Dear Subscriber,
September 10th is historically the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, and while it seems to have gotten off to a slow start, the Atlantic storms are upon us. Tropical Storm Gordon, now finishing its run over the US Great Lakes region, brought winds and rain to Cat Island last weekend. And now Tropical Storm Florence to the east of the Caribbean, which was predicted to pass far to the north and hit Bermuda, has taken a more westerly route and will threaten South Carolina in about a week. We most likely will get some rain and wind from Florence as it builds to hurricane strength over the next few days as it passes closer to Cat than previous models indicated. You can follow the storms using the links on this page of our website. I’ll only send further emails about this season’s storms if I have critical news, otherwise, you can check PigeopnCay.org for updates.
Once we’re past this year’s hurricane season it will be time to plan for repairs to our private road. It’s has some serious low spots that turn into ponds after rain storms again.This time we are looking into longer term repairs, and I’ll keep you informed as we look into possible options and their costs.
Thankfully, most of the bad potholes in the island’s main road, The Queen’s Hwy, have been repaired and its become less of an obstacle course driving on it. Though with recent rains new holes are opening up so always exercise caution when driving.
During the summer of 2018 a wall and plaque was erected in Gaitors, Cat Island, just south of the ‘Bat Cave’ to honor sons and daughters of Cat Island. You can see the wall and plaque on this page.
We’re still planning on adding culverts to the roadway at the entrance to Pigeon Cay to reconnect the salt creek (Alligator Creek) with what has become a fresh water pond and breeding ground for mosquitoes to the left as you drive into the property. This was delayed from earlier this year when Shandy Dawkins had his diving accident, from which he is fully recovered and back to fishing.
Land crabs have not been out in the numbers we’ve seen in previous years. We’re just now beginning to see small red land crabs crossing the main road, reminds me of playing the video game Frogger. We have seen an unusually large number of smaller conch on the beach during low tide. We usually put them back in the ocean if they’re too far up as the summer sun can kill them if they’re out of the water for too long or if the shell is turned with their claw exposed. Local fishermen say the conch population, which has been down in recent years in Alligator Creek, is now back up, and the currents are bringing more of the smaller ones to our beach.
With regards to Alligator Creek behind us, The Bahamas National Trust is considering making it a protected estuary as it is a breeding ground and nursery for turtles, grouper, bone fish, rays, conch, and much more. Its mangroves are critical for their survival. There are six marine and land areas on Cat Island being considered as protected area and you can click this link Proposed Marine Protected Areas for Cat Island_20 by 20 White Paper_Marine Protection Plan to download the PDF file with images of the areas, including our Alligator Creek area starting on Page 3 of the document. Just to assure you, there are NO alligator’s in our creek, it gets its name from the shape of Alligator Point, which looks like an alligator’s head when viewed from our beach.
Just a heads up on SkyBahamas morning schedule, while their website may say they depart Arthur’s Town at 9:50AM, that’s incorrect. They depart closer to 11AM. Always call SkyBahamas (Phone numbers for Cat Island can be found by clicking here) and check their scheduled departure times well in advance so you don’t miss connecting flights in Nassau.
Warm Regards, James Honeycutt