Cat Cay, A Private Island

I returned today from beautiful Cat Cay, Bahamas, an infamous playground for the uber-wealthy to misbehave, and found a little slice of heaven in an incredibly small island with rich history. The Cat Cays are actually two islands, North Cat Cay and South Cat Cay, just 10 miles south of Bimini, and just 4 hours from Miami or Key Biscayne if you're running at about 10-13 knots. North Cat Cay is a privately owned island and is run as a private members club by the Cat Cay Yacht Club while South Cat Cay is uninhabited.

North Cat Cay is named after the cat line of a sailing vessel which it resembles, and was once the stronghold of notorious pirates like Henry Morgan and Blackbeard. The island may have played a significant role in the American Civil War, serving as an important base for the Confederate blockade runners. Queen Victoria granted the original deed for Cat Cay to Captain William Henry Stuart, as a reward for his services as keeper of the Lighthouses.

Later, Captain Haigh, of a distinguished English family, became the owner of Cat Cay. Captain Haigh established the island custom of dressing formally for dinner. His original home burned, but the cookhouse remained intact. Its huge oven fireplace is part of the rebuilt cottage named Haigh House in his honor.

Milo Strong and his wife bought the island in 1915. They built and lived in the Manor House, which still exists today. They spent nine months out of the year on Cat Cay. The 1929 hurricane blew the roof off. Although this was repaired, when Milo died two years later and another storm damaged the Manor House, Mrs. Strong decided to sell.

Friends of the Strongs, Louis and Rae Wasey purchased the island for $400,000 in 1931. Wasey, an advertising tycoon, intended the island to be a winter home for himself and his wife and as a place to entertain clients and friends. He enlarged Manor House and built a number of English styled “cottages” for his guests.

During the Great Depression, Wasey turned the island development over to Mike Smith, an architect friend. Smith loved the Bahamian and old English architecture and used both in making the island buildings. He employed Bahamians, sent a schooner to Cuba for handmade tiles from deserted churches and had men search the Florida swamps for angled pieces of wood needed for his Tudor-style buildings.

In 1935, Wasey converted the island to a private club and sold building lots to his friends. He had about 200 members paying annual dues of $500.00. Mrs. Wasey, who loved antiques, built the Cat Cay English Shoppe, where the island boutique now stands.

There were many fishing tournaments back then as the waters around Cat Cay were well stocked with fish and the deep water fishing lay just a mile off shore. The structure known as the tuna tower was invented on Cat Cay and first used by a skipper in the 1952 Cat Cay Tuna Tournament. While the first tower was rudimentary at best, its usefulness was quickly noted.
In World War II, Cat Cay was a base for PT boats of the Allied Forces. General Hap Arnold, in charge of the Air Force, spent several months recuperating from a heart attack at Lou Wasey’s Cat Cay home. An Air Force officer stationed there, Monk Forster, fell in love with the island and returned after the war to manage the club. He bought High Tide, built by Wasey’s partner O.B. Winters. TRW owner, Fred Crawford, purchased High Tide.

Lou Wasey had built a nine hole golf course that the Duke of Windsor, while Governor of the Bahamas, enjoyed playing. The course was named Windsor Downs in his honor. During one of his visits the Duke mentioned that it might be fun to have a little casino on the island for guests, Wasey readily agreed and the Duke issued a license in Lou Wasey’s name personally.
Upon Wasey’s death in 1963, the island's casino license expired. Wasey left the island to his daughter Jane, a New York sculptress, who returned for two years, but in 1965 Hurricane Betsy did enormous damage and the island was closed.

A few years later, Al Rockwell, the head of Rockwell International, put together a small group and bought the island. It became a private club owned by members.

What is there now? A pristine, untouched beach, many amazing beach compounds, a 107-slip marina, and the Cat Cay Yacht Club consisting of a boutique filled with designer clothing from France, a restaurant and bar, and the nine hole golf course built by Wasey. There are no police, no cars, and really no rules for the members and the lucky friends of the members that are invited. You either arrive by private plane on a small airstrip at the tip of the marina or by yacht. Tiger Woods' boat was there (met his staff), and he was to arrive the day I left by plane to meet his boat for his next golf tournament.

Fishing in Cat Cay is still great. Tuna are less common now, but mahi mahi, Blue and White Marlin, Snapper and Grouper are available. During the colder seasons of the year Cat Cay offers a Wahoo run and spearfishing...and of course, lots of wild parties on yachts!http://www.catcayyachtclub.com

Cat Lady of Harbour Island

While running around the Harbour Island shops and restaurants, Deon and I were followed by a team of cats, and no, we were not hallucinating or grossly intoxicated. The cats and dogs, as well as chickens, are basically running stray on the island, and poorly cared for by the locals. They lurk around restaurants in every little corner looking for you to drop a french fry or chunk of meat, and their little bones are almost transparent, so obviously, you know where this is going. At first I was buying cans of tuna at the Piggly Wiggly market and pouring them over dry Purina cat chow, but they got used to the dry chow and I would leave little piles all over town for them. The only mistake on this was leaving the bag of cat chow in the back of the golf cart overnight to find little paw prints all over the seat and the bag of chow gone the next morning. So, my cat chow (yes, and dog chow too) went with us all over Briland, and I quickly was referred to as Cat Lady which I guess is a bit more lovely than Dog Lady. Upon leaving Briland, I entrusted an older toothless Bahamian lady with the food to continue to care for the dogs and cats. I think my justification for going back to Harbour Island each year will include the care of these precious little furry animals.

Harbour Island, Bahamas

Harbour Island, although less traveled and far less touristy than its neighboring Nassau/Paradise Island, is quite the quaint, friendly, upscale Bahamian island. The island is fondly referred to as "Briland" which if you say Harbour Island fast three times maybe after a few Kalik beers, you'll get Briland. Briland is 3.5 miles by 1.5 miles with no cars on the island, so you'll need to rent a golf cart to get around which will run you about 50 bucks per day. And while there are no cars, there are no parking meters or traffic cops, so driving with a beer is encouraged freely by the locals as long as you remember to drive on the left hand side of the road. The famous beach always ranked in the top ten in the world is here in Harbour Island and called the Pink Sand Beach with sand resembling pink powdered sugar. You would obviously enjoy Harbour Island if you loathe cruise ship tourists and souvenir shops as there are none here. You can grab a cocktail at sunset at the Landing, snorkel some of the best water in the world, lay on the beach as if you are the only one there, and maybe dance to local Bahamian tunes until about 11pm when everything shuts down. As for time out of the galley, the best food can be found at Coral Sands hotel with succulent lobster (lobster season started on August 1st), Sip Sip for the lobster quesadillas and fried grouper sandwich, and the Landing known for their Aussie fare but more for their spicy crab capellini and goat cheese ravioli. What did Deon & I leave with? Of course, a tender but spicy conch salad from the famous Queen Conch, a bit more bronzed skin, and the warmest thoughts of the most personable Bahamian island where we will most definitely return.

By the way, Harbour Island is ridiculously easy to access with just a short flight from Miami/Nassau into North Eleuthera where you take a 10 dollar taxi to a ferry, and a 5 dollar per person ferry into Harbour Island. So easy and so worth it! More to come on Harbour Island soon......

Yacht Life

The New Casa on the Aqua

The question has been posed frequently as to how yacht living works and how it differs from everyday home or city life. I guess for me, even in my little exposure, it seems more logical and efficient for pure living and involves the highest level of cleanliness and organization. It has been liberating to slough off the excess, the unreasonable, and false fulfilling, to go back to the basics of a mere 15 drawers and a closet, and the paradoxical living of minimalism but in the world of excess, still enjoying the finest foods and wines, and living in a bikini, shorts, and tshirt daily. How did I ever wear suits and heels every day? How did I put makeup on daily to just go to the grocery, and maybe hit a yoga class or grab a drink? I think priorities continue to evolve and change in life, and that is just the beauty of growth and being open to change and what change can bring in our lives.

The last three months on several different yachts (it's a little like Baracuda hunting---you go where the work is, and where the yacht is). And, I'd be more honest and frank about where I've been but that conflicts with confidentiality agreements, and so for the purpose of the blog, I may use different names and different vessel names, etc. My day ends laying down in a nice comfy large bed, looking out of a circular window watching the moon beam down on the water, and begins looking out of that same circular window (yes, what Villa-O in Dallas tries to achieve decoratively speaking in the bar) on the open water. I have been cooking primarily, with a bit of physical therapy intertwined but not enough to really mention, for the most upscale but wonderful and gracious people. I have to snorkel or dive once a week (yes, really tough work), and travel with the boat when chartered or when the owners decide to utilize their yacht. I must say that this life has been nothing of pure ease in which to transition, and neither one that is for the lazy. However, this is the closest to rockstar living that I will ever near as nothing is of normalcy.

What is next????? After a few weeks in the most remote areas of the Bahamas, almost accessible to only yacht and water-plane owners, I am being lazy (wow, feels so nice) in Naples, enjoying the beach, fishing, cooking for 1-4 rather than 15 people, and a bed that fails to rock me to sleep at night. The future holds some larger, possibly newly-built vessels in Europe, and most likely, more traveling. We are all traveling in life, this journey of ours, and so while we are, we must make the best of it.

Cheers!!!