10
Jan 13

Mermaids and the Bahamas

Hey, don't be an A hole.

Hey, don’t be an A hole.

Silly, right? Yeah, most (really, I’d bet nearly all) Bahamians don’t believe in mermaids. Still, there is a bit of mermaid folk lore bouncing around. I remember being down in Andros and having one of the guides tell me that the old timers still talk about blue holes being the home of mermaids.

In Cat Island there is a Blue Hole named the Mermaid Hole.

Cat Island’s blue holes are beautiful natural pools that connect with the ocean through underground, limestone tunnels. Some of the locals think that there are sea monsters living in the blue holes. Boiling Hole is named for the bubbles and whirlpools caused by the ocean tides ebbing and flowing into it. Then, there’s Mermaid Hole, which is supposedly the home to you guessed it… a mermaid!Big Blue Hole is perhaps the most ominous of all, because it’s other name is “Horse Eating Hole!”

The natives who once lived in the Bahamas even had a name for them:

The natives of what is now the Caribbean had a similar story, calling her Aycayia, meaning she with the lovely voice.

Have any of you heard tales of mermaids on your Bahamian adventures?