In the States you call them villages, but here in the Bahamas they are settlements. We are currently in Black Point, mid-way down the Exuma chain, and the second largest settlement in the Exumas. Five miles to our north is Staniel Cay, the only other settlement in the northern 45 miles of the Exuma chain. To put it all in perspective, Black Point claims somewhere around 200 full time residents. We are talking very small here. All the Bahamian islands except for Nassau and Grand Bahama are considered the Out Island or Family Islands – “Out” because they are far away from the population centers and “Family” because each settlement is the generational home to a few specific families, and perhaps because family values are central to the culture. While the full time population in Black Point is tiny, many residents of Nassau claim connections to these settlements and at Homecoming Week in August the population of Black Point will swell to several thousand. We find grandparents raising grandchildren while the middle generation is off to Nassau to pursue their careers.
One of the delights of visiting the settlements is the friendliness of the locals. Yes, our activity brings in needed income to the settlements, but we are welcomed with genuine interest and courtesies. Everyone smiles and greets you along the streets, and, given the opportunity, engages in pleasant conversations. We are curious about life here, and they are interested in our plans and impressions of the Bahamas. Honesty, cheerfulness, humor, religion, and social manners are central to the out island culture, and we witness the young children being taught this.
Over the past weeks we come and go, so we temporarily become a part of the Black Point community, anchoring out in the large bay, open to the west, with a crescent beach to the east that bares large sand flats at low tide. We have seen between 7 and 30 cruising boats anchored here at any given time. The main part of the settlement is on the south side of the bay. Transportation for locals and cruisers alike is by boat with a sizable government dock, being reconstructed following Hurricane Irene, servicing both groups. We come in to town for activities, and the residents leave town for employment on other nearby islands, primarily in construction, fishing, and service at the few close resorts. Most evenings you find skiffs at the dock and the men cleaning their catch of fish and conch. A high point every week or so is the arrival of the mail boat/supply freighter at the dock. The entire community appears, looking to claim their possessions, be they anything from furniture or building supplies to even a new pick up truck or golf cart. Meanwhile, the cruisers become energized at the thought of fresh vegetables and fruit.
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| The Captain C makes an appearance |
The settlement has one main road with a few others heading off into the rocky interior.
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| Black Point's main street |
We find an airport, one small grocery, a school for children through grade 9, the nicest laundromat in the Bahamas, three small restaurants/bars, a government/post office, a Batelco office, a clinic staffed by a nurse and, once a month, by a doctor, and three churches. The settlement has a diesel powered electric plant, a RO water factory, and a town dump. What we don’t find are banks, ATM machines, or gas stations. The homes are small but with comfortable interiors featuring standard furniture and conveniences. The exteriors aren’t as well maintained as it is not too unusual to find old appliances rusting in the yards or construction materials left in heaps. Landscaping is unheard of, but with an almost complete lack of soil and only scrub, rocks, and sand in the yards, that is quite understandable. Only a few homes have any sort of garden, and they utilize the pot hole gardening method. Hollows in the rock are filled with soil found who knows where and one or two corn, pepper, tomato, or squash plants are cultivated there. The output is quite meager, so almost all food is imported from the States at a very high cost.
So we get to meet many of the Black Pointers. Lorraine runs a café/bar that features free internet WIFI and a book exchange and is assisted by several of her daughters when they are home from school or work.
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| Lorainne tends bar at the Cafe |
On weekends she hosts a barbeque buffet featuring traditional Bahamian dishes such as peas and rice and macaroni and cheese (much better than the US variety) along with meats and seafood. She is the “go to” source for all information on the settlement. Next door is Lorraine’s mother who bakes wonderful bread. She is known throughout the Bahamas for her coconut bread. When you knock on her door to purchase bread you are invited inside. She says she like to get to know her customers and give them an opportunity to visit a conventional Bahamian home.
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| Lorainne's mother in her kitchen |
Just down the way is Ida’s Laundromat, and much more. Ida is a real entrepreneur. The laundromat rivals anything you would find in the States and is spotlessly clean.
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| Burt in this great laundromat - it's amazing what gets you REALLY excited around here |
She also has a small hardware and gift shop attached and several rental units upstairs. There are meat or veggie patties (something like Hot Pockets) for sale along with coffee and home made carrot cake. And just recently she and her husband built four coin operated showers for the cruisers. While Ida is off baking more cake her nephew, who is working to save up money to go to college in the States, runs the cash register and visits with the customers. No one complains about doing laundry in this environment.
The Adderlys own the Friendly Grocery Store. Its shelves are full compared to other stores we have seen, but the coolers and freezers are painfully empty as it will be a while until the freighter appears.
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| Where you learn to love Corn Flakes at $6 per small box |
The mode of operation here is that if you see something you might need, buy it now as it might not be available again in the foreseeable future. If there is no one in the store when you enter, you check around back. Likely Mr. and Mrs. Adderly are sitting outside in the shade working on some project or doing traditional straw work which is also available in the store.
The local school is next door to Lorrain’s.
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| The kids outside for recess - yes they wear ties to class |
As mentioned, children through grade 9 attend here. Upon passing their leaving exams, they will finish high school in Nassau, usually boarding with relatives. Most seem to pass the exam and many continue after high school to attend university. It appears the population is well educated. For instance, one of Lorrain’s daughters is attending medical school. Besides the classroom buildings which seem similarly equipped to an American school minus high tech items, the school provides housing for the principal and teachers in surrounding cottages. One of our cruising friends, a biology teacher on sabbatical from his position in Canada, taught science classes in the school for a week as it was short one science teacher. He commented on how polite and well behaved the students were.
Across the street from Lorrain’s several men are building a C-class Bahamian sloop on the weekends. We watch with interest as the work progresses, as it is all done by hand, a tradition passed down from generation to generation.
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| Burt observes a partially constructed Seahorse |
Woodworking is a valued skill in this culture and, besides the boats, is evident in the home building. The boat builder’s goal is to have the sloop usable by early February when there is a regatta at Little Farmer’s Cay, about 10 miles south. A week before the regatta we get a call on the VHF that the men need help getting the new boat and one other launched. We quickly head down to Black Point thinking this could get quite interesting. The boats need to be hauled across the street to a rocky patch that slopes down to the water – there are no ramps, trailers, or tow vehicles involved. A sufficient number of locals and cruisers show up and slide the boats on their keels across the pavement and rocks and down the slippery shore into the water. A few 4x4’s and sheets of plywood provide the only barrier to the rough surface.
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| A low tech boat launching for Smashie |
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| Seahorse get dunked and christened |
The new boat is christened Sea Horse by the builder’s wife and one of the cruisers, lead weights are added for ballast, and several hours later it is sparring with Smashie, the other sloop, through the anchorage.
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| The slopes under way on a light wind afternoon |
Even the small ones like these are magnificent under sail. We will definitely head down to the regatta to cheer on Sea Horse before she is pulled for further refinements, final fairing, and an Awlgrip paint job.
While Black Point is more of a working town than a tourist destination, there are a few things to do. We hike up to a supersized blow-hole on the sound side. Even with relatively small waves we see mist and a few gushers come out of it. Further around the bay is a building site. The owner has built himself an attractive bright pink Bahamian home with wrap around porch overlooking the bay. On adjacent land he is constructing some rental properties consisting of small cottages and one double house. Now he is working on several more cottages which are going up with amazing speed. A few others from the settlement are in the work force and everything is done with hand power tools and a large concrete hand run mixer. They are a very industrious group. We dinghy to the next bay south to find two expatriates’ homes, a spectacular beach, and the remains of a partially completed resort and marina – the effects of the economic downturn in the US are also obvious here. Lorraine tells us that the developers destroyed some particularly nice marine habitat when excavating for the marina, a sad situation as far as the locals are concerned – the landscape has been scarred and there is no economic return on the project. With so many cruisers about, there is much visiting among boats, along with three Happy Hours per week sponsored by Scorpio’s Bar. We have met people from all around the world in this little anchorage, with Canadians perhaps the largest contingent.
Our time here is winding down. We leave tomorrow for Little Farmer’s Cay, an even smaller settlement of 55 residents, and the 5F’s (First Friday in February at Farmer’s Festival). Afterwards, we will most likely continue heading south and not return to this portion of the Exumas. It’s difficult to leave an area you have called home for almost two months.
