Post #75: In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two

 Tuesday, March16 and Wednesday, March 17, 2021

We weighed anchor on Tuesday morning and moved the boats a few miles further north along Long Island to Calabash Bay to be closer to a mangrove lagoon that we thought might be fun to explore.

Our first adventure was into the lagoon which proved to be really, really shallow and too murky to see much underwater.  So the next day we decided to stay on land and take a hike to the much-heralded Christopher Columbus monument. The three of us planned to leave about 10 a.m. to avoid the mid-day heat but, well, by now you know us, and instead we started out just before the hottest part of the day. We checked the path out on Google Maps and it looked doable and only about 2 miles each way. (Cue up Peter, Paul, and Mary: “When will they ever learn?”)

From the boat we’d seen some flags fluttering in the breeze so headed toward them.  Turned out to be a lookout structure built to provide a view of the lots available at the soon-to-be-built Point Santa Maria resort. The fact that the lookout tower was pretty rusty and there wasn’t a whisper of a building in site spoke volumes. Nice view of our boats at anchor, though.

We passed by what we thought was a huge hornet’s nest but when I showed others the photo, they said it was a termite nest!

The mile-long path continued on for at least five more miles as it got hotter and steamier.  We had the good fortune to come upon a road repair crew that was laying down hot tar and covering it with sand. They were friendly.  The tar and sand were sticky.  And did I mention, hot? Finally we came to the newly built road (a veritable highway, my friends!) that had just opened up in December 2020 to take tourists directly to the aforementioned monument.  We only had to walk along it for another mile.  Which seemed like three. Greeting us at the bottom of the hill upon which the monument sits was a cruel and unusual punishment for anyone foolish enough to have chosen to hike over here:

Oh, joy, an endless stairway to heaven.  You can see that the decoration from the ribbon-cutting dedication ceremony was still there.  Otherwise, had we arrived before December, we would have had to make like billy goats and climb up the steep slope.  “I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful for these 104 stairs,” I chant as I pant.  (Maybe there’s a vendor with cold water for sale at the top?  If only I could see that far...)

But who am I to complain? Really?  Old Chris Columbus and his brother and the others on those three leaky ships had to cross the entire Atlantic Ocean to get here!! The white limestone promontory would have been visible for miles on a clear day and the somewhat protected lagoon would have provided a sheltered spot to land for further exploration. This is purportedly the third island Columbus visited in the Bahamas.

The view from the top (of all those stairs) was truly spectacular and the monument commemorates his landing and remembers the peaceful Lucayans who inhabited the island when Columbus arrived.

All in all, it was well worth the hike. 

Once.