Landmark· Hogsty Reef· Bahamas — Eleuthera, Andros & the Out Islands
Hogsty Reef Northwest Cay light
21° 41.6′ N · 73° 50.8′ W
The small automated light on Northwest Cay, a sandbar of an island you can walk round in ten minutes, with an odd old stone tower and a seabird colony.
Practical
Listed at 21°41'37.2"N 73°50'50.2"W: Fl W 4s, 9 m focal height, 8 nm range; the current light is a 7 m solar metal mast, replacing a 4 m red conical stone tower (Wikipedia). Fetch in Ketch (2024) describes a cut-stone tower once plastered ochre, purpose unknown, and the foundation of an older light; sooty terns nest on the cay's small hill and brown boobies roost on the wrecks. Do not trust the light for a night approach - the reef gives a weak radar return and rises so steeply that a sounder gives almost no warning. Beachcombing is good, but there is plastic litter; tread carefully near nests.
Best for
Landfall mark and a walk ashore on the cay