Elbow Cay, Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas.

[G.I.B.]

Flying over the other day and I had to grab this pretty picture.

It was 85F on the ground, with light tropical breezes.

Some history-

Cay Sal Lighthouse, a tall stone lighthouse was built by the British on the island of North Elbow Cay in 1839 along with some small buildings.[SUP][8][/SUP] It marked the southern entrance to the Florida Straits from the Gulf of Mexico and was active until the 1940s.[SUP][8][/SUP] The abandoned lighthouse was briefly reactivated during the 1970s, when the Royal Bahamas Defence Force set up a post on nearby Cay Sal Island to watch for drug smugglers. The small outpost on Cay Sal island included the only airstrip on Cay Sal Bank and was kept from the 1960s to late 1970's.[SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][10]

[/SUP]

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Spent a couple of years on Hopetown Island, very close by with the Candy Cane lighthouse, as a young boy back in the mid 1960s.

 

[Blak bart]

If your still in the keys pm me. Im back from the islands and will be hitting some spots this week. Looks like your going the direction I just came from.

 

[BosnMate]

That picture gives a guy an itch to do some detecting.

 

[tamrock]

Interesting. I've never heard of this island before. You'd think some billionaire would own for themselves. Ain't nobody there.

 

[G.I.B.]

Interesting. I've never heard of this island before. You'd think some billionaire would own for themselves. Ain't nobody there.

Nothing but a bunch of mosquitoes, a few birds, the occasional Cuban refugee on a broken boat, and NO fresh water.

The whole string of rocks are about the same.



There is an old wooden Cuban refugee boat on this one.

 

[Old Dude]

Sounds like the perfect place to go!. I don't enjoy crowds too much.

 

[tamrock]

To me it now sounds like a bad place to end up. How would it have been the long ago lighthouse keepers would obtain fresh water. Would the only way have been to transport it there. ? Maybe cistern would keep up enough from rainfall

 

[G.I.B.]

To me it now sounds like a bad place to end up. How would it have been the long ago lighthouse keepers would obtain fresh water. Would the only way have been to transport it there. ? Maybe cistern would keep up enough from rainfall

It's uninhabited because of the problems keeping the place supplied.

There is not enough rainfall to support a cistern. You would have to set up solar panels, a desalinator, ship in all supplies-

The only abundant thing here is conch and fish. It's 30 miles north of Cuba, 55 miles southeast of the Keys.

 

[tamrock]

Maybe a good Cuban cigar would make the stay on that place a little better, but what then after you smoke that all down Boy I bet there's some untold horror stories that could be told on what happened on a visit to an island like that. Certainly not a paradise.

 

[Blak bart]

Many treasure galleons have wrecked on every side of the bank. Ive herd stories of coins being found on cay sal island. I was told by a keys native that a whole chest of coins were found in the 70s. Check out the shipwreck forum. I think. Woops thread is " brig helen mar with 109,000 in specie 1835" I fish there sometimes its an awsome place !!!

 

[tamrock]

Well, if I had a boat that could get me off, it does look like a neat place to explore. Those old structures and lighthouse look pretty interesting.

 

[BosnMate]

What country owns the place?

 

[Blak bart]

Bahamas