Great Stirrup Cay
— — a shallow turquoise shelf, a lighthouse, a ship at anchor.
Not only on a wall.
“A small cay at the top of the Berry Islands chain, about a hundred and twenty miles east of Miami, leased by Norwegian Cruise Line since 1977 and used as the company's private call. A coral-rubble beach, a lighthouse that has stood on the point since the nineteenth century, and water that goes the colour shallow Bahamian water goes when the sun is overhead. The cay is small enough to walk the long way in an afternoon, and the ship offshore is part of the view. from the studio
Great Stirrup Cay, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Great Stirrup Cay is the northernmost island in the Berry Islands chain of The Bahamas, about a hundred and twenty miles east of Miami and roughly seventy miles north of Nassau. The cay covers about 268 acres of low coral limestone surrounded by shallow turquoise shelf water. Norwegian Cruise Line has leased the island since 1977 and uses it as a private call for its fleet, with a tender dock, beach cabanas, and a small village of operations buildings on the lee side. The lighthouse on the eastern point dates from 1863 and is one of the oldest standing structures in the Berry Islands.
The water around the cay reads the colour Bahamian shelf water reads under a midday sun: a pale aquamarine over white sand bottom in the lagoon, deepening to cobalt where the shelf drops off about a mile north. The protected southern beach faces away from the prevailing easterly trade winds, which is why the cruise line built the tender dock and the swim area on that side. Snorkelling lines run over patch reefs in two to four metres of water; the dive site at the wreck of an old fuel barge sits in about fifteen metres just outside the lagoon mouth.
Access is by Norwegian Cruise Line ship only; the cay has no commercial port and no overnight accommodation. Tender service runs from anchored ships during a daytime call, weather permitting — easterly squalls do close the operation occasionally, and the captain holds the call. The lighthouse, the cabana row, the food pavilion, and the lagoon swim area sit within a fifteen-minute walk of the dock. The lighthouse path is open during the day; the eastern point is exposed and worth the walk for the view back across the lagoon to the ship at anchor.