We enjoyed a lovely beach day at Old Bight near the coast before moving a little further north to New Bight. New Bight is home to the Hermitage and we had a great time exploring it. Check out Coleen’s Blog for a full description.
We rushed back from the Hermitage to shower, change and get ready for our next adventure. Some friends had invited us to join them for a meal with their friend who lives on the northern end of the island. We were also joined by Cordell Thompson, a native of Great Exuma, and a Bahamian historian. We were in for a real treat. Cordell seemed to know just about everyone on the island, and entertained us with several stories.
A few minutes later Pam drove up and welcomed us to her home. What an interesting lady and her house was incredible. She lives totally off the grid, using solar and portable generators to supply her minimal power needs, and catches rain water in a large cistern. She had a separate bath house with a composting toilet, a large main house with a huge kitchen, enormous tall ceilings, a gorgeous fireplace, and an amazing sleeping porch. Imagine waking up to that view every morning. She also had quite the art collection, and furniture designed by Andy Warhol’s brother.
We enjoyed a lively afternoon and we all pitched in to prepare a delicious meal. Pam showed us the research she’d being doing to locate all the land the Poitier’s own on Cat Island. She even had a copy of the slave manifest that showed her great, great grandfather’s name. She currently owns 50 acres from sea to sea on the northern tip of the island, and when her research is complete, may own and additional 2500 acres on the island. Coleen’s eyes were huge as we listened to stories from her acting career and her first movie with Bill Cosby. Unfortunately we had to leave before dark, as it would have been too treacherous to navigate that driveway after dark. She gave us her e-mail address and made us promise to stop by again next time we are on the island
On our way back we stopped for a quick visit with another of Cordell’s friends, this one a real English Lord. He had a lovely home on the second highest point in the Bahamas, and a real English garden. We had a quick tour of the view from their deck and were back on the road again.