Friday , March 29 2024

The Ladder

Ladder

In early days, Sabans keep small boats mainly at two landing places, Fort Bay in the south and Ladder Bay in the west. These regular landings were so safe in every wind that only one fatal accident has been recorded in historical times.

The Geographical Review of January 1, 1934 reported that, at that time, from these two main landings, excellent stone and concrete paths and stairways lead to the village of The Bottom.

The Fort Bay track was the easier one for porters and donkeys and was used except when seas were raging into the bay under southerly winds.

However, before Fort Bay was enlarged as a port, everything – from supplies to the queen – was hauled up to The Bottom via the Ladder, a series of more than 800 steps hewn into the rock.

In 1934 it was reported that there’s not much at Ladder Bay anymore, other than an abandoned customs house and the coastal views, but you can still walk the route: 479 steps from the Bottom to the Caribbean Sea.

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