Islands are small closed communities. Here everyone knows something, some know most things, and ONE knows all things. If you want to learn everything about the history, social makeup, and goings-on in an island community, this is who you must spend time with. And that is how Al and I found ourselves riding around with the Staniel Cay garbage man on his pickup rounds last Thursday. John Chamberlain does many more things besides run the garbage pickup. He is a pilot, and rents a group of seaside cottages as well. We learned that there are around 60 people on Staniel Cay. Children go to the local elementary school until they are twelve, and then must board in Nassau, Georgetown, or the Elutheras for their high school years. His father founded and built the Yacht Club here, and the people are a mix of Bahamians and outsiders with full or part time homes. Nearly everyone pilots their own plane to Nassau for groceries and supplies, or one can have stuff brought in by plane or the mail boat that comes on Wednesdays. The nurse handles small emergencies only, you get planed to Georgetown or Nassau for everything more than cuts or scrapes or minor infections. It was an interesting morning, as it was cleanup day on the island and we were being introduced to everyone as we made our rounds to the dump and back. This man is the one you see about those moorings there, This is the nurse, this person will open the library for you. That man is the husband to the person back at the church who was raking, etc... Yep, you can learn a lot about a community and it's people, but ya gotta hang out with the right caliber of folks to find out the best stuff.