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Cherokee
makes a good stop only in settled weather.
This isolated settlement was recently accessible only by boat. They now have a road all of the way to Marsh Harbour.
Residents no longer have to dink across Cherokee Sound to the Great Abaco
highway, where they previously had to park their cars.
Now, cars are parked in a community parking lot just outside the village. Driving on the narrow village streets is not permitted, but
exceptions are made for vehicles carrying cargo. It’s 14 miles from Cherokee
to the Great Abaco Highway.
Cherokee
doesn't get many visitors because most of the charter boats are not permitted to
make the 7-mile ocean trip to get here. Most
cruising boats have too much draft to reach the anchorage at Riding Cay and must
settle for the anchorage inside Cherokee Point, or miss the stop entirely.
Approach
Here
is how to enter the anchorage west of Cherokee Point.
Assuming that your draft keeps you out of the channel near Duck Cay, from
a point south of Cherokee Point head northwest (315°T) until you're on a range
between the light on Duck Cay and the beach on the northwest shore of the
peninsula which ends in Cherokee Point. By
then, you'll have cleared the reef extending west-northwest from Cherokee Point
and you can follow this range towards a snug anchorage off the beach.
While the reefs east and west of Duck Cay Channel frequently break, the
reef extending west-northwest from Cherokee Point seldom does.
You'll find 15-20 feet depths around Cherokee Point and between the reefs
going in. It gets shallow as you approach the anchorage where you'll have 7 to 8
feet (MLW), in good holding sand. You'll
find less surge if you pick a spot in close to the beach.
From here you can dink into the long dock, but watch the tide and don't
get your dinghy stranded. There is a dinghy dock on the east side of the long
dock.
Shallow
draft craft may enter another anchorage near Riding Cay.
This anchorage leaves you with a longer dinghy ride and is much more
difficult to enter. It offers more protection in most winds.
Controlling depth is 3 feet (MLW). To
enter it, line up the lighthouse at the southeast end of Duck Cay with the
northwest end of Point of Spit at 006°T. This
course of 006°T will take you through the outer reef.
Veer northeast off this course about 0.25 NM before you reach the
lighthouse, and pick up the channel east of Duck Cay. You'll have 8 feet MLW through the outer reefs and at least 6
feet MLW in the channel until you reach a grassy spot off the northeast tip of
Duck Cay. The channel is just east
of this, where you'll find the narrowest spot in the channel as well as the
controlling depth of 3 feet MLW. The
channel takes you very close to the rocks off Duck Cay Light.
Once you’re in the anchorage south of Riding Cay you'll have 8 to 9
feet MLW.
You’ll
enjoy walking through this neat and clean village. The homes were all well
maintained, and brightly painted. The
yards were well manicured and many had trees bearing key limes, grapefruit, and
mangoes.
Both
of the new grocery stores were air conditioned and well stocked.
In several cases, we found the selection and prices better than at Marsh
Harbour! I was really surprised to
see the fax machine sitting next to the VHF and the cash register.
Progress has come even to remote Cherokee! As you walk around the town,
you will notice that most of the houses do not have rain collecting systems or
cisterns. This is because the
Cherokee Settlement, located on the Great Abaco mainland has an adequate supply
of fresh ground water. The well
water here is quite good. The town
no longer has a clinic, but they have a post office, library and direct dial
telephone service.
Like
many Abaco settlements, it remains segregated, and is predominantly white.
It was once a prosperous fishing village.
During the 70's, Cherokee seemed to be in irreversible decline.
Some of the residents commuted all of the way to Treasure Cay for work;
others dismantled their homes and moved elsewhere "lock, stock, and
barrel". Now with the new
road, and the paving of the Great Abaco Highway, Cherokee seems uniquely poised
to experience a new phase of growth.
The
watercolors south of town, near the long dock are some of the most sensational
that Abaco has to offer. The scenes
here look like they came straight off a postcard! Two hundred twenty five yards of the long dock remains,
even though Hurricane Andrew knocked down the last 35 yards.
The locals claim that this is the longest dock in the Bahamas.
From
the anchorage south of Riding Cay, you'll find a dinghy channel that will carry
three feet at high water. Watch your
tide and don't get stranded. Before
the road was built, this dinghy channel was Cherokee's only link to the outside
world. The channel gets much less
use today. The eastern arm of the
dinghy channel links the anchorage to the main part of the settlement. The western arm of the channel links the anchorage to a road
on Great Abaco, which offers little of interest to the cruising yachtsman.
Casuarina Point
West
of Duck Cay there is a dredged channel, which almost leads to Casuarina
Point. The approach channel
carries 6 to 7 feet at MLW, and once you're inside the inner channel you'll have
5 feet MLW. The problem is the two
channels were never connected. Controlling depth where the two channels were
never connected is about 3 feet MLW. I found one large houseboat and a large
catamaran, docked in the canals at Casuarina Point; both appeared to have shoal
drafts and were being used as live aboard vessels. We also saw several small runabouts.
The
one-story wooden frame homes are owned by the government and are leased to
private individuals. Most are now
occupied. The homes were originally
built by Owen-Illinois, when they had a sizable timber operation in the area.
The area has a lot of potential as a residential development or as a
resort, if they would only connect the two channels. South of the settlement
there is a long beautiful beach forming the shore of High Banks Bay.
South
of Casuarina Point, on Great Abaco Island, is another residential development
called Bahama Palm Shores. When we were there, only a few homes had been built. The streets have been paved and virtually all of the
beachfront lots are sold. Beyond
that, further development seems slow. The
beach is beautiful, but the area holds little of interest to the cruising
yachtsman, because of the lack of a suitable harbor.
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