We rented a car along with Doug and Caroline of sv Viento. Dorette (242-331-2484) of Dorette's Grocery in CT, arranged our pickup at Riding Rock Marina at 0900 and we were off. There's only one road around the island, with offshoots to several small settlements and sites, so getting lost wasn't an issue. This is a large island which is also known (per the Explorer Chartbooks) as the "Land of Lakes" and it takes a while to get around. We stopped at the Gerace Research Center in Graham's Harbour, where Dr Troy kindly let us in the library and explained some of the research going on at the center. They only had one group on campus, but have up to 200 university researchers in residence when things get busy in May. Continuing along, we visited the Dixon Hill Lighthouse. Constructed in 1887 in England, it was shipped over and welded together here on island. It is one of only two lighthouses in the Bahamas (the other being in Hopetown) to run on kerosene, and seeing the original pressure vessels and machinery is always a joy. Also of note is that the personnel manning the lighthouse take 4 hour nightly watches, just like the old days. Somehow, we drove right past the ruins of Watling's Castle so our next stop was the Columbus Monument in Long Bay (also charted as Fernandez Bay), which is right next to the Mexican Olympic Flame Monument. This, folks, is where it all took place way back on October 12, 1492 so, presumably, we were stepping about where the Man himself stood to give thanks to the Lord for his safe arrival. Lots of history here. A few days ago, we had previously met Deacon Gregory Taylor, who explained that the museum in CT had been destroyed in the last couple of hurricanes, so, unfortunately, there isn't much other historical artifact available to review at this time. By 1:00, we were all ready for lunch and stopped at the Paradis restaurant for a delicious home-cooked meal. We got dropped off back at the marina about 2:30, and all four of us felt our mini-tour was a great way to see the island.
No comments:
Post a Comment