New Bight, Cat Island, Bahamas

Today we went ashore for a little exercise to visit the Hermitage.   We had visited before on one of our flying trips, but we wanted to see it again so we walked the mile or so from the dinghy dock.

For those interested, here's some history:


Monsignor John Hawes, known to Cat Islanders as Father Jerome, was a skilled architect and sculptor – a self-described contemplative and admirer of St. Francis of Assisi. Using local stone, he built The Hermitage on the peak of Mt. Alvernia in 1939, a small medieval monastery where he could get away from the world.

The way up the hill to the monastery is via a stone staircase on a steep rocky incline. You can see Father Jerome's beautiful and detailed hand-carved stone reliefs of the Stations of the Cross along the way, and the 360-degree view around the lush island from the top will be awe-inspiring.



You can barely see the spire of the Hermitage on the peak of the hill.

 The entrance

The Hermitage is at the highest point on the Bahamas....206 feet high!  

Saw a termite mound on the path up the hill.

The path to the top - with the Stations of the Cross.

I won't comment - you can see the numbers of the stations yourself.

 Pretty bromelaids growing in the limestone.

The Hermitage

Inside this tomb....

Was a Christ sculpture.  

And I assume this represents the empty tomb.

The buildings are in great shape.

Sundial.

This must have been his quarters.  The bed frame is very small!

I assume this was the kitchen.

And this was his worship area.

With a single chair/desk.

Interesting tiles in the rockwork.

On the trail back down the hill, we went on a side path - that led to this small cave.  Dry but didn't seem to go back very far.

And another side trail went along this massive stone wall.  It appeared to be a long forgotten property boundry.

Back to the boat!

Later, we had heard from the lady at the grocery store that the "Fish Fry" area was open every night for dinner....so we headed over.

There were, in fact, only a couple of stalls open.  We chose Anniboo's.  She served us nice meals and her 5 year old grandson entertained us a bit.  Fun day!