Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Devil's Bridge

So onto the promised rocks, actually a geological formation. The Devil's Bridge is a natural arch on Antigua's East coast. Its a limestone arch and is the result of the slow and fast erosion rates of various densities and strata of limestone in the cliff edge. This shot shows how the "bridge" of hard limestone has been left behind as the softer surrounding rock eroded and fell away.

devil's bridge

So why is it called the Devil's Bridge? Supposedly runaway slaves would flee here and then bereft of hope walk out onto the bridge to commit suicide (where the devil supposedly waits to egg them on).


devil's bridgeb

It looks relatively peaceful most of the time but the bridge is situated at the end of a channel so waves surge in.....


devil's bridgec

and explode against the wall. If you were on the bridge at the time I doubt you'd hold on.

devil's bridged

I don't know if the story of the escaped slaves is true, and I'm not a god-fearing or superstitious man but the barren rock "moonscape" has a mournful atmosphere to it in spite of the Caribbean sun and the blue water away from the rocks and everyone was kind of reserved for a while thinking about the sadness that could inspire such a story. Whilst its a remarkable feature I must say I wasn't too upset to leave this place.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The pictures are amazing ...looks like a huge surf there. Interesting rock formation and I hope the story is just a fable. Cheers.