A Family Island

The lesser islands of the Bahamas are referred to generically as the Family Islands. Here is an account of a real “family” island and a unique lifestyle.

The idea of owning a private island as the ultimate getaway is one of those metaphoric goals most people never achieve. For a lucky few, however, (myself being one of them) the experience of owning an island is reality. Growing up in this place provided me with an entirely different concept of a backyard. Our island was one hell of a sandbox.

On the nautical charts of the Bahamas it is called Salt Cay, located a few miles northeast of Nassau within sight of Paradise Island. Today, renamed by promoters as “Blue Lagoon Island,” its guests are ferried out from cruise ships or hotels to stretch out on its beach or swim with dolphins. In 1991, long after we had sold the place, the same weather system that spawned the book and movie The Perfect Storm cut Salt Cay in two. That event, plus commercial development, altered my island as only the passage of time can do. But for 63 years–1917 to 1979–our small family owned what many considered to be the perfect private island. In those years, time stood virtually still....

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