Two Coconuts and a Castle: An Adventure

TWO COCONUTS AND A CASTLE 

                                                              (Wednesday)  April 16, 2014

Today turned into quite an adventure and discovery day.  As, I had mentioned the day before, that If you want to get to know something about Bahama history, life, and culture, you would want to get the book, “Out-Island Doctor,” by Evans Cottman, I little imagined the events that would unfold.

Last night as we sat in the cockpit of Morning Grace, the anchor lights of all the sailboats began to switch on, as that is the rule when anchored in a harbor.  

We were scanning the darkening skies over the small town of Marsh Harbor

that bordered us on all sides of the bay.   AS I looked to the Southeast, I saw a large building illuminated toward the Southeast portion of the bay and remarked, " That looks like some kind of a castle."  Julie commented, "Oh,  that is the castle that the Out - Island Doctor built, himself.

I had not read that far into the book yet, and Julie had finished it while I was out in the town getting things done.  She said that he had built it, as it was one of his dreams, along with moving out of Indiana in 1937, to come to the Bahamas in order to provide medical assistance to the inhabitants of the Bahamian out-islands.

I mentioned that I would like to try to walk up there tomorrow.

After making some delicious banana pancakes for breakfast, we began our search for the castle.   Since there is just basically one road connecting the town as it surrounds the bay around Marsh Harbor, we set off to the East along the coconut palms dotting the turquoise coast.

The road is presently getting an upgrade of new asphault which is quite a nice addition to the town considering the road's totally depleted, and pot-holed state.  

Julie went off to the side of the road to hunt some coconuts to take back to the boat for milk and meat later.  We shook them to listen for the milk slosh to insure that they had not rotted and tucked them into my backpack.

We trekked along the road for about a mile and a half until we gradually turned toward the South around the other side of the town on the opposite side of the bay and surprisingly we could not find the castle.  Julie said it is up on a hill,  -the only hill on the island, so that should not be too hard to find.

After going into the John Bull gift shop which was a bit pricey; -it  sported Leo DiCaprio’s wristwatch campaign that helps the green alternative effort along with trying on a few Panama Jack hats, we set off to find the castle.  We also looked at conch pearls.  Did you know that sometimes conchs make pearls?

We were also just walking to walk off the banana pancakes I had made on the kettle grill in the cockpit on the boat, prior to our leaving.

Then, just at the right moment we came across a large sign about 4 by 7 which was a map of the island that told us right where we were and where we might go, to find the Doctor’s castle.

Terrain navigation helped us to sort out where to go from the “you are here” point on the sign, and we set off again.  It was tough resisiting the urge to buy an ice cream just after eating those banana pancakes, but I succeeded.

We eventually happened upon the right road after several false leads that started dogs barking and ended us up on dead ends.  We were a little confused that there would be no signs showing us the way to the castle that said:  "Doctor’s Castle,"  -pointing this way.

We took the road that looked like it would go higher than the others, and finally saw the upper half of the castle.     

Our first sighting of the castle did not get us there though.  We were on the wrong road again, to approach it.  So, we back tracked again.

This time, our efforts met with success, as we trudged up the hill.

As we rounded the approach road, we finally came up close to the castle.  It looked much bigger from the boat, I thought, but nevertheless, it certainly was a castle-structured home, three stories high, and painted yellow.

"There it is!”   It was kind of exciting, since Julie and I had lived in a 17th century Castle, in Hurlach, in Bavaria in Germany for three and a half years when we worked in Youth With a Mission, and our son, Lukas, was born while we lived there. We had seen hundreds of castles throughout our travels in Germany, Austria, England, Holland, France, Spain and Ireland when we live in Europe over 14 years.  Castles just have a mystique and magnificence that excites the imagination.

                                                                    "There it is!"

 The book said that it had been a restaurant at one time,  after the Doctor died, in order to help keep up the maintenance on the castle, but that it had closed in 1998, giving no reason why.  The Doctor had died in 1989 from a massive heart attack, leaving it to his daughter, Faith Gayle,  to inherit.

As we stood there gazing at the castle, a lady walked by, through the yard.   Julie asked:
   "Are you part of the castle family?"

She said politely,
   “No, I am just a guest,” and walked on, as if she did not want to stop and chat.

We took a few pictures of the castle, turned and left, walking a different road away from the castle straight toward the beach.  

As we descended the hill, we saw a black Bahamian man cropping bushes with his machetti on a beautiful tropical property.

I asked him if he might cut the matted bark off of the coconut for me, and he smilingly oblidged.  He made short order of the job.

So, I asked if I paid him, if he would do another.  "Yes-suh," he smiled widely.  He gladly extended his hand for the second coconut and trimmed it down to the nut.  I handed him two Bahamian dollars, and he happily took the money and spoke with us a few moments.  The mixture of his British accent, Bahamian slang and American lingo was quite difficult to understand, but he said:  He told us he had been to the states, and after some small talk, said:  "Have a nice day.”

We discovered that the further we went away from the castle, that it was the wrong way back to the boat.  We could see the Man of War Cay and Dickys Cay across the Sea of Abaco directly in front of us, it was so beautiful.  But,  I said,  "Let's turn around, we are getting further away from the castle."

I was contemplating writing an article about our journey to the castle, but nothing eventful had yet presented itself to write about.   Then, the idea struck me, that I ought to write a story about two coconuts and a castle, and that I will need to get a picture of the castle in the background with me holding the two coconuts. 

So, Julie and I turned around to walk back to the castle to make the picture.

                                "Two Coconuts and a Castle"

When we returned, Julie warned me not to get too close to the dog that was there behind me, inside the fence, on the Castle property and she took a few shots of me holding the coconuts with the Castle in the background.

Just then, a white-haired lady walked by, - carrying a load of laundry out to a shed where she must have had a clothes dryer.

Julie asked her, "Are you family of the castle?"

She responded,  "Yes,” - with a smile and a nod.  

 “Oh,"  Julie said, surprised, "Are you Gayle?"

 and she said, “Yes, I am.”

We felt very privileged meeting the daughter of the doctor, whom we had had so much fun reading about together.  Meeting Gayle was way more than we expected for the day.

We started discussing some of the stories from the book with her, and asked her if the 31 foot sailboat that was built for Dr. Cottman was still here. 

She said.  “Well, it had been sold to two or three different owners, over time, but that

in 2004, she heard that a hurricane took it and tossed it into some mangroves, and that it probably was sitting atop some mangroves rotting out.

The news was saddening.

We asked her if she had taken trips with him to the Out-Islands, as a young girl, and she said

mentioned that she had gone with him several times.

We asked her if she minded us getting a picture taken with her, and she suggested getting a selfy of all three of us.  She was quite kind to us.

                                                         Faith Gayle Cottman

Then, she said,  "But the dinghy. (A dinghy is the small survival boat you pull along behind you in, to tender you into shore, and for emergency survival if needed.)   The dinghy is in Green Turtle Cay,  -somebody bought it and turned it into a table in a restaurant!"  -she smiled.

 “Well," we said,  “we are interested in getting a book from you, if you have any.  We are reading one that was loaned to us by a friend.”

She said,  “Actually, there are two books, the “Out - Island Doctor,”  and “The Castle in the Air.  The second book tells of what it took to build the castle over the seven years."

We asked her if she had any books and that we would like to buy a copy of both, and she said, “Come on up into the castle, and I will get them for you."  Plus, she gave us wholesale price!   They sell in Nassau, in Freeport, in Great Guana Cay Gift Shops, and throughout the Abaco Islands.

We were amazed and grateful to walk into the castle inner court veranda of the castle and absorb its breathtaking view.  We beheld the best and highest view of the Sea of Abaco in the whole town of Marsh Harbor, and saw the vast expanse of waters to the other surrounding islands.  It is spectacular.

Julie asked Gayle if she would sign the books, and she gladly did and handed them to us.

As we left to leave I noticed two women in one of the rooms of the castle wondering if they were daughters of hers.

Julie and I walked down the road away from the castle.  I noticed that there was a road sign that said “Castle Road” and Julie and I remarked how appropriate the sign was.  We had not seen it on the walk up.

Shortly after we had departed, I told Julie after walking a distance, that I wanted to go back and take a picture of the "Castle Road" sign.

As I was attempting to take a picture of the sign (my camera died before I made the shot), but, the two ladies (mother and daughter) passed me.  They were the ones that I had seen in the room at the castle.

We greeted each other, and I found that Laurie and her daughter, Caushara, were staying in a room at the castle and that they were staying there a few weeks while her husband

sailed some boy scouts out to some surrounding islands.  They had friends who knew Gayle and had gotten the connection through them for their stay in the castle.

So, I guess, that you can rent a room at the castle for a time, through people who know the family.

The four of us walked the mile and a half back to the Jib Room Restaurant/Marina where they said they were going to eat.  Their family presently lives on a 39 foot catamaran.  The have been cruising for 6 years and Cashara was graduating this year and going back to the states to start college.  Her mom had home-schooled her aboard the boat.

We parted, giving them our boat card and inviting them to drop by our home if they needed a place to stay while hunting for colleges.  We returned to our dinghy at the Jib Room Restaurant/Marina dinghy dock and went back to our boat.

This day was quite fulfilling in getting to meet the daughter of the author of the book we were reading.  It is amazing what happens when you want to write a story about two coconuts and a castle.   It all just seemed to fall together.

                                    Julie enjoys the coconut milk from one of the coconuts

From reading the book, we discovered that Faith Gayle was the reason that  the doctor never returned to the states to get his full four year M.D. degree.

The Doctor's wife, who was a lifetime resident of Marsh Harbor, and a British descendent of the loyalists, had gotten pregnant with Gayle, and the couple decided not to go back to the states for the four years it would take to get the degree because his wife's resident family would have missed the birth and her first 3 years of life.