Log of Sea Wings

March 2, 2008

At anchor, Nassau Harbour

Nassau , Providence Island, Bahamas

25 – 04.72N

77 – 19.70W

Dolphins and Things That Go Bump in the Night

We enjoyed getting to know some of the local people on North Bimini Island, but by far the most fascinating was Ashley Saunders; teacher, poet, author and the designer/builder of the Dolphin House.

We were headed for Sherri’s On The Beach when we happened upon the Dolphin House. Somewhat hidden away on a cross street, we might have missed it if not alerted to it previously by Tom and Carol on Somerset 33. It is a small, two story building, the outside completely covered by seemingly random patterns of tile, shells, and coral. We were taking it all in when Ashley came out to greet us and began to tell us the tale of this wonderful and fascinating building.

Ashley was born and educated on Bimini and took advantage of a Bahamas government program to attend Univ of Wisconsin in exchange for being a teacher on Bimini. He also did graduate studies at Harvard University. He was a teacher for many years and was the award winning author of several books on island poetry and the two volume History of Bimini before beginning construction on the Dolphin House in 1993. Fifteen years later the house is not yet finished.

Although it is a small building, it is the sheer volume of tile work, both inside and out, each piece an artistic composition that accounts for the lengthy construction period. This and the fact that other than help pouring the concrete structure, he has done all of the work on the house and scavenged every piece of material (except for the basic concrete structure, plumbing and electrical rough ins, the aluminum windows, and some of the flat tile on the floors and exterior walls). The present building includes a small museum, boutique, Ashley’s two bedroom quarters on the first floor; and two guest rooms on the second. A third floor is ultimately planned with the roof now serving as the “observation deck”.

This is certainly not the only novelty building covered with shells and coral, many exist in the USA. Most all of them are hokey or tacky or just plain ugly; most poorly constructed, lacking in planning and not at all artistic. Not so with the Dolphin House. Its basic structure is entirely of reinforced concrete. All of the reinforcing bar has been carefully coated with two coats of rust resisting paint to prevent the concrete spalling so commonly seen on other buildings on the island. All exterior corners and many places inside have concrete buttresses for extra support. The entire exterior is covered with tile, shell, or coral. The entire structure and exterior cladding were carefully planned for longevity and hurricane resistance.

While the overall architectural concept of the building is very simple and certainly not outstanding, it is the details that set it apart and make it something special. The devil is in the details as they say. Excluding the interior ceilings, every square inch of the building, inside and out, is covered with a myriad of smaller artistic compositions, all conceived and executed by Ashley himself, and it is no wonder that the construction has taken such a long time. And every individual composition is made from found or scavenged materials, everything from coins from many countries left by visitors to beach glass dating to the pirate years to an eagle and globe salvaged from a demolished house on nearby Cat Cay after hurricane Andrew. The brackets on the street elevation feature Bahamian flags made from tile the perfect color of which took years to find. The buttresses are covered with beach salvaged coral, exterior corners with conch shells, the “Hemmingway” bedroom is featured around a salvaged crockery bullfight scene……..the details are far too numerous to mention.

Much of the furniture is built in and it too is made from salvaged materials. But what struck us most was the fact that all of this, including gathering all of the salvaged materials, was accomplished by Ashley himself. I have been involved with houses that took five years to build with some of the best contractors and sub contractors in the country………..Ashley has done all of this single handedly. If you are ever in Bimini, do not miss the opportunity to meet Ashley and enjoy his wonderful creation.

While we find it difficult to call ourselves seasoned cruisers we have been out long enough to have confirmed that most bad things happen during the night. For all of our Florida and Gulf coast friends, ever notice how hurricanes always hit land at night? Most every storm we have encountered has been at night. If you are going to drag anchor, it will probably be at night. We have had it confirmed time and time again.

We have had squalls roar through in Wrightsville Beach, NC; Annapolis, MD; Coral Gables, FL; and Bimini, Bahamas, all at night. We got beat up during the offshore passage from Jacksonville to Lake Worth……at night. In Coral Gables there were several of us in our dinghies buzzing around in a squall at midnight trying to help a friend who had a yacht drag down on him. In Bimini, our bimini straps were torn loose by a storm. In that same storm Wally and Sue’s boat had the headsail partially unfurl and Lew and Wally had to wrestle it down during the height of the storm.

But the good side to the things that go bump in the night is that the cruising community pulls together to help each other out and, for the most part, we all seem to survive to continue on. We are all a little more vulnerable out here on the water than we were on land and we all seem to know that it is more important that we pitch in to help each other. When someone drags anchor we see dinghies immediately come from other boats to help out. When Wally and Sue’s sail was damaged we repaired it with their sail material and our sewing machine to keep them going. Everyone seems to pitch in without question to help each other out. It helps us all sleep a little better at night.

We have enjoyed our days in Bimini and look forward to moving on southward. Next we head east across the Great Bahamas Bank, then turn south to Nassau. We will keep you posted.

Fair winds and good diesel,

Lew and Lyn Everline

sv Sea Wings