Caribbean Tales - The Bahamas - Exuma

Exuma
Stretching for 130 sq. miles, there are 365 cays with pure sand beaches, isolated anchorages and landlocked harbours. Some islands are merely a pile of sand in the sea; others are high-cliffed and forested. Most of the cays are uninhabited, one has a hilltop castle, and another has friendly king-size iguanas that can be hand fed. Great Exuma­40 x 2 miles. Little Exuma­12 x 1 mile, (90 mile long chain). 35 miles southeast of Nassau.
The capital, George Town is on Great Exuma.
Highbourn Cay was once used to re-settle slaves taken from illegal slavers between 1807 and 1883.
Fowl Cay, located only 70 mi. SE of Nassau and 240 mi. SE of Miami, is approximately midway down the Exuma Island chain. The name Fowl Cay traces back over 100 years when the cay was used to raise chickens in this part of the Bahamas providing food to the local population.
Compass Cay, one of the 400 islands that make up the Exuma Cays in the Bahamian archipelago, just 200 miles from Miami and 75 miles south east of Nassau.
The Exumas were settled in 1783 by American Loyalists who wanted to remain true to the British king after the United States won the American Revolutionary War. They reassembled their former way of life in these islands, complete with cotton plantations and African slaves. Lord John Rolle was a major landowner and one of the most powerful Loyalists. The British Crown granted Lord Rolle huge tracts of Exuma land as compensation for property lost as a result of the American Revolution. When he freed his slaves in 1835, he bequeathed his land to them for life. In gratitude, several towns are named after him and many of the people in The Exumas wear the name of "Rolle" with pride. One of the problems encountered in colonial times was how to instill among native sloop racers the British idea of fair play. At one time, if an islander saw a sloop pull ahead, he was not above tossing over a firepot and burning his rival out of the racing competition. British yachtsmen took a dim view of such un-gentlemanly conduct. Another celebrated Exuma sailing controversy developed when George Town's famed Shark Lady took to sea with a topless, bra-less, all-female crew.