the boat is way down there near the telephone tower in the center of the picture. Now that we’ve explored, signed the guest book, and paid our respects, you know what this means, right? Yep, we have to get down the hill to the meandering road for the walk back.

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Naturally, we worked up an appetite. The kind ladies at The Bluebird Restaurant took care of it with a tasty meal. Splendid way to end a hike!

You think you know; I bet not! History alert!
We’ve been remiss in sharing a bit of background related to our most recent destination, Cat Island, so here goes.

As we’ve seen, nearly all of the inhabited islands have the same story. Spanish came, disease and slaving emptied the place, next came the pirates, and when “order” came with the English, we finally get settlers/loyalists around the 1780’s.

Cat Island is no different, except…
Along with about 10 other islands, it was thought to be the first place Columbus landed in the new world! See, when he landed, he called the place San Salvador (Christ the Savior). This was the place, for like 400 years! And then it wasn’t. Boy, what a debate! Who knew? For those history buffs, here’s a link to just one consolidated website (happy reading): Columbus Landfall. In the end, they don’t have the foggiest.

In 1926, the British government just decided for all of us. To accomplish that, they changed the name of this island back to Cat Island and changed a little island south of here that was called Watlings Island to San Salvador! Got it? They just kinda moved history.

And the name Cat Island? “Thought” to be taken from a pirate, Arthur Catt, who used to hang out here. Or so they say…

Despite all that, the Bahamian government describes Cat Island today as one of the least-known inhabited islands in the Bahamas. It resembles a slanted “J” West of its top is a little island called, you guessed it, Little San Salvador! That’s where the huge cruise ship was visiting (Crossing to Cat Island post). Cat island is about 50 miles long and not more 5 miles wide anywhere along its length.

It’s a special island, despite its size. Home to the late Sir Sidney Poitier, the famous prolific actor. We older folks might remember him in movies like, “To Sir, with Love,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night,” or “They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!” So many! Well, he was prematurely born in Miami while his parents were there on business but was Bahamian through and through, as he grew up here on Cat Island, in Arthur’s Town.
Cat Island is also the home of the tallest point in the Bahamas! Mount Alvernia, at 206 feet, and it has a special place perched on top. We are looking at it as we sit at anchor right here in New Bight, but that exploration is for another day. Can we go yet? Come on, Honey. Let’s go!

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After slowly exploring the cave area in the dinghy, it was time to go ashore, as Margaret at the Orange Creek Inn recommended we stop by to see Betty at H&W.

The proprietress, Betty, chuckled when Susie mentioned sour cream, and asked what else we might be looking for. How about fresh veggies? Betty said her husband could help with cabbage and peppers from their garden and kindly offered to take us to their home and return us to the jetty if we’d wait until 4:30 closing time, only 20 minutes away. Betty’s cousin Julia suggested we wait in the cool breeze on the shady side of the shop while she and Betty swept and locked up for the night. We all then jumped in Betty’s car for the short ride to the garden.

One of their goats had just delivered a baby in the pen at the back of the property. Stepping carefully around the garden plants, we got to see the brand-new kid, about the size of a Chihuahua, so new he’s still sporting the umbilical cord. You may not want to know what nanny goat is up to behind the tree.

Then Julia and Todd used a fruit picker to harvest guava. Cool!

Julia and Betty introduced us to the highly nutritious Morenga/Tree of Life and Sweetsop/Sugar apple fresh from the trees!

After bagging our goodies at the garden shed,

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Bountiful blessings, indeed! Left to right: Morenga/Tree of Life; Kale – which Clifton convinced Todd to at least try (as opposed to the okra :-); Guava; Tomatoes; Bell peppers; Hot peppers; Sugar apple; and Cabbage.

After a totally relaxing evening enjoying the sunset with Andrey and Natalia aboard Bella Vita, the only other boat in the area, followed by a good night sleep, it was time to explore some more. We’re always on the hunt for fresh produce, so let’s check out the Orange Creek Inn, Food Store, and Laundromat! Access is during high tide to get past a really large, shifting sandbar in front of the town, so we’d need to move quickly once out of the dinghy in order to get back across said sand bar, while there was enough water to return to the boat. One of those, grab-the-groceries-and-dash sort of situations. It just so happens, the wonderful establishment is owned and operated by Margaret Cleare, with her daughter Shari helping. Wow, it was very neat and organized and very well stocked. We quickly scored some onions, oranges, apples and eggs. And then, we got to chatting. (Imagine that.) I do believe Todd and Shari are two peas in a pod, philosophically speaking. And Miss Margaret, with a great combo of steel and twinkle in her eyes, can tell you all about Cat Island. Alas, we had to dash. Sandbar and all that…
Such fine ladies. We’re sorry we didn’t think to get a group photo. Shari, we’ll be back – looking forward to meeting your new beau! 😉

Time to get back to the boat, stow the goodies, and head south down the island to an area with high terrain to get some wind protection behind Curry Murry Bluff.