Chacachacare
Called El Caracol (Spanish for “snail”) by Columbus, it is the largest of the Bocas islands. It covers an area of 1,320 acres and its highest point is Morne Cabresse at 825 ft. where the British constructed a lighthouse in 1896. It is a horseshoe-shaped island with an isthmus on the north side forming the private and secluded, La Tinta Bay. Compared to the other islands, the largest, most prolific cotton plantations were on Chacachacare. Cotton was king of agriculture in Trinidad and even up to 1794 it was the chief crop, surpassing sugarcane and cacao production. However, the abolition of the slave trade and crop diseases and pests eventually caused problems in the future. A whaling station thrived on the island at Bulmer’s Bay from the 1820s but that lasted only about fifty years. With the demise of both cotton and whaling in the 1880s, more people decided to take leases and the island had become a holiday resort, until they had to be evicted in 1921 and the island was to be depopulated of its almost 400 residents. A contagious, hideous and disfiguring disease called leprosy, was spreading on the mainland although there was already a leprosarium in St. James, and drastic measures had to be taken to contain and possibly eradicate it—Chacachacare was a practical option. The British government announced in 1921, that a new leprosarium (Hansenian Settlement); a fully functional community, would be built on the island to accommodate those who contracted leprosy. They would be in exile and among those of a similar fate. By 1922, the first set of lepers was sent to the island. The Dominican Sisters continued to care for the social outcasts, some succumbing to the disease themselves over their years of service from 1868 (in St. James) to 1950 (on Chacachacare). The American Sisters of Mercy joined them in 1945 and stayed there for about ten years. High administrative costs and new drugs to treat and cure the disease, eventually forced the closure of the leprosarium, with the last patient leaving in 1984. The island is now uninhabited except for staff at the lighthouse. A vital yet overlooked part of recent medical history remains on Chacachacare, sacred yet ugly, eerie yet enchanting, tainted with superstitious tales of ghosts lurking in haunted, dilapidated buildings. Campers, sea bathers and “yachties” often visit Chacachacare, though the vandalised remnants of this once operational, self-sufficient community still stand out conspicuously from the cliffs and bays; monuments honouring those who suffered and those who helped. A trip down the islands offers an experience very different from the mainland. Here visitors have choices of delving into the complex history and geology of the various islands, exploring their flora and fauna, going for a “lime” or simply relaxing and enjoying breathtaking natural beauty.
Gaspar Grande
Patricia Lewis
CARIBBEAN SEA
Aaron Patience
Salt Pond beach at Chacachacare Island
Island property on Monos
Diego Islands
Five Islands
The Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
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