Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CROOKED ISLAND DISTRICT
POP 342
Crooked Island District consists of Crooked Island, Acklins Island, Long Cay, and outlying
Samana and Plana Cays. These southerly islands are not developed for tourism, which is
definitely part of their allure, but they are also not wealthy. Electricity still hasn't reached
many areas and the island's descendants still fish, tend the land, and draw an income from
stripping cascarilla bark and selling it to the manufacturers of Campari liquor (it is also used
in medicines).
COLUMBUS STOOD HERE
No one disputes that Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492 was in
the Bahamas. But the question of which island he landed on has aroused consid-
erable controversy. Nine first landfalls have been proposed, although, incredibly,
no one had taken into account 'dead reckoning' - the cumulative effect of current
and leeway (wind-caused slippage) on a vessel's course - in tracing the route of
the round-bottomed fleet.
In November 1986, following five years of extensive study by Joseph Judge
and a team of scholarly interests under the aegis of the National Geographic So-
ciety,
National Geographic
magazine announced that it had solved the 'grandest
of all geographic mysteries.' Judge ordered a new translation of the Columbus di-
aries, drew the first-ever track of the log, then input all the variables into a com-
puter to adjust for leeway, current and magnetic variation, and traveled to the is-
lands to find actual evidence. Judge's team also was the first to track Columbus'
course using the Spanish league (2.82 nautical miles), not the English league (2.5
nautical miles) previously used. Presto! The exact landing spot turns out to be the
island of Samana Cay, 23 miles off Crooked Island.
Crooked Island
One of the most beautiful Out Islands, Crooked is covered with lakes, bisected by tidal inlets
and surrounded by wonderful beaches. Rich in nature, strictly Seventh Day Adventist and
almost totally undeveloped, look no further for the 'real Caribbean'. The island is poor by
Bahamian standards, with many villages having become ghost towns as the last remaining
inhabitants have died or moved to Nassau to look for work. But that said, the island has
plenty of natural charm and is a great spot to kick back and relax.
One main road runs along the north shore and leads to Landrail Point and Colonel Hill,
the island's main villages, which run on farming and fishing, a number of generators and a
