A real, live rainy day to catch up on where we are… or, actually, where we were. Lynyard Cay and Little Harbour were our rewards for the long wait and the long passage across the Northwest Providence Channel to the Abacos.
To access the Abacos from the Berries, you round the southern most tip of Great Abaco Island and enter the Atlantic. We jokingly wondered if we had gone too far and wound up on the coast of Scotland…Lynyard Cay is the southern most island between the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic. It was good to be on anchor again after the long stint in the marina.
Little Harbour is the southern most harbor on Great Abaco Island. It is a small, well-protected harbor with an internationally renowned foundry and one of the best beach bars around.
The Atlantic shoals on the backside of Little Harbour.The foundry which Randolph Johnston started, now run by his son Pete. The foundry uses the lost wax process to cast, primarily, bronze. We were fortunate enough to tour the foundry on a day that they were casting.The process starts with an artist making a detailed clay model…A ceramic mold is cast around a wax model which was made from the clay artwork.
The molds are attached to “trees”, or venting structures, for the spruing, slurry and burnout processes – these are the processes which create the hollow mold of the original artwork.
The finished molds are brought up to temp while the casting material is prepared.
Molten bronze is poured into the molds.
Once cool, the molds will be broken away and the cast pieces will be finished. For example, these are multiple pieces of a tree which will be welded together. Other pieces may require only flashing removal or have a patina applied.
The scale of some of the art produced here…
Pete of the foundry fame also lends his name to the beach bar – Pete’s Pub.
The Little Harbour lighthouse once stood sentinal to guide mariners through the rocky shoals which form the harbor entrance. Today it is an easy hike to a sweeping view of both the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic.
1 comment
Looks like y’all are having a great time. We signed a t-shirt when we were there, but I’m sure all the old shirts blew away in the last hurricane. I love seeing your pictures. Thanks for posting.
Looks like y’all are having a great time. We signed a t-shirt when we were there, but I’m sure all the old shirts blew away in the last hurricane. I love seeing your pictures. Thanks for posting.