And Then There Was Rum

The Nut House signpost in Rum Key

I had my morning tea, then packed up my binoculars, bird book, floating radio and sandals, and headed off in Lady. I paddled north along the beach. It was a perfect day, sunny and warm. I made my way through the scrub, skirting sea grape and aiming for palmetto. I had to lift my feet high for each step so as to clear the wire-like vine that would trap and trip me if I just walked normally. I did a proper Monty Python Silly Walk.

I managed to reach the far side of the island and walked along the beach there. That being the Atlantic side, the beach debris was everywhere. Vast numbers of plastic and glass bottles, bits of rubbish of all sorts. I wanted to race off and return with a hundred garbage bags. Down by the water it wasn’t so bad. The tides keep the lower beach tidy. I had a lovely walk along the sand, then tried to head in, but the ground cover foiled me. I managed to clamber up a rather treacherous coral hillside and had a lovely view over sea and land from my perch. I could see the top of Django’s mast in the distance. I tried to watch birds, but there too, the scrub foiled me. I could hear them all around me, but saw only darts and dodges of them. I spent quite a long time staring at leaves which looked a lot like they might be birds. I’m thinking Whit is right, botany is the way to go. There’s sure lots of that around.

The wind was going to be OK for us to get to Rum Cay and WW had asked that we leave by 11, so I headed back when I judged it was about 10:15 according to the ancient pyramidic scrolls. When I was safely aboard and Lady stowed, we raised anchor. Then I had my second lesson in lashing The Tramp to the trampoline. I am learning, slowly.

I naviguessed us to Rum Cay, again taking a watch on the way. The seas and winds were much calmer. We made the Sumner Point Marina at about 3 p.m. George the Harbourmaster helped us dock and pointed out where to get water. Water is scarce in The Bahamas. A lot is shipped from the Abaco Islands to Nassau; a lot is made by reverse osmosis. Here we are deep in the Outer Bahamas where it's all pretty much RO water. It costs $0.50/gallon.

The Bahamas are expensive; Rum Cay is very expensive. This isn’t surprising. The population has experienced a 25% explosion in the last year, rising to 75 souls from 60. In addition to the people, there is one dog, one cat, and one horse. Everything is brought in by boat or airplane. The inhabitants are among the most charming people we have met so far. Port Nelson, about a mile from the marina, is the main (make that, only) town. All the houses are well maintained. The little Anglican church is simply lovely, carefully painted in white and blue, obviously loved. There is far less of the anomie we've seen on other islands. Garbage is kept in containers, gardens are tended. Can you tell I like it here?