Pelican and Culpepper Island ... as they say in Barbados ... "one gone"
Pelican and Culpepper Island, two Islands few visitors to Barbados will ever know about.
Actually today there is only one Island remaining the other having been made part of Barbados.
When I first went to Barbados as a visitor in the 1970's I was taken to a place called Pelican Village by relatives living in Barbados.
I was told Pelican Island used to be an uninhabited island off the West Coast of Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, in the Parish of St. Michael.
While having a beer at the restaurant I was told that where we were sitting used to be the original Pelican island which was quite a surprise to me.
I was told you could wade out to it during low tide or use one of the boat jetties that existed at the time.
The island apparently got its name from the Brown Pelicans that used to use it as a nesting ground.
Sometime in the late fifties or early sixties the Deep Water Harbor was constructed on the West Coast of Barbados to handle bulk shipping from worldwide destinations.
This provided material for a man made connection between Barbados and Pelican Island. This connection formed the new land mass that Pelican Village sits on today.
At one time Pelican Island was used to quarantine sick ships crews and arriving passengers so that infectious diseases wouldn't be transmitted to Barbados itself.
Culpepper Island
Culpepper Island is located off the East Coast of Barbados close to the East Point lighthouse on Ragged Point in the Parish of St. Philip.
It's the most Easterly point of Barbados and itself presents fantastic views of the windblown rugged East Coast.
In March of 2006 some descendants of Princess Marian daughter of the last Hereditary Lokono Arawak Chief Amorotahe Haubariria (Flying Harpy Eagle) of the Eagle Clan and the Karifuna Carib ambassadors from the island of Dominica are jointly reclaiming the small uninhabited Culpepper Island from the Government of Barbados.
I haven't heard anything more about this but it's an interesting story that won't quickly go away
A tiny speck of an island lying in the Atlantic Ocean Culpeppers only inhabitants these days are birds and Barbados Green Monkey.
The island is overgrown with bush and has some coconut trees on it and that's about it. If you have an adventurous spirit you can attempt to get there and do some exploring.
If your lucky you might even pick up a 3000 year old Arawak shell tool, I know of one Barbadian that has quite a collection.
It's only about 100 feet off the Coast and rises about 20 feet out of the water, with a bit of luck and a low tide you might give it a try but remember it's on the Atlantic side of the island and very dangerous.
I've been told that some people that own black belly sheep which are common on Barbados have been known to take their sheep by boat to the island to graze on the abundant grass. But I'm a bit skeptical about that.
Pelican and Culpepper Island are the only Islands belonging to Barbados.
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