f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013

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
CARIBBEAN
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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.
Salt Pond beach at Chacachacare Island
Island property on Monos
Gaspar Grande Diego Islands Five Islands
The Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
75
Patricia Lewis
Aaron Patience