Adventures: Eleuthera, The Bahamas

Escaping cold winter weather, we took a special tropical vacation this year! We flew to the Bahamas, first landing in the capitol, Nassau, then taking a small plane to the island of Eleuthera.

We rented a house from homeaway for a week (yes, can be cheaper than hotels!) The house was on its own private beach.  

 

Our beach was on the ocean side of the island, so on windy days, we explored the other side, which faced other islands and had milder weather and waves. We rented a car for the week, and Stephen got to experience the terror and thrills of driving on the left side of the road. (Used to tourists, everytime we talked to a local, they'd remind us, "Stay left!" instead of saying goodbye.)

One day, we drove down to the most southern point of the island to see the Lighthouse beach. We didn't guess just how long of a trip it would be. The island is so thin, we didn't have a clear concept of how long it was, and how many little towns we on it. We drove about an hour from the middle of the island to the most southern town, then the road turned to dirt. After bumping along for 15 minutes, Stephen started singing, "This is the road that doesn't end... yes, it goes on and end, my friend! Some people started driving it, not knowing what it was. And they'll continue driving it forever..." Fortunatley, five more jostling minutes brought us to three completely empty and pristine beaches.

 

A short stroll up the hill lead to the lighthouse, and a swing!

 

At home, Stephen's greatest ambtion was to get his own coconut. The dirt road by our house was lined with the tempting trees. Several days of climbing did not bear fruit until Stephen tied a rake on a long pole and wacked them down. (Below, our beach was half textured rock and half pink sand.)

 

In case you didn't know (I didn't)- the coconut is actually the nut: there is a layer of stringy flesh similar to pumpkin that you have to hack through first. Then you can crack open the nut. (We didn't eat them however, suspecting they aren't in season.)

 

Our greatest adventure was snorkling! I admit, I always thought snorkling sounded a little lame... how much fun could it be to swim along the top of the water? Only scuba divers with tanks get to see the good stuff. Plus, snorklers always take goofy photos....

But it turns out most coral is often close to the surface and the sunlight. And underwater cameras are fun for chasing fish! Our first day snorkling, we found a calm area of water. There wasn't much coral, but we figured out the basics of snorkling (despite minor injuries and much complaining) and discovered huge schools of fish. They were close enough to touch, yet fast enough to stay just inches ahead.

Then we felt ready to brave the ocean waves. We had been told there were two coral reefs off the coast of our own house, about 25 and 50 feet out. Stephen wanted a "base" for a place to rest, so he packed the house's kayak and innertube, tied together with ropes, and made an anchor out of a cinder block. Now wiser, we recommend not kayaking in the ocean... (but the inner tube was fun.)

We loaded up the kayak with supplies. Stephen paddled out to the reef and Ginger swam. Stephen lost the oar for a moment, but recovered it. (Foreboding?) Within the next hour, Ginger lost the underwater camera, her sunglasses, and her ponytail holder, and on the return trip when the kayak flipped over, we lost Stephen's goggles, two bottles of water, suntan lotion, and we cut the anchor free. High tide battered us as we pushed the kayak to shore- yet! A bright moment made the day happy again when Stephen saw the camera floating closebye! And walking along the beach, we found one water bottle and the lotion washed onshore.

So, we lived for another day of underwater photography. Our second trip, we only brought the innertube, and while snorkling, found the anchor again. The second reef had huge brain coral, and large colorful fish!

 

Ginger stalked the rainbow fish for ages, but she wouldn't show her face.

Unlike the large Nassau Airport (which had two Dunkin Donuts), the Governer's Harbour airport was small and cheery. (Also, the car rental man told us just to leave our car in the parking lot with the keys under the mat.)

Our all-day-long layover in Nassau inspired us to leave the airport and see the town, to have the "real" tourist experience. It was strikingly different from calm Eleuthera. We didn't get to see the famous Atlantis Hotel were many tourist stay, because it would cost extra just to walk around. There was one free beach: 

Our friendly taxi driver gave us a tour, pointing out the many new condos and listing celebrities who have houses on the island. We walked around downtown crowds and tried to escape as women put braclets on Ginger's wrist as an inventive to buy them. We walked through the Straw Market, but the pressure to buy made us to anxious to do any real shopping there.

It was a fun two hours, but we were happy we chose Eleuthera for our vacation.