The Most Amazing Place In The Bahamas | Going For A Walk To The Hermitage, Cat Island

Note: Our blog lags reality by many, many weeks. So while you're reading about our cruising adventures in the Bahamas, in reality we're actually back at Indiantown Marina working on boat projects. Cruising in the Bahamas was much more fun. {Sigh}

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I hate when people ask what our favorite place has been in our travels. That's such a hard question to answer. How can you pick just one place? There's usually something interesting about every place we've been to.  It's like asking a mother to pick her favorite child. How can she? Every child has lovable qualities.

But, if you force me to answer the question, "What was your favorite place in the Bahamas?" (and by force, I mean promise me a plate of chocolate chip cookies in exchange for the answer), I'll tell you - it's The Hermitage on Cat Island.

The Hermitage sits on top of Mt Alvernia (also known as Como Hill), the highest point in the Bahamas. It's 206 feet tall. That may not seem that high to you, but in Bahamian terms, it's like scaling Mt Everest. The Bahamas are flat, so when it comes to walking uphill, I'm terribly out of practice.

I paused to catch my breath here. I told Scott that we needed to stop so he could take a picture of this archway. In reality, it was my middle-aged, out-of-shape body screaming at me, "Why are we going on this stupid walk?! Let's go back to the boat and eat cookies instead."

After you walk a little ways, you have a choice - scramble up the hill through the Stations of the Cross or go around and walk up the more level path. I thought my mom would like to see pictures of the Stations of the Cross, so I scrambled up the hill, feeling muscles in my legs I had forgotten were there. See what a good daughter I am? I must be her favorite. Not that she'd ever pick a favorite.

Want to know why I like The Hermitage so much? It's tiny. Like a dollhouse that humans can just about squeeze into if they don't eat too many cookies. The priest who built The Hermitage, Father Jerome, used to be an architect, which is a handy background to have if you want to build a scaled down model of a European medieval monastery.

It has a tiny bell tower, a tiny bedroom, a tiny kitchen and a tiny chapel with one tiny pew.

Father Jerome built The Hermitage in 1939. He lived here, leading a contemplative life, until his death at the age of 80 in 1956. Supposedly, he's buried somewhere at the monastery, which seems fitting. It was definitely worth the hike up the hill to see such his extraordinary and adorably tiny creation.

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Cruising Log | Monday, 26 June 2017 - Wednesday, 27 June 2017

26 JUNE
We finally left George Town! Anchor up at 8:30 AM. Anchor down at 6:00 PM at New Bight, Cat Island. Chartplotter went out multiple times while getting out of Elizabeth Harbour. Not good at all considering the many boat-destroying obstacles you need to avoid. Once we got through the cut, then of course it started working fine. Uneventful sail. Autohelm uncooperative. Lots of hand steering. Nautical miles = 53. Engine = 3 hours 15 mins. Spending = Nil.

27 JUNE
Left dinghy on the beach and visited The Hermitage. Checked on dinghy after walk, everything looked good. Walked down to the store. Met a nice lady who gave us some mangoes. Kind of disappointing selection at the store. Came back to find the dinghy swamped and getting more swamped by the minute. Yet again we don't have a bailer. When will we learn? Saved by the kindness of strangers who lent us one. Wind was kicking up so moved over to Fernandez Bay. Tried north side first. Anchor got stuck in the bow roller. Good times. Moved over to south side. Made bread and cake both of which were disappointing. Nautical miles = 8. Engine = 1 hour. Spending = $2 on two cans of pop.

Do you like tiny things? Did you ever have a dollhouse? What's your favorite place that you've traveled to?

If you're interested in more of our Going for a Walk posts, click on Walk underneath Labels on the right hand side of the blog.

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