Father Gerome’s Hermitage and a beach bar.

It’s Wednesday morning and a lovely day at anchor off of Cat Island in the central Bahamas.  Last year, when we visited Cat, we had to leave abruptly when there was a wind shift coming that would make staying anchored uncomfortable, or perhaps dangerous.  Happily, this year we have already been here for three nights and the weather is still good.  Imagine that…

Yesterday, accompanied by our friends Maureen and Bill of Kalunamoo, (I finally figured out how to spell the name of their boat, I think.) we visited Father Gerome’s Hermitage.  The Hermitage, Father Gerome’s retirement home, is perched on the highest peak in the Bahamas, a whopping 202 feet above sea level. Not particularly high but the view from there is still pretty impressive.   Pandora’s out in the distance with a handful of other boats.As I stood up on the peak I found myself wondering what the winter winds would feel like to live in such an exposed stone structure.  But wait, it’s the Bahamas and winter winds are in the 80s.  Oh yeah, nice. 

Anyway, Father Gerome was not a guy who needed a lot of creature comforts.  His bed, if you can call it that, was just a small depression in the floor of one of the main rooms.  Not sure Brenda would go for that.  No wait, she WOULDN’T like it at all.  I’d say that it was quite “hermit like”, actually.

Not only were his living conditions pretty spartan, he wanted to be sure that it was pretty uncomfortable to get to his place.  The path, if you could call it that, was quite steep at the end. The Hermitage looks quite grand from a distance with lovely proportions and architectural details.  Gerome was a gifted amateur architect.  

At first glance you really think it’s a grand structure.  However, here’s Bill standing alongside.  It’s actually more like a large scale model, that you could live in, assuming, of course, that you are an old hermit that loves to be uncomfortable.  Can you say “hair shirt”?The windows, carved into the stone sides, have modest shutters. I couldn’t resist peeking out for a “Kodak moment”.    No wait, Kodak?  Perhaps it was a “digital moment”.   Whatever…Down toward shore there is an area where some farming is going on.  In spite of the dry conditions, bananas are grown in some depressions on the ground.   It’s amazing how much fruit grows on a single stalk. We also took a walk down the road running along shore for a bit of lunch.   These “dining establishments”, no make that bars, are very modest wooden structures right on the beach.  Pretty basic. However, they do quite a solid lunch business.Yet another view of Pandora framed nicely. As a reminder that all wasn’t always so peaceful here in the Bahamas, we saw some cotton plants from the days when the Loyalists, following the American Revolution, brought their slaves here and tried to set up plantations.  Alas, it didn’t work as there just wasn’t enough water here to make a go of it.There are ruins everywhere.  Building abandoned.  And, they are often right next to a more modern structure.  Many churches on the island.  Often many out buildings and more like “compounds” as modest as they are.Some cute little shops but they always seem to be closed.  Brenda liked this building, in particular.  And painted brightly, as is their custom.The wind was kicking up for the afternoon so we got pretty well splashed on our way back to Pandora.  Nothing new there.   However, as sunset approached, things settled down and we were treated to a spectacular sunset.   There’s Kalunamoo framed against a beautiful setting sun.  Pretty dramatic.   If you’re thinking “Bob, if you’ve seen one sunset, you’ve seen them all” than you had to be there. Oh yeah, two nights ago we set an alarm for 03:00 and got up to see the lunar eclipse.  It was amazing.  Brenda stayed up longer and was treated to a number of beautiful meteors streaking across the moon and even a satellite.   Me, I craved sleep and missed much of the fun. It’s not often that you can view such an amazing event from aboard with such a panoramic view.  Pretty special. 

Our plans for the next few days are a bit up in the air but we’ll be speaking with Bill and Maureen later to decide.  Happily, the next few days are looking great with moderate winds and fair skies so we have a number of good options on where to go, or not go.   After a winter spent constantly dodging cold fronts, we are ready for some benign conditions and that’s what we have.  That’s good, very good.

And, if that’s not enough, Rob and Kandice join us in Staniel Cay in about a week and a half.  Perfect.

 

 

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