2001 - 6/11 - 6/12 - Long Island, Calabash Bay - Rum Cay

6/11 Long Island is aptly named as it's nearly 80 miles North to South & not more than 4 miles wide. We did not go into Salt Pond but, instead, tried to go to Simms. Simms is interesting because of the prison there; it’s a relic from colonial days and is still in use. However, it was too shallow to get into Simms, we went, instead, to Calabash Bay.Calabash Bay offers good anchorage in the right weather which, thankfully, we had.  What a beautiful place. A long stretch of white sand beach; low land with intermittent small cottages with an upscale resort operated by Canadian ex-patriots at one end. Through the binoculars, I saw a few people walking on the beach near the resort, but otherwise, it was deserted. The beach was white as snow and the water was clearer than our drinking water! We didn’t go ashore but swam near the boat, showered on the swim platform, partook of happy hour libations and had a nice dinner. Tuesday, 6/12   Same weather, but a little warmer.We left Long Island at 3 pm after stopping to snorkel at an interesting coral patch causing us to arrive at Rum Cay at 7:30, way later than was safe. There were numerous, scattered coral heads throughout the harbor near Sumner Point and it would have been helpful to have had better light or the Explorer Charts on the computer – but no such luck. We took great care & anchored between the Government dock and the new Sumner Point marina. As the anchor set, so did the sun. So much for the day.  Usual happy hour and dinner. (is anyone bored yet? - I'm not) Rum Cay is a 9-by-5 mile island. It has surrounding reefs, which, except for Nelson Harbor and Flamingo Bay, are tucked close to it’s shoreline. With a head count of 52 Bahamians and 8 – 10 Americans, For the greater part, Rum is uninhabited. There is a small airstrip on the West side of Port Nelson and virtually no road system. We took Molly ashore to explore.

Entrance to the Salt Ponds

It looked like a friendly, interesting island. We decided to walk to the little Marina on the other end of the village. Two workmen in a golf cart, outfitted with swamp buggy wheels and gas engine, offered us a ride. A lot of construction going on near and in the marina area of several new homes, roads and dredging in the marina.The marina building that housed the restaurant and bar was beautifully decorated. The owners  first visited Rum 35 years ago while on vacation; bought the property; built a cottage, which is now the restaurant. They eventually moved there full time.Their son and daughter-in-law are now running the marina, improving and enlarging it. They cater to large yachts and sport fishing boats. It’s a good harbor and fuel stop when going to or from the Turks and Caicos. We met another American, Bill Schumacher, who built his home on the beach with about eight other homes around him also, owned by Americans. He offered us a ride back to “town” and became our tour guide giving us a history of the island and its’ colorful inhabitants.  He invited us to his home so we could see the weather channel. While he & Wayne had a beer on the porch, Molly and I had a ball roaming the beach. I lugged all kinds of stuff off the beach and Bill gave me some cuttings from his Pitisporin bush. Bill and his wife arrived on Rum Cay by sailboat about 10 years ago.The owner was asking $35,000 for the property – Bill declined but the next morning the guy called him back and said he wanted someone to build a nice house to “get things started” and if Bill would do that, he would sell the property for $18,000. Bill wrote a check on the spot. He and his wife sailed off, looked at each other and wondered what the hell they were going to do now!  They finished the house 6 years ago using a 12,000-gallon concrete cistern as the foundation.  He designed it using post and beam construction with all pressure-treated wood and stainless bolts and screws throughout (no nails). He purchased all materials from Home Depot in Miami for $14,000 and had it shipped to Nassau then to Rum via the mail boat. With the help of 3 natives, who charged him a grand total of $18/hour for the 3 of them, he has a wonderful home in the Bahamas.Total cost: less than $60,000! What a great story!  We were hooked and ready to buy property in this paradise. Unfortunately, nothing was for sale right now! Not even Miss Vivian’s little

Miss Vivian's house

house, which is just sitting there, abandoned. Just 3 short years ago, Rum Cay property was practically being given away. Then, last year a British investment company purchased the remaining available 850 acres and the rumor is that they plan to build a golf course and vacation homes.

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