Father Jerome, Cat Island 3/13/22
At the moment we are waiting out a northeast blow of 20-35 knots in a marina on Cat Island (more on marina life later in the post). The day before we came in here we were anchored by a town called New Bight. Nico had been there over 40 years ago when he worked on Geronimo and had visited a hermitage on the top of Comer Hill, the highest point in the Bahamas at 207 feet. It made such an impression on him that he really wanted me to see it. We tried to get here on our 2019 cruise but couldn't, so Mount Alvernia was an important goal this time around.
Father Jerome was born John Cecil Hawes in England in 1876. He actually started out his career as an architect before he became an Anglican priest. In 1908 there was a terrible hurricane in the Bahamas and he was sent to oversee the construction of new churches. His style featured thick walls and barrel-vaulted roofs to help withstand future blows. After this project was complete it is said he had various jobs such as a wagon train driver, horse breeder, monk, and missionary before he became a Catholic priest. He came back to the Bahamas and built more churches before seeing Comer Hill and deciding to build his retirement home there. He created stations of the cross leading up to a tiny chapel for one person and an even smaller living area and a separate building with room for one platform bed. It really is a one-person monastery, peaceful and holy.
The approaching path becomes steeper until it is just steps leading to the building.
The solitary pew in the chapel.
Father Jerome's sleeping quarters
Looking up the bell tower. Nico climbed up, retied the bell-rope, and rang the bell for all to hear.
We were the only people at the hermitage when we visited early in the morning. It is a very peaceful, special spot, and Nico was so glad it seemed unchanged since 1980.
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Marina Life
It may seem like we are living the good life sailing through the Bahamas - and we are - but also keep in mind that sailing our 34-foot boat is really like glamping, and we have been at it for nearly six weeks. A few days ago the thought of a shower without worrying about using our precious water supply became really attractive. I was having a lot of difficulties getting the brush through my salt-encrusted hair. Everything, and I mean everything, has salt in it and never truly becomes dry - sheets, towels, books, seats, and the cabin sole or floor are some examples. So, when a cold front was forecasted to hit Florida and the Bahamas this weekend we decided to come into Hawks Nest Marina at the southern tip of Cat Island.
The marina is the little turquoise square partway up the inlet.
The entrance was really narrow and a good, swift current up to six knots can roar through. We were going to wait until slack high tide to enter (and we anchored for lunch where the dot is in the upper picture) but a powerboat offered to go in first and radioed back that there wasn't much current so we headed in. If the tide is coming out fast and hits wind pushing against it there can be some huge waves in the shallow water of the entrance to the inlet. Many of the marinas can be tricky for that reason.
We got fuel while the tide was high and the current low. ($6.80/gallon for diesel, but we only needed six gallons!)
It was nice and calm inside!
Far and Away with her neighbor, Quite Nice, a 56 foot Bertram, who gave us the entrance info - although they hit bottom making the turn into the marina. Cruisers are so helpful. Everybody came out and helped with our lines. Later, we met at the resort at one big table and had complimentary rum drinks and conch fritters for happy hour. The next night there was an impromptu party on Quite Nice and we had mahi-mahi they had caught. Another couple lent us a hose for water. Rick, on Quite Nice, gave us ice because they can make 1,000 pounds a day for the fish.
You can see how they carved the boat basin out of the limestone. The gauge measures our water usage. Freshwater is hard to come by in the Bahamas. Some marinas use reverse osmosis but here they had filtered well water. It costs $.35 a gallon. We filled up our 105-gallon forward tank. We had to empty our 40 gallon aft tank because the filling cap was loose (my fault?) and saltwater got in when we came over from Florida. I tasted the Hawks Nest water carefully before I started filling.
The much-needed showers and laundry! One night a couple of local men pulled up in their mini-van and sold bread, vegetables, and homemade tomato sauce to the cruisers. It was very welcome. The farmer's market came to us.
The laundry was air conditioned, so cool and dry!
They had bicycles we could use to get to the small resort 1/4 of a mile away.
We could use the resort amenities - their slow Wi-Fi, pool, bar, and lounge chairs.
To get to the resort you had to cross the runway. There was no fence or gate, just a stop sign. Nico and I rode our bikes down the runway one night.
The fishing boats clean their catch at the marina and as a result, a lot of sharks come in. Every town dock and marina has its resident Bull, Reef, Nurse, and Lemon sharks. No swimming here! Another woman and I wanted to use the marina kayak but they had just fed the sharks and there was a frenzy going on where we were going to get in. We ended up carrying the double kayak to another part of the marina.
On the kayak trip we saw dozens of baby lemon sharks, bonefish, turtles, tiny conch and hundreds of shorebirds and herons that were hunkered down in the mangroves, waiting out the wind, just like we were in the marina.
After two nights of luxury, the wind died down and the rain stopped. The front had passed, so Far and Away headed back out filled with fuel, water, food, and clean crew.
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