San Salvador
- San Salvador Island
- Watling’s Blue Hole
- San Salvador (courtesy of bahamas.com)
I’ve been frequenting the Berry Islands since the 1980s as I worked on projects from Chub Cay and Whale Cay in the south to Great Harbour Cay in the north with several other Berry Islands in between. In more recent years I've enjoyed the islands even more as I explore them in my old dive boat “Gone Astray”.
The Berry Islands are located on the southern edge of the northeast Providence Channel, a major shipping route from Europe to America. Along that channel a hoard of cruise ships visit the Berry’s Stirrup Cays where guests enjoy great beaches and snorkeling. I hear today they even have zip lines and swimming pigs like those in the central Exumas.
A well-known wrecker named Cameron lived on Little Stirrup in the 1700s, today the island is known as CocoCay. Wrecking was a common occupation in the Bahamas which involved salvaging cargo from ships that wrecked on the endless reefs that surround the island nation. Bahamian wreckers also worked the Florida Keys reef and settled there even before Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. in 1819. A noted settlement on Great Stirrup was Williams Town that had a customs house during the time of Britain’s King William IV. Freed slaves were settled there by Bahamas Governor William Colebrooke in 1836 after British emancipation in 1834. Prior to that, British Navy Captain Allan Bertram was buried on the island, leaving his name on Bertram’s Cove. In 1863 the British Imperial Lighthouse Service built a light on Great Stirrup which still functions today, though now on solar power instead of whale oil and kerosene that was originally used with lighthouse keepers present.
One of my favorite Berry Island stories involves Whale Cay which was bought by Joanne ”Joe” Carstairs in 1934. Joe was a Standard Oil heiress who grew up in London and became a famous speed boat racer, besting many men of the day. She transformed Whale Cay into her own sanctuary with hundreds of Bahamian employees to tend her home and to play in her marching band which residents in Nassau would boat over to see. Ms. Carstairs had affairs with movie stars Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo and named a beach on Whale “Beach La Femme”. Besides famous girlfriends, other celebrity guests included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Duke having abdicated the throne to England before serving as Governor of The Bahamas during World War II.
East of Whale is Little Whale Cay which was owned by American entrepreneur Wallace Groves who created Freeport, Grand Bahama in the mid-1950s. He had a home, a private airstrip and a menagerie of wildlife on Little Whale including peacocks and other exotic birds, many of which survived him.
While the Berry Islands are a popular cruise ship destination, they’re also an ideal cruising spot for private vessels to enjoy the many islands, beaches and secret little coves. I’ll continue to enjoy them on our new boat!
For more information on The Bahamas, visit our site and check out A History of The Bahamas Through Maps and our other items! Call us at 239-963-3497 with any questions!Map of Andros
Flamingos on Flamingo Cay
Andros Aerial
I made the map as a gift for a Kiwi friend on the South island who routinely leaves cases of the wine he makes "Middle Earth" at my house when he visits. We've toured the world together; Cuba, Panama, Bahamas, the American southwest, throughout Europe, Turkey and Russia. When I'm in New Zealand he takes me everywhere from lovely islands in the north to the southland region, even to the remote Chatham Islands far offshore.
I wanted to make a map worthy of the landscape and enlisted the help of another friend from New Zealand who spent his early years on tug boats and barges around the coasts of both islands. An example of his nautical expertise was a suggestion that the Humpback and Blue whales shown on our draft map be reversed based on where he saw them while operating vessels offshore (Blue whales being primarily in the extreme south, Humpbacks slightly further north, who knows that!)
The map further evolved when I visited my wine friend for a wild ride around New Zealand visiting spots I'd missed on earlier trips. We met other Kiwis who made map comments along the way using his truck, ferries, planes and helicopters for access. The result was a beautiful map which hangs on walls across New Zealand and is now on display at the gallery of Island Map Publishing in Naples.
To purchase the New Zealand map visit our site here or call 239-963-3497 for more details! Island Map Publishing is happy to work with you on special orders or assist the right product for your space.