2011 - 9-22 - 9-27 - Black Point - Little Farmers

9/22 - 9/26 After leaving the peace & quiet of the beach, we took the long way back to the boat. Simply beautiful. Clear, clean water - we could clearly see the bottom in 30’ water. Scattered homes here & there on mostly uninhabited little islands just off Staniel. We circled the Grotto but unable to see the opening we entered last time. ?? We did see an opening but was mostly blocked by enormous rocks & I know they were not there 10 years ago…a land-slide perhaps? Anchor up & headed south to Black Point which is on Great Guana Cay. I caught 2 Mackerel on our way south. That took care of dinner that night. Per 1996 information: “This settlement is the largest in the Exuma Cays with about 300 people (except those on Great Exuma) …known for its friendly & welcoming villagers, Black Point is the only settlement on Great Guana Cay”

I really liked this little town & was anxious to see the changes our friend, Laura, told us about. Not to mention getting cracked conch @ Lorraine’s. However, the weather wasn’t cooperating…gloomy with intermittent rain on Friday, rained all day on Saturday with severe lightening. I feel sorry for the couple we met at Staniel Yacht Club who were getting married on a beach today.

Because of the storms all around us, we had 2’ swells all night long-it was all we could do to not fall out of bed. We pulled the anchor at 9:30 am on Sunday, the 25th arrived & anchored in a cove

at the  north end of Big Farmer’s Cay. This is a junction where there’s a pass out to the sound with depths of up to 50’ (could see bottom here too); Great Guana ends north of the pass; Big Farmers begins on the

Little Farmers Cay Yacht Club

south side & Little Farmers is west of the pass. Little Farmers is one Cay we’ve not been to. While diddling around on the boat, a speed boat came in the harbor from the sound & stopped to say hello. They speared 2 grouper & offered us one- hell yes…we’ll take it. Agreed to meet at their cottage on the beach for happy hour. I made pasta salad; they grilled chicken & grouper…what a feast & a wonderful, unexpected evening. Terry, Barb, Don & Lottie live in Miami.  Terry & Barb own the beach property & tiny cottage which they plan to enlarge by putting a second story on top.  9/26 Terry Bain & his wife, Earnestine, owns Ocean Cabin, a restaurant & convience store.We spent hours talking with him in the afternoon then gave him our order for dinner at 6pm. Wayne                             Ocean Cabin on the right

found a hammock under a big tree - that’s where he placed his order for dinner. We were on a mission to find bread as Earnestine doesn't make it anymore. Brenda said she would make us 2 loaves & would be ready by 5pm. These guys were cleaning a whole slew of little snapper, grunts etc…they scale & clean them ready for pan frying.(none for me thank you very much)

We returned to Brenda’s Kitchen & found ourselves face to face with a herd of little kids just waiting for new blood to play with. And we all had

      Little Farmer's Yacht Club & harbour as seen from Ocean Cabin

a ball. They were intrigued with Wayne - taking his hat off putting it on backwards, buttoning & unbuttoning his shirt, feeling the hair on his arms & chest.

It was quite the scene. Soon their teacher & principle came by to help celebrate a birthday…they sure got good in a hurry.

Terry says there are 55 people living on the island today. An outsider cannot buy or build on Little Farmers-only by birth or marriage. He also wrote: “Little Farmers is approximately 1 ¼ miles long by 7/8 mile wide...The smaller bay is named Little Harbour, the larger…Big Harbour. The 2 harbours are separated by a piece of land called the Point. The names given to them by our ancestors when they settled here over 165 years ago…Little Farmers was settled by freed slaves from Exuma. One woman named Chrisanna, with her young children...bought all of the Cay & willed it to their descendants to be undivided as tenants in common…” They have a 2,500 ft paved airstrip & the highest point on the Cay is the 60’ Dabba Hill. Many years ago Terry organized an annual event called the 5 ‘Fs’; Farmers Festival First Friday February with competitions, children’s events, food throughout the day & dancing at night. (I wanna go!) Dinner was really good but the company afterwards was even better. In the meantime, there was a

Earnestine

birthday party (girl in the middle, her sister on the right) going on at Ali’s Bar but ended before I could go & have more fun.(Ali's bar is maybe 8X10) I don’t think we left until 11ish after drinking about 3 bottles of wine. I guess you can tell we really liked it here.

Unfortunately, we had to move on to meet Tom & Laurel in George Town by the 30^th. We pulled anchor at 10:30 on the 27^th.