Barge delivery to Salt Cay

Salt Cay is a small island, 2.5 square miles. The harbor, Deane's Dock, was probably originally built well over 125 years ago and is big enough for a few small fishing boats and three or four dive boats. Part of the dock crumbled in a number of years ago and the part of the seawall crumbled late in 2009. So when a 150-foot barge pulls in past the seawall toward the dock, it's something to see!
Saturday was a quiet day... my friend Heather and I had kayaked out close to the barge as it was waiting for high tide. The seas were a little rough with the wind coming out of the South, so we did a short paddle and then returned home to wait the couple of hours for high tide and the Big Event of the day - the barge unloading. :0)

Actually, there were quite a few people waiting for the barge. Standing around visiting with neighbors and friends, discussing the possible dredging of the harbor, repair of the seawall, the weather forecast for the following week, and of course, Sunday's Super Bowl teams.

It was probably about Noon when the 150-foot, Lew 2 (aka Lew Tide) finally came through the opening of the harbor and approached the dock. The barge stirred up quite a bit of sand as it made it's way into Salt Cay's little harbor.

Loaded with building supplies, the District Commissioner's new vehicle and a tractor for our neighbor, the Captain of the Lew 2 gently approached our aging dock and lowered the doors to begin offloading everything. The vehicles were driven off first... then, father and son team, Alan and Enrique Dickenson, operated the backhoe and forklift in a tight space and quickly had the supplies unloaded and the barge backing out of the harbor before the tide turned too low.

Watching a barge arrive and unload might not sound like much to people who think Caribbean vacations include all-inclusive hotels, cruise ships and shopping... but that's the kind of island Salt Cay is... laid back, simple and just a slice of real life.