5:30am was my wake up time this morning and I gladly made my coffee with half-closed eyes and crawled onto the balcony to try to wake up. After a few minutes of my eyes adjusting to the pre-dawn light, I heard a blowing kind of sound on the water and squinted my eyes to see a dolphin diving back down into the water!! WHAAAAAAT????!!! I raced to wake Mike up and ran back to the porch to wait to hear it again - a minute or so later they came up for air!! Two dolphins!!! So Amazing! I don't believe I've ever seen dolphins in nature and this was an awesome sighting! I tried SO HARD to catch a good video, but being animals - they do what they want when they want so I didnt catch any cool footage. This one's ok though - you get the idea - look for the little speck in the center. Mike put on his gear and tried to snorkel with the dolphin but they were gone as soon as he got in. He tried to find swim straight out and find some fish to spear, coming close to a hogfish, but no luck. After a run out to get some supplies, we loaded up the car again and took off to try to find an access to Airport Beach. We drove down one driveway that turned mostly to sand so we walked a bit to try to see the ocean - the area had a lot of sandy cliffs and dropoffs so that wasnt going to work. Next stop was Cocodimama Beach (Alabaster Beach) on the Exuma side. This was super easy to find and OH MY GOODNESS what a perfect amazing beach! We bobbed around in that water for an hour or so - saw a ray, some needlefish, other assorted little white fish and then came home to clean up, since it was 6 minutes from Caribbean Blue. The water here looked like it was a giant swimming pool - probably cleaner than a pool! Next stop was back the the N. Eleuthera airport to get Mike's sister Mende. She was exhausted from no sleep and morning of flying, but we whisked her off to find a beach up at the northern shore, called Ben Bay Beach. By this time I'd learned it was smarter to spend the money and use the data on the cell phone and use the satellite GPS rather than trying to follow the directions my my various books and trust the not-so-accurate odometer in the car. Although on the satellite images, you cant really tell if the road is a paved road or a pitted dirt path until you are on it. The roads we took to get to Ben Bay were got smaller and smaller with every turn...there was a new feature here - a wire fence than ran along the path and there wasnt any dumped trash - instead there were GOATS!! This was our first goat sighting so far! Ben Bay beach was incredible, of course! It was a small little round bay protected by a coral break. It was pretty shallow and had a sandy bottom for about 20 feet then the reef began. There wasnt a huge variety of fish here but there was a GIANT bait ball of seemingly millions of small white fish that stretched as far as I could see across the beach. So many! Also on the beach was a family camping out in a tent and a local hanging out in the beach structure. Besides these 4 people, we were the only ones here, of course. From there we went back to the house and cooked a simple meal of grilled things and relaxed away the rest of the day.
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I managed to sleep until 4:30am and headed to the kitchen to clean up Mike's cooking bonanza from the night before. Today was the day we were adding a person to our little group - Mike's sister's friend LB, was joining us and we had to pick her up at the N. Eleuthera airport at 1pm. We were excited that we were able to spend the day having adventures in the north tip of the island! Breakfast today was eggs, bacon and some delicious watermelon from Shad who had dropped an entire one off to us! We again packed up the car and were off to Current Cut! I had read all about the cut of water between the Eleuthera mainland and Current Island, that the current whipped through the deep trench and tons of marine animals hitched a ride. It was one of the best snorkeling spots on the island so even though I had read it was suggested you hire a guide, I thought it was something we could handle. Umm, so...it absolutely is not something we would be able to handle! The wind and water were going at such a strong pace Im not sure I would be able to get back to shore after the snorkel was over! The color of the water was unbelievable so I am so glad we spent some time there! From there we drove around looking for a restaurant I SWORE I read about in the area but we just couldnt find it. We ended up driving up and around the Whale Point area, which was pretty interesting. There is a giant mansion that you can see from Queens Highway near the Glass Window Bridge and we came up on it from Whale Point. We pulled over because it seemed so deserted and we really wanted to see the ocean there. We labored to walk on the limestone in flipflops and I couldn't help but to feel like we were trespassing on private property. BUT - it was totally worth it! The view from the cliffs was breathtaking!! It was getting to the time we were supposed to pick up LB from the airport. I took out my handy little notebook to check the exact plane arrival time and realized I totally remembered incorrectly and flight wasnt due to land for 4 more hours!!!!!!!!!! Oh boy. Mike was kind of annoyed with me! To save grace and get some food, we headed 30 minutes south to the Stubbs' BBQ and arrived just in time to order the last of the delicious ribs! We took our food to nearby Hidden Beach on the Atlantic coast and made a picnic table out of some rocks! After stuffing our faces we went for a snorkel. It wasnt the easiest to get in the water as the coral was everywhere but I figured it out. In the little bay I saw a turtle, peacock flounder and the usual fish. We were hoping we would see a shark as a the local who Mike talked to on the beach said a nurse shark hangs out here sometimes, but we didnt see her. I had a little panic attack getting out as I realized the water was pretty shallow and was covered with fire coral but as usual, somehow I found a clear path. We didnt stay here too long as it was mid-day and VERY HOT plus there was a small family with a dog, and it seemed unnecessary to share any beach on Eleuthera! We set off to find Gaulding Cay Beach. Based on our past beach searches, I assumed it would be a treacherous drive over bumpy pitted roads and I would incorrectly navigate us so it would take twice as long as it needed to get there. We made the turn where Gaulding Cay was across from Daddy Joe's and it turned to the left and past a house. Not too far in the distance I was surprised to see the ocean, and before I knew it, we pulled up to a little grassy area and a private house, with a beach to the right. It was so easy to get there! We walked up to the beach and I think my mouth was agape in delight! This was a picture perfect postcard beach!!!!!! It took us about 3 seconds to get in the water, although it was so shallow we had to sit down to get fully wet. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...what an amazing beach!!! It was perfect in every way - there was a picnic table with shade, the water was warm and inviting and SOOOO clear! We were there for about an hour when it was time to leave to go back to the airport to pick up LB. We decided even though she was probably a little exhausted from a day of flying, we would come back here and baptize her with the waters of Gaulding Cay! Oh yeah, did I mention I have only met her once before?? We picked her up at the "airport", which is basically a driveway for a runway and a shack for the "terminal". Across the street is a liquor store/bar where I sat waiting, and struck up a conversation with a man traveling from Nassau waiting for his son to pick him up. He told me about how unsafe it was in Nassau, overcrowded, lots of unemployment but he had to go there to get a job. He looks forward to the times he can come back to Eleuthera and see his family. Very nice man to chat with. As we promised, we took LB back to Gaulding Cay after collecting her from the airport and a quick stop at the Glass Window Bridge. This time in the water we came across a kayak paddling toward us from further down on the beach with a man and his son. They had literally JUST arrived for their week vacation and were getting a lay of the land (and the sea). We thought how magical it was to be able to rent a house on this beach!!! We bobbed around in the water for about 30 minutes and then took off for home. We grilled some dinner and decided to take a little trip to Tippy's since it was Saturday night. We had a few rum punches and enjoyed the live music while sitting outside. A conversation was struck up with a very nice German couple we had seen the day before snorkeling on the beach at Tippy's and we made tentative plans to meetup somewhere in the following days.
The full moon graced us with its presence and we passed out in bed after a very long but exciting day! I again awoke early to spend time with the sunrise with my coffee - the bay was very calm, like a lake, the mini morning doves were cooing, the full moon was glowing at 5am, just a gorgeous way to welcome the day! When Mike finally got up, we took the two-person kayak out for a spin, with the intention of maybe going to Levi Island and doing some handline fishing. The wind whipped up so quickly and the bay that had been smooth as glass an hour earlier was now white capped and difficult to paddle in. So...that didnt last long. Mid-morning we left the house to find Poponi Beach and Tippy's Restaurant on Banks Road. Every time we headed to a new beach I was excited but kept that excitement in check just in case the beach was full of seaweed or dirty, or the water was too rough - whatever. But just like every time so far, this beach was AMAZING! That first glimpse over the dunes really was breathtaking, even with an overcast sky! We walked to the right of Tippy's, past all the limestone and found a sandy area to get in the water. It was a little rough but it was fine for snorkeling. There were some nice coral heads and schools of smaller fish, enough so that Mike decided to go back and get his GoPro from the car. Usually I don't like to be alone snorkeling but I was following around a group of juvenile surgeonfish as they rubbed against the sandy bottom. They hardly even noticed I was there and we swam together for awhile. I realized we had gone a little deeper and something caught my eye along the surface about 30 feet away...something shiny and long...ARRGGHHH - a very large barracuda was watching me! I tend to not be afraid of most things underwater, but there is something unnerving about a 4 foot long barracuda watching you with his jaw opening and closing. I didn't stick around long enough to see what he wanted and hightailed it to shore, about the time Mike had returned. Of course when he went out he didnt see the 'cuda anywhere, figures! From there we set off for an adventure down south, deciding Crown Point was our goal. Here's a map of the are we went to - the pin is about where we parked and where most of the following pics were taken. Look at how cool that area looks on the satellite! This really was the coolest place! The drive took us past some lovely hidden villas, then as the road got more desolate, the scenery changed to a creepy swamp area with tons of rusted out cars and so much trash! The amount of dumped waste in Eleuthera really was sad, but anyway...the road became more and more treacherous as went drove, about 10 minutes worth of slow driving. Then we saw the inlet cut of water right up to the road. Out of nowhere, the sky opened up to reveal a huge lake-like body of water with stripes of colors I'd never seen in nature! Half Sound! In the distance crashing waves were audible, but there was no way to see them. The wind whipped across the water and the sun made is so very hot in the openness. As we got out of the truck a bird dive-bombed us as we walked past what must have been a nest of offspring, which just added to the weirdness of this place. Not a single person anywhere to be seen. Actually, I don't think we saw ANYONE, either on the road or here at the sound for about three hours straight, which just added to the freakishness of it. Because it was midday, the sun beat down on us pretty hard so we climbed back into the AC and ate some wrap sandwiches for lunch. The goal originally was to drive out to Crown Point but it was just really a long way so we headed back to the Queens Highway and Rock Sound. After a long time driving on dirt roads, we got back on the Queens Highway and on to Rock Sound where we got gas at The Market. We stopped at a church on the bay with a lovely view. Turning right out of this church parking lot was the ONE and only time Mike had a teensy issue with driving on the other side of the street and other side of the car (besides the 9 times he turned on the wipers instead of the turn signal). There might have almost been a collision with a pickup truck full of guys but its all turned out OK. We took a little drive around the Ocean Hole, which was so odd...like a big giant pit that you'd otherwise think was a little round swamp. Since I'd read so much about it, I knew it somehow connected to the ocean, that friendly tropical fish lived in it and you could swim there, but at that moment I just wasn't interested in getting out of the AC. I was getting a lousy headache and kind of wanted to be done with driving for the day, but we were on a mission. Next stop was the Eleuthera Institute, an education center for marine biology I had read about. We could have scheduled a tour but we didnt have much time, so we gave ourselves a little self-tour, which the staff there wasn't too excited about, but we did anyway. They had lots of experiments going on, fish, sharks and algae in tanks , shade sails covering hydroponic gardens with herbs and greens, bicycles everywhere for the staff, and signs for a neat program of theirs - a lionfish collection program for local fishermen where they would pay a comparable fee to any lionfish brough there. Unfortunately, the institute was far at the tip of the southwest corner of the island and it seemed like not a lot of fishermen were there. Anyway, a cool program to get those nasty lionfish out of the water! There was a group of girls using a hand crank grinder to grind fish parts and collect the "juice". This cat was trying to help himself to the fish parts until they finally shooed him away!
After this stop, I was getting overheated and headache-y. We arrived at our final destination, Cape Eleuthera Marina where we had scheduled a trip. So from here, I'm not going to go into details about what we were doing, suffice to say, we paid money for a very specific tour and what we ended up with was absolutely not what we wanted. I was really disappointed and so sick from the headache I already had. So when it was time to climb back into the truck I was so glad to be on our way home. The worst part was that we missed the Friday Night Fish Fry in GH and I was hoping to meetup with some fellow vacationers from Trip Advisor. Booooooo. In the end, lessons learned. Mike and I really do have terrible luck with excursions on vacations, including 3 issues on our trip to the Turks & Caicos. Sigh. The reward at the end of the day was the lovely full moon back at Caribbean Blue, which I enjoyed from the shower and passed out in bed. Mike might have stayed up late drinking rum punch and cooking cracked conch! I had a little trouble sleeping the first night (partly because I was excited like a little kid before their birthday) because the AC's digital display was so bright I kept thinking it was morning every time I woke up. Around 5am I got out of bed for good. I made some coffee with delicious coconut rum and went to watch the moonset/sunrise from the balcony. What a lovely peaceful morning! When Mike got up we tried out the snorkeling in the bay in front of the house. Unfortunately there were some little clear jellyfish - I kept trying to take deep breaths and just swim around them, but after awhile I realized instead of enjoying the snorkeling I was stressed about the jellyfish, so I just got out. We did a little bit of line fishing but nothing was biting but the Sergeant Majors and I didnt want to deal with getting one of those off the hook! We took off for an adventure to the GH's Bakery - which took a few different turns to find. The bakery was small, hot and no one there was happy to be there - or at least not happy to see us there! We ordered a ham egg and cheese sandwich, a plain and a cherry filled donut. With our goodies in hand we set off to find a beach to eat breakfast at. We didnt really have a goal as to where we were going, but basically the island is 1-2 miles wide - keep driving east-west and we would find a beach! Little did we know which beach we would stumble upon! FRENCH LEAVE BEACH!!! Sorry for the shaky video! It was so gorgeous and no one but us were there. We looked around in awe of how beautiful it was - and not a soul in sight! After we ate, we grabbed our gear and snorkeled for about 90 minutes. The reef was deep pretty close to shore. There was the usual assortment of fish and coral. Mike found a spiny lobster and a huge conch. We decided to come back later. From there we went to the hardware store to add more time to the cell phone and also add wifi for the house. We then ate leftover turkey burgers and ham & cheese wraps. Even though a storm loomed, we packed up the car and head off for a trip to the south of the island. In Rock Sound we stopped at the Boiling Hole and caves for a little investigating. I was all set when a big black land crab skittered over my feet!!!! So Mike was way more adventurous that I was down in the caves! There was a big storm whipping up so we changed our plans and decided to find Ten Bay Beach. On the way we stopped at the market at Rock Sound to buy some cookies and snacks, then bought some road beers at the liquor store. There was a small incident with Mike cutting his hand trying to open the bottles while driving, but was quickly resolved. I am not the best navigator (even with a map, a book and GPS) so let's just say eventually we found it Ten Bay Beach. The storm was passing over so it was about to rain, but we got to see this beach with its yellow sand, endless sand bars and lots of seashells. We had stopped in Tarpum Bay at the boat ramp and bought a Queen Triggerfish and some conch for dinner. Of course this meant we needed to stop and buy supplies to bread and fry the conch! My navigation skills again were failing as we tried to find Poponi Beach. Instead we ended up on a beautiful beach at Unique Village Resort where we decided to have a drink and chit chat with the 2 staff and 2 guests that were in the restaurant, shoes off, feet up on the chairs! It was muggy from the recent storm and the bugs were out! This was my first experience with noseums and those things are EVIL! Thankfully they shared some bug spray so we could tolerate our rum punches! Back at home we made cracked conch, conch ceviche, grilled triggerfish, veggies and jasmine rice. It was all delicious, worth all the work and we passed out by 9:15!
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August 2015
Mike & SarahWe love to travel, cook, eat, own a home and make stuff. |