Fish Fry in Cat Island

3.29.11

So when we pulled into our anchorage two days ago, we were dying of heat. We had been motoring all day with absolutely no wind and we were hot! We dropped anchor and dove in for a swim. We were checking out the hull and I was scrubbing some of the algae off when a man dinghied over to our boat. He was off one of the trawlers we had been around earlier in the day and he brought us two huge fillets of fresh mahi, just caught hours before! He was single handing and there was no way he could eat both of the fish he caught and his buddy had caught two more, so they were happy to be rid of some of it.....our lucky day! We talked for awhile and decided we would all meet on the beach the following morning to go up to the Hermitage together.
We met on the beach at 0900, hoping to beat the heat and were surprised that there were now 7 of us in the group; another trawler had come in and joined the first two last night (Trawlers: "Barbara", "North Star", and "Ibis"). We all hiked up to the top of the highest mountain in the Bahamas (a whopping 206 feet!!) to the Hermitage.
Quick history lesson:
The Hermitage is one of the most well known churches in the Bahamas, built by an architect turned priest from England – Father Jerome. He came over to the Bahamas in the early 1900s to build churches that could withstand hurricane winds. He built many of them throughout the islands, with six of them being on Cat Island. The Hermitage was his final project. He lived in a cave on the top of the hill while building this small cathedral. It is deserted and now just a tourist destination, but the views are incredible and to think he built it by himself is amazing!
The group hiked back down the hill and then we perused the “town” and visited the grocer. On our way back, we stopped by a small shack on the beach that was selling beers and cold sodas. We stopped and rested for awhile and one of the guys in our group decided we should have a fish fry there that evening. He spoke to the owner and she agreed to fry the fish if we would supply it. So, we all went back to our boats and started making the dishes to bring this potluck fish fry together.
It was a great time! The food was great and the company was even better. The owner cooked a great meal and then afterwards a couple of the local men came and formed a pick-up Rake and Scrape band. One man played the accordion, another the saw and another the drum. They let Brad and I play the saw and the drum and we all had a good laugh at how bad our rhythm was. We stayed late into the night, enjoying each other's company and also listening to the locals talk about their island.

Today we woke to a surprise in the weather. The front that was stalled North of the Abacos is bearing down on us and will be here on Friday. Cat Island offers no protection from the Western winds, so we are rushing along to get up to Eleuthra before the big blow.
So, despite the lack of wind yet again, we set off this morning for Little San Salvador. Half Moon Bay is owned by a cruise line and is a stop on one of their Bahamian cruises. We have heard they discourage cruisers from coming there, but it is a mid-point on our trip North, so we are going to stop anyway and see what all the fuss is about.
As I'm sitting here typing this, we are looking out across miles and miles of perfectly flat gin clear water. Since there is no wind, the water is crystal clear – we could read a newspaper on the bottom if we wanted to! We can see all the rocks, crab pots and starfish on the bottom as we pass over them. The sun is bright and there are no clouds in the azure sky. Although it is breathtaking out here, no wind means motoring all day and also no respite from the scorching sun. Looks like we may have to drop the anchor and get in a mid-day swim!