Many Happy Returns

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Exumas, and The Darbys The Bahamas

George Town Harbour

The Cave on Big Darby Island

Bidding Farewell to The Exumas

Green Castle Bahamas 2008

Darby Island

Anyone Home?

Emergency Generator!!!

It has been abandoned for sixty plus years now and yet the lines of the castle show the beautiful raised ceilings, architectural arches, tiled floors and even dark wood accents that hasn't been touched by the jaws of any termites! It was majestic in its time (built 1938), and even today you can appreciate the beauty of the location as it sits at the highest point and the balcony offers a stunning 270 degree view of the surrounding isles. Just looked it up online… you can own it for close to 39 million. I’m sure you could barter that down a few million though.

The following is from an article found on the web and it more or less confirms what I have been told on other occasions.

This private island once owned by a Nazi sympathizer? Rick Davis of Palmetto Bay (of course!) has a private island for sale. And it can be all yours for $40 million. CHEAP! The island, called Big Darby, lies in the Exuma area of the Caribbean and was originally given to a knighted man named Baxter Darby in the mid-1930s by King George. Baxter was supposedly a Nazi sympathizer. Sir Baxter eventually built himself an 8,000-square-foot castle on the island. He also allegedly let German World War II submarines use Darby to refuel before heading out to the Atlantic. "There are still giant poured concrete moorings," Davis said. "Nobody knows why they're there, but I believe it was for the submarines." Davis, who has owned the island since the 1990s, says private islands didn't become popular until people like Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp bought their own. But Davis also warns that it's not for everyone. Islands like this have no sewage system and no running water, and the Baxter castle needs hella renovations. And while it sits in the middle of glassy green-blue oceans, the sun and salt make it nearly impossible to build anything on the island. "But those who like white-sand beaches, clear ocean, peace, and a stable government,"Davis says, "then it's for you." That, and it would be cool as shit to tell people you own your own private island.