Getting to the Point

June 14 – 15, 2012

Sea conditions were calm enough in Exuma Sound for us to use that offshore route for 8.5 hrs. to go all the way to Great Guana Cay and anchor off the only settlement on the 12 mile long cay, Black Point.  It was overcast and squally most of the day, but seas didn't kick up enough to bother us.  The autopilot was not working at all, but since we were trying to follow the depth contours for our fishing fun, we were manually altering course all day anyway so the autopilot wasn't missed that much.

We fished all day in the 100 – 300' depths with some exciting activity.  We hooked a dolphin and had it all the way up on the swim platform before the line broke, and we lost it.  I had already started thinking about how I was going to prepare it for dinner!  We also caught and released a jack, barracuda, and spanish mackerel.

We dinghied into the newly built government dock early on Friday morning.  Post Office, with an obvious sign, is right across the street, and I needed to go there to buy some stamps and ask questions to the friendly post mistress.

Black Point residents are known for their palm plaiting, and many of the older residents, male and female, were busy plaiting under shade trees.  They are friendly and welcome the opportunity to answer questions and tell you about their work or about activities in the settlement.

Weaver woman

They all plait in the same fashion that you see in the photo.  The woven strips are about 6” wide and 30' long.  This woman could weave the 6 or 8 palm strips very quickly; I couldn't keep up with her weaving fingers to watch the order.  The pieces that you can see sticking out the sides of the finished strip are just trimmed off with a knife.  The finished strips are rolled up and are sent by the mail boat over to Nassau where people sew the strips together into the products that are sold in the straw markets:  baskets, hats, totes, mats, etc.  It is a true cottage industry for the Black Point residents, and they all can work at it as much or as little as they please.

As we walked down the road, we were approached by a mentally handicapped young adult shell entrepreneur.  He was well dressed, polite, and so enthusiastic about the mixed, very ordinary shells he had jumbled together in a basket we couldn't help but show an interest.  Any one I picked up he said was wonderful, special, or very good.  I finally settled on an old, small, beat up and mostly broken, cowrie shell that I would have never even picked up off the beach for myself, but I wanted to choose one that I would remember where I got it from.  He was thrilled to death to make a sale (.30) and wanted to know our names to record them in his “book”.  I regret not having taken a picture of him with Eddie since I believe they had a common bond of some sort!

Our destination for the morning outing was the Garden of Eden.  It is one man's (Willie Rolle) “art” collection based on his visions of what he sees in the driftwood and stone pieces he has spent the last 34 years collecting.  Eddie and I could really relate to Willie's love of collecting nature's treasures.

Willie's collection is set up in what you would call his yard, and you just walk in off the street and look around.  Nothing is labeled, so if you can't think outside of the box or can't relate to that type of creative vision, you will not “get” it and will wonder why someone told you to walk all the way to the outside of the community to see it.  We really did get it, and had an added bonus of having Willie himself come out from his house.  Once he saw that we also had the vision gift, he jumped right in and wanted to show us his favorite pieces, sometimes quizzing us first by asking what we saw before he told us his idea.  We all had a lot of laughs and even debates about the figures.

The lion

Since this one is so easy it is a good test to see if you have the gift of vision.  If you really can't see the lion, you just don't have it and might as well just resign yourself to eating only vanilla or chocolate ice cream.  Don't even think of visiting the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Vermont because you won't be interested in trying the flavor or the day or visiting the Graveyard of Flavors Past.  Too bad.

Willie's drunken man

With its striking color, all three of us looked at this at the same time and just “knew” what it was – an orangutan, of course.  I didn't want to get into a debate with Willie about how come I was convinced it was meant to be an orangutan since he was the original finder.  I would have loved to have taken this one home with me.

The back forty

Willie told us to walk around the back.  Notice the whole place is just solid rock with holes of varying sizes.  This is Willie's “farm”.  He grows bananas, papaya, sapodilla, lemon grass, guava, okra, sweet potato, pumpkin, citrus, and tamarind.

Way below ground level

These bananas and papaya plants are about 3' below ground level, but it is a pocket that accumulated enough organic debris to support their growth.  Some of the holes were only big enough for one small plant, like an okra or a small clump of lemon grass.  Willie really made efficient use of the area that he has available.  When he realized I knew most all of the crops, he took me under his wing, readily sharing how he used the fruits and vegetables and smiling with appreciation that I was interested in learning what he had to say.

I asked Willie how old he was, and he said 74.  Eddie jumped right in to shake his hand and told Willie that he was 70, and Willie commented how good he looked.  We told Willie that he looked pretty fit himself and that he shouldn't stop adding to his collection since he really had the “vision”.  He laughed and said that while he had slowed down, he would continue to add to it when he “saw” something interesting.

Sunshine and clean hair makes me happy

The walk around Black Point, seeing the simple sights and meeting the friendly townspeople, added to some sunshine and my clean hair put me in good spirits.  Years ago one of the old timers on Man-O-War cay in the Abacos told us that whenever the locals used to find “stuff” along the shoreline, they would say “it was sent to me”.  Eddie and I still use that expression, and I will tell you those cool sunglasses were “sent to me”!