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Cay Sal

FieldValue
nameCay Sal
other_nameCayo de Sal
image_skylineCay Sal.png
image_captionView of the island from above
settlement_typeisland
lon_dirW
lat_dirN
lat_deg23lat_min=42
lon_deg80lon_min=24
width250
floatright
markCercle rouge 100%.svg
marksize20
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameThe Bahamas
subdivision_type1Region
subdivision_name1Bahama Banks
subdivision_type2District
subdivision_name2Bimini
established_title
unit_prefMetric
area_total_km21.22
population_total0
population_density_km2auto
demographics_type1Languages
demographics1_title1Official
demographics1_info1English
timezone1EST
utc_offset1−5

|Bahamas Cay Sal () is a small island in the Cay Sal Bank between Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. It is no longer inhabited.

The Bahamas have an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to regularly fly over Cay Sal and other islands in the bank to look for people potentially stranded there.

Geography

Cay Sal is the main island in the southwestern zone of the Cay Sal Bank. It is 1.6 km in length and 1.22 km2 in area.

The island is covered with stunted palm trees and marked by several dilapidated buildings standing on its western side. In its interior there is a large salt pond commonly replenished by heavy wind-driven seas that broach the islet along its southwest side.

History

According to Spanish navigators the island had a few natural salt pans producing good, clean salt, and its leeward side provided an excellent anchorage as well.

From the 1960s to late 1970s the Royal Bahamas Defence Force kept a small outpost on Cay Sal island, which also had an airstrip. Another island in the banks, Elbow Cays, has a lighthouse built in 1839 by the British.

The United States Coast Guard constantly monitors Cay Sal and nearby islands for refugees from Cuba. Cay Sal is about thirty miles away from Cuba. Refugees rescued on the island have included pregnant women and children. Refugees are reported to have employed a variety of craft including small, ill-equipped boats, in spite of the possibility of pursuit by the Cuban military.

In 2023, the Coast Guard rescued a man who had been stranded on the island for 3 days.

References

References

  1. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SgoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA257 ''Derrotero de las islas Antillas, de las costas Tierra-Firme, y las del Seno Mejicano'', Dirección de Hidrografía, España, Madrid, Imprenta Nacional, 1837. p. 266]
  2. "Man rescued from Cay Sal Bank".
  3. "Coast Guard rescues man stranded on Cay Sal".
  4. [http://www.lighthousedigest.com/Digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=1921 Cay Sal Bank Lighthouse: A Stately Ruin]
  5. [http://www.lighthousedigest.com/Digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=1921 Cay Sal Bank Lighthouse: A Stately Ruin]
  6. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19640419&id=xxZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gDEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7207,5566208 Rome News-Tribune - Apr 19, 1964]
  7. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19640419&id=xxZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gDEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7207,5566208 Rome News-Tribune - Apr 19, 1964]
  8. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19640419&id=xxZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gDEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7207,5566208 Rome News-Tribune - Apr 19, 1964]
  9. "Coast Guard rescues man stranded on Cay Sal".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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