I had been to the candy striped lighthouse in Hope Town. But guess what, there are two others, The Lighthouse at Little Harbour, which is non- functional, and I can see every day if I like. But there is a considerably more important one, the Hole in the Wall Lighthouse. Marie and West, Joe and Tammy and I struck out on our trip at 9 am. It is on the baron Southeast Coast of Great Abaco. It’s name comes literally from a hole in the wall of a rocky tidal outcropping by the sea shown below. It is an out of the way location which is in fact a lonely but beautiful spot all alone and 15 miles from the nearest paved road. It’s access is through a single lane unpaved, rock strewn and bumpy road taking you through the pine barons of the Bahamas National Trust where you can find the endangered Bahamian Parrot. It took us over an hour with no civilization to be found in case of an emergency or breakdown. Along the way there are several caves to explore. Which we did. I am not a big cave fan, but I experienced it. Each one connecting in some fashion.
The Hole in the Wall Lighthouse was built in conjunction with the Hope Town Lighthouse in 1838. This was despite the objections of the local residents as a good portion of their lively hood came from salvaging of the wrecks of the Abaco reefs. Sabotage of the building process commenced. However maritime interests prevailed and the commerce of wrecking diminished in the Abacos. The Hole in the Wall Light became automated in 1995 and serves as a beacon for Maritime traffic from the Bahama Bank, Nassau the the Communities on northern Eleuthera. Today the lighthouse is run down and beat up by the hurricanes of 1999 & 2004, but it still operates. Folks still climb to the top albeit a bit rickety. The views from the top are spectacular as you will see below. On occasion you might run into a naturalist group, dolphin researchers or whale watchers that go there to observe the Beaked Whale that frequent the region. (We once passes a pair of beaked whales when trolling off Hope Town, written about in My Solo Trip report. (info gathered from www.abacoescape.com.
We walked the secluded path along the sea to get to the quiet barren beach, and did some beach combing. We also took a lunch, which we enjoyed under a shade tree. It was a fun experience.
