Cat Island

It was a full day sail from Half Moon Cay to Cat Island.  We arrived in time for Wren to fillet up the bar jack we caught on the way over for supper. 

Fish tostadas!

We also caught more barracuda than we care to remember.  Scott released each one very carefully.

These behemoth predators seem to be quite fond of our lucky "Whistler" lure.  Unfortunately, barracuda are not recommended eating as they are known to accumulate toxins in their flesh.  The primary concern here is ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP).  CFP is prevalent in fish that feed on toxic algae that colonize coral reefs (exactly the same mechanism as red tide and shellfish back home). It does not affect the fish in any way, just humans who eat the fish.  The larger the reef fish, or the higher the predator who eat the reef fish, the more potential toxin in the flesh.  We have a list of species to avoid.  Barracuda is at the top.  

Not lovin' that Whistler now!

The crazy thing is that the locals love barracuda and eat it all the time.  They seem to have some sort to natural immunity to the toxin.  Although, one Bahamian woman I spoke with wasn't so lucky and described the affects in vivid detail, "Ya jus sit wid one end on da toilet and da udda end in da sink".  She was also the owner of a small restaurant that featured barracuda on the menu.  Apparently, she was advised by her lawyer to at least post a sign before doing so.

Ummm, I'll have the salad, thank you.

Just as we were finishing up dinner, we saw what appeared to be an alien space ship approaching the anchorage.   It was Fata Morgana!  Evo liked a well lit boat. 

They'd left Half Moon Cay about an hour before us that morning and were just arriving, several hours later.  It's not that Kiawah is a faster boat.  It's just that they are purists.  They refuse to use the "d-sail".  The" iron genny".  The engine.  This is not only a moral decision, but a financial one as well.  Diesel fuel is expensive here.  An average of $6.50 a gallon.  They reserved their engines (they have two), for emergency use only.  After listening to our stories of fuel filter woes, Evo smiled at Scott and said in his thick Bulgarian accent, "Hey, man, it won't break if you don't use it".  We are in total admiration of their philosophy and are trying to use the engine less and less.  But, sometimes it's hard to wait for wind when you have a "return by" date looming on the horizon.

Captain and crew of Fata Morgana "dinghey" to shore

T/T Kiawah

Fresh fish for the restaurant

The Sunshine Restaurant

We loved exploring Cat Island.  We were craving an authentic Bahamas experience after being at Half Moon Cay eating burgers the past few days.  

I spy something... blue.

That house?

We visited the Hermitage on Mt. Alvernia built by English priest, architect, and builder John Cecil Hawes in 1939.  "Father Jerome", as he was known to locals, came to the Bahamas to rebuild  churches destroyed by hurricanes.  He must have been a very busy man.  He also must have been very small because the hermitage, his retirement home and final resting place, is tiny.  There was a work crew up there replacing part of the roof after what they described as a "mini tornado" did some damage.

Maya, Wren, and Riley pause for tea before the hike

Wren signs the guest book

The secret life of Hermit the Frog

That evening we were treated to some rake n' scrape music at the Sunshine Restaurant.   Cat Island is the birthplace of this form of roots music, which involves, vocals, a drum, an accordion, and a hand saw played with a screw driver. We'd heard about rake n' scrape music before.  In fact, we'd even googled one night back home during band practice.  We watched a Today Show broadcast on youtube of a trio which, as it turns out, was from Cat Island.  We recognized Pompey and Cedell from that broadcast as soon as they started to play.  Pompey's soulful voice filled the humid night air, to the scraping rhythm of Cedell's saw and the drum.  We sat and listened (and even joined in at one point), tapping our hands on cold bottles of Kalik, and our feet in the sand.  We soaked in every bit of the evening, feeling very lucky to have serendipitously stumbled into such a memorable experience.

Evo brought his machete to shore to open all the coconuts we'd collected

Wren's not-impressed-with-coconut-milk look

Rakin' and scrapin'

Pompey's set list

Scott joins in...

Then Mira... (really concentrating)

And finally Evo shows everyone how they do it in Bulgaria

Maya, showing the girls pictures of her travels

Later that night, Kiawah had her first sleep-over.  Maya and the girls had a bitter-sweet time hanging out together, knowing they'd be parting paths the next day.  Boat friendships are hard. We were headed to Conception Island, and they were planning to stay on Cat for a few more days.  We are all hopeful that their "life nomadik" will take them to Maine someday.

Breakfast chef Riley, whips up some pancakes

Spit is best played with a deck of Eastport cards

We said our goodbyes to Fata Morgana and Mira sent us off with a loaf of freshly baked bread (this bread was so delicious it inspired Scott to fix our oven).  As a tribute to them, we sailed off the anchor, and did not use the engine at all that day, even to drop anchor that evening.

Goodbye, FM!