There's More than Rum In Rum Cay

The Town's Main Dock

This little Cay, far on the outskirts of the Bahamas is nothing short of magic.  We had read in our guidebooks that you wouldn't want to leave, that the locals are exceptional, that there is something "special" about this place - but as with everything, we took that with a grain of salt and kept our minds open.

Sometimes you hit a place just right.  Sometimes, the stars align, and you get to visit a place in the moment it shines.  I think our timing was right when we found ourselves here at Rum.

We knew we found a gem when we went ashore and found our self in Kaye's Sand Bar - which is a little bar with a sand floor, a pool table, the most tasty conch fritters we have found and (we were to learn) the best rake-n-scrape* in all of the Bahamas.

Immediately at Kaye's we met Delores.  Called "Lauris" by her friends, she is the 79 year old proprietor of Kaye's and is one of those women who you meet in life and think: this person is amazing.  She is gentle, witty and kind and her smile is the warmest you will ever see.  She was born and raised on Rum (an island populated by no more than 100 people, mind you) and wrote a small book about her experiences which she will proudly show you if you belly up to her bar.  She has lived quite a life, met a ton of people (both famous and not) and has a boat load of stories to tell.  Be good to her, and she will be more than good to you.  I think I hugged her a hundred times this weekend.

We are planning on leaving sometime tonight, feeling confident that we got to experience Rum Cay at it's very best (I mean, we are literally on a first name basis with pretty much the entire population).  We were entranced by a drum circle, enlivened by a Baptist Church** and welcomed, wholeheartedly, into this amazing community by it's wonderful people.

* Rake-n-Scrape is the local style of music utilizing household items - like scraping a saw with a knife - to produce music.

** More on these experiences in later posts.

Note:  If you want to see more pictures of all the fun we had at this place, please become a fan of ours on Facebook where you will see more pictures and more of our "day to day" type experiences.