December 31, 2015: On Wednesday morning, we looked online for the cruise ship schedules to see if we could stay in our comfortable anchorage or if we would have to move. It’s not that we can’t stay where we are, it is just that the cruise line has purchased this island and have built on it what they feel are peoples dreams for a vacation. The island has water parks, private cabanas, buttered party rooms, restaurants, and of course all the toys like jet skis, paddle boards, and wind surfers as well as all the snorkeling, glass bottom boats, horseback riding and fishing excursions that guests might want. They don’t own the water and can’t tell you not to anchor there, but we don’t think vacationers want to pull up to their fantasy vacation spot and see a sail boat with dive gear hanging out to dry and two old people reading books and drinking coffee. From what we read, the ships arrive at 8am and it was now 8:30am so we thought we lucked out and this was a day no cruise ship was coming in; although, we did look at the shoreline and saw what looked like ants scurrying everywhere raking the island and polishing it up like they expected guests. Sure enough 15 minutes later the ferry boats that shuffle passengers to and from the cruise ship came out of their private harbour and rocked our boat. We had failed to look up the schedule of Carnival cruise ships which was bought by Holland America. We scurried to get Makani sail ready and got out of the anchorage before the first passenger disembarked from the cruise ship. There are well over a thousand passengers on those cruises so we didn’t really want to be in the epicenter of all their activities. We anchored about three miles south in about 20’ of water to check out the steep drop off. The way the wind was blowing set our stern less that 50’ to the drop off so we swam off the back of the boat and observed the drop off and saw some hog fish and sharks. We then dinghied close to shore to hunt and got two very large lobster.
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| Kiwi inspecting dinner |
After we returned to the boat, we decided to go ahead and move on to Cat Island where there aren’t so many people. We anchored at the north end near Orange creek next to another sailboat. Just about the time we got our anchor set, Matt and Lyndsey from s/v Kindred Spirit came over to introduce themselves. They came aboard and we learned in a very short time that they knew people we knew and they were both nurses and had in fact worked at hospitals I had worked at and in the same departments. We were most excited to learn that they like to do many of the things we like to do while cruising including fishing, spearfishing, snorkeling, diving, and playing cards and games. We invited them over for dinner to share in our monstrous lobster and play some cards and ring in the new year together.
Thursday, January 1 2015: We had planned to go for a snorkel with Matt and Lyndsey in the morning, but the winds were a bit heavier that we expected and more southernly so the anchorage got a bit sloppy and lumpy. Matt came over and shared some movie files and music files he had and told us they were going to move south and try to get into a calmer anchorage. We told him we had some exploring to do in this area and may see them later. We dinghied to the farthest northern point called sand point where there is supposed to be a beautiful reef and lots of sharks, but as we approached the swells on the ocean side were too large to safely leave the dinghy and explore. We did a bit of spelunking, but a big swell crashed into the back of the dinghy and pushed us ahore and the next swell filled the dinghy with water so I took a quick look in the cave and then returned to the dinghy to finish bailing it out while John took a quick look in the cave. We snorkeled a beautiful small reef not far from where we were anchored and then went into the Orange Creek Settlement forgetting that it is January 1 and none of the shops were open. Still recovering from last nights festivities, we headed to bed early, but now the wind has changed course again and it is opposing the current and waves so we are rocking and rolling and I’m up well past boaters midnight waiting for the sleeping pills to kick in.
Friday, January 2, 2015: We put up with as much rolling as we could stand; in fact, probably one of the top 5 worse nights we have experienced on the boat. We got up early and anchored up before having our coffee or making the bed to move south to Fernandez Harbor which we hoped would have some protection from the swells we were experiencing. We called Kindred Spirit who had anchored a few miles south of us and they had the same idea. We had a very good sail, tacking once to make our way to the harbor. On the way, Kathi caught a 20 inch fish, either a bluefish or a mackerel. After anchoring, we went out on a short snorkel to explore the area; unfortunately not finding any nice reefs. Matt and Lindsey joined us for spaghetti, an antipasta appetizer plate and fresh bread that Kathi baked. We ended the evening with a game of Rummycube which got interrupted by a discussion about sea glass when Kathi found out Lyndsey was as much of an enthusiast as her. We made plans for a hike to the ocean side for some beach coming tomorrow. The night was not as rolly as the previous night but still very uncomfortable. Things would be calm for about 3 minutes, then 4 or 5 surge waves would sweep in, roughly rocking the boat from side to side.
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| Oceanside Beach |
Saturday, January 3, 2015: Kindred Spirit moved up to Smith Bay, a couple miles north, which is very protected but also very small. We didn’t feel we could comfortably get Makini into the bay. We dinghied up to meet them and took a long walk to the ocean beach on the southeast side of the island. Kathi and Lyndsey went one way down the beach to look for treasures and Matt went the other way. Matt has been finding brand new hardwood 4X4 ’s probably from a lost shipping container and he carried one all the way back to the dinghy. He has found several and has gathered 4 of them, but his boat is already listing from the weight of these posts. I don’t know what he is going to make with them, but he is determined to get a few more to take back.
The beach was beautiful, clean, and deserted. Once again that evening we put up with the rocking swells and made plans to move the next day.
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| Father Jerome's House |
Sunday, January 4, 2015: One of the best known and most visited sites on Cat Island is the Hermitage. Loceated on the highest point in the Bahamas, 204 feet above sea level, the Hermitage was the home of John Cecil Hawes, also known as Father Jerome, who was an Anglican Priest. He also was an architect and was sent to the Bahamas in 1908 to help restore churches damaged by hurricanes and to build new churches. He is well known for many of the beautiful structures that he was responsible for building. We moved from Fernandez Bay to New Bight and anchored just below the Hermitage. We could already tell that this anchorage was much smoother than the one we just left and after our visit to the Hermitage planned to move 4 miles further south to another anchorage that we hoped would be calmer still.
The walk to the Hermitage took about 30 minutes and we passed several small farms, more like large gardens, growing tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, ochre, beans and corn. All of the crops were growing in very rocky ground, ground that would be considered unusable in the US, and with limited water. The local farmers sell their crop to supplement their income.
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| Chapel |
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| One of the Stations of the Cross |
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| At Entrance to path |
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| Hearth in Kitchen |
The path to the Hermitage is up a rocky hillside where the stations of the cross had been built by Father Jerome. The entire experience of walking up to the Hermitage and the building itself was AMAZING! Kathi said the excursion to the Hermitage was well worth all the rocking and rolling and sleepless nights. It was our favorite thing on Cat Island. The building looks larger than it actually is, and consists of a chapel, belltower, bedroom, kitchen, bathing area, and guestroom. It is a fabulous looking building with views of the ocean that cannot be surpassed.
After returning to the boat we moved the 4 miles to the southern anchorage in the Bight and have the calmest anchorage that we have experienced on Cat Island. We are looking forward to a nice nights sleep.
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