Cat Island

Moose casted his line as soon as we were deep enough. He noticed some insects in the solar panel above him. Ben sprayed them. There were so many! He did some research and found out they were actually helpful insects that eat microscopic plant molds, fungi, and plant debris. They are completely harmless to humans and structures. Oops. It made me wonder why they were up in the solar panels, but then I read that they're attracted to bright lights at night and I remembered we had the underwater lights on for a while last night.

Once we anchored at Cat Island, we cooled off in the cabin for a while and waited for the heat to dissipate a bit. That's kinda a funny game we have to play because by the time the sun is further down, it then becomes a race to get back to the boat before we run out of sunlight and the mosquitoes start to come out. Always gotta find the perfect time!

We left the boat around 4 and took the tender to the beach next to the dinghy dock which was a super tall cement dock, about as wide as a 1 lane road. The tide was about 45 minutes from low tide, so we knew we had about 90 minutes before the tide was back at this same level again. That helps us determine where to put the anchor so that we don't have to carry the boat back to the water, like we did after our hike to Gemstone Cave. It was an easier choice to anchor the tender than tie up to the dock.

Pulling into this anchorage, we saw one of those fun, tall, colorful art island letters signs spelling out Cat Island. The I was part of The Hermitage, which sits at the tallest point on this island, and is the tallest point in this country. 

Walking over to the letters was our first stop on Cat Island. We all picked a letter to sit on and took some photos. (Bear picked C, Roo picked the tunnel of the I, I picked the L, Ben picked the A, and Moose picked the N. Bear was sad to be the only one in Cat.)

The letters weren't added to Google Maps yet, so I also took a picture without anyone in it, and created a new place on Google Maps for all of the future tourists who want their photo op. 📸 You can even see the Cartermaran looking cute in the picture. 😉 

The very air conditioned police station was across the street (Queen's Highway!) from our Chicken, so we walked back over there to chat and get some info about the hike we intended to do (up Mount Alvernia aka Como Hill- she said it would take us 15 minutes and made sure we brought water) and hours and location of the nearest grocery store (open until 6, after discussing our hike, she said open until 6:30).

A goat was leashed in the trees at the start of the road/trail and marked the start of our journey, along with a sign closer to Queen's Highway. It took us 16 minutes to get to the end of the paved road, which included 2 water stops. We passed a mini-farm where we noticed corn and watermelon growing. 

The next leg of our trail was very steep and made of coral. I read that this was a hard hike and thought it wasn't too bad, until we got to the next change in paths at the fork off for the Stations of the Cross. (I added this on Google Maps too, so the current photos there are mine.) The coral and limestone path became even steeper and had narrow stairs, which made it feel more like we were bouldering than hiking at some points.

These stations were carved in stone, by hand in 1939, by the priest who built and lived in the Hermitage, Father Jerome, and were very beautiful. (Those of you who grew up Catholic, I'm sure, have some recollection of the Stations of the Cross commemorating Jesus' path on his way to crucifixion.) They were dispersed, though not very far apart, along the super steep path and offered a good distraction along the last leg up the hill... mountain?

The Hermitage was built as a retreat from the world and sits at the highest point in all of the Bahamas. From what Ben could identify, there was a chapel (tiny church), a bedroom, and a kitchen all sitting at a whopping 206 feet above sea level, with amazing views of the island and water around it. The kids and I peeked inside, but didn't go in as far as Ben did because there were some huge wasps that must have felt a spiritual calling to live there.

On the way down, the girls spotted what they thought were artichokes growing from a tree in the little farm area. I wondered if they were hops. I took a photo so we could look it up later. Turns out they were sugar-apples, which have a custard like pulp. Those are now on our list of things to find and eat while here!

All 5 of us were sopping with sweat and purposely walked through the minimal shade we could find. I told Ben we should stop back in the police station just to cool off for a minute or two before our walk to the grocery store. He said he needed to ask for directions anyway.

We were back at the police station about 45 minutes after we left. The lady was gone, but we talked to the man for all of 60 seconds and were back in the heat and humidity on our way once again.

As we passed by the Cat Island Sign, walking single file on the left side of the road, Ben in front while I pulled up the rear, a truck pulled up next to us and stopped. We all looked back to find a local man who offered to drive us to the grocery store. The kids and I shoved into the back of the cab and Ben took the passenger seat. The windows were down and the breeze was more than welcomed. We all giggled about being told this was a 10 minute walk and were relieved we didn't have to walk this far! Ben said we would be okay to walk back, but just wanted to make sure we got there before it closed!

After all of the stores we've been to recently, this one was like a Costco! It was huge and had everything we could've needed... except for fishing lures and 2 lb containers of yogurt. We bought a few new drinks we hadn't seen before to try later.

As we were checking out, Ben asked the lady if she knew of anyone who could give us a ride back to the police station. She said normally she does that, but she was the only one working so she couldn't. She told us the other customers who were there right now rented a van and could probably take us. When they came to check out, Ben asked if they would be able to drive us back and they said it wouldn't be a problem at all. They said something about being from Colorado and I said so are we. Turns out they're from Arvada! We all couldn't believe it. They dropped us off, we all wished each other a Happy 4th of July, and we took our tender back to the boat for the night.

Looking out at the stern, with the underwater lights on, the water was the clearest we had ever seen at night. The bottom was right there and we could see further out than usual. We even saw a sea star on the sand just off the swim steps!

Tomorrow we will go further north on Cat Island and explore another beach area.