Eleuthera Island 2008

The car picked us up at 4:30 AM on April 19th for our early flight out of Newark . We checked in with no problems and then had to wait while the airline desperately tried to find volunteers to leave the flight since they were so overbooked. Once the bidding got up to $1000 plus hotel plus meals plus 1st class accommodations on the next flight, someone got off the plane and we were on our way. We were drinking margaritas (and Shirley Temples for Alexandra) in the Fort Lauderdale airport bar by 11 AM.

We walked out onto the tarmac and boarded the tiny propeller plane to Eleuthera Island . Having knocked back a few 'ritas, I was feeling no fear and rather enjoyed the short roller coaster ride to the island.

Eleuthera is a sparsely populated out-island in the Bahamas . The name is derived from the Greek word Eleutheria (freedom.) The colonial settlers were seeking religious freedom. We, on the other hand, were seeking freedom from the commercialism of our everyday existence and we found it. On Eleuthera, there are no casinos, no chain restaurants, no Walmart...nothing but beautiful turquoise water, pastel houses and one (barely) paved road that stretches the 110 mile length of the island.

We met a man named Royal Williams at the airport. He cheerfully drove us to his house where he rented us one of his cars and then we drove south to our resort in Governor's Harbor. We stayed at Pineapple Fields, a timeshare type accommodation. The units are fairly new, nicely decorated and very comfortable with all the amenities of home.

On Sunday morning, after we stocked up on some provisions at the General Store, we headed over to Ten Bay Beach, one of the most popular beaches on the island. Imagine our surprise when only two other families shared the beach with us the whole time we were there.

The water was calm, clear and perfect that day...shallow and warm for a long way out. Conch shells lay everywhere. Ted didn't have much luck fishing, though.

When we started to get hungry, we headed back towards Governor's Harbor and stopped for lunch at the Sunset Inn. There we had our first Bahamian style meal (lots of conch) on a deck overlooking the Caribbean and Governor's Harbor. Back at Pineapple Fields, we had the pool all to ourselves. Later, we wandered over to Tippys where Elliot, the bartender, introduced us to some fine Guatemalan rum and we watched the sun set

On Monday, we ventured further South, in search of Ocean Hole...an inland 'bottomless' pool connected to the ocean by a tube where you can feed friendly fish. While we were feeding the fish we met some people from South Carolina who were familiar with the island. We asked them about good beaches for swimming and fishing in the area and they had us follow them to Northside Inn &  Restaurant  which sits on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic . We took the stairs down to the beach and found that we were, once again, alone. While Ted fished and Alexandra played in the waves and looked for shells, I met Rose, the proprietor of the Inn , who was out collecting sea fans and driftwood. We chatted for a while and then she went back up to the restaurant to start cooking lunch for us. Meanwhile Ted spotted a large shark and some barracudas swimming in the surf, not far from shore and then he caught his first bonefish.

This coupled with the lovely time we spent in the restaurant, talking with Rose and enjoying her fantastic Bahamian food, made this one of the best days of our trip.

On the drive back, Ted stopped at a liquor store to get some rum for cocktails. Remembering the deliciously smooth rum from the night before, he asked the guy in the liquor store which rum was good. He replied with a smile,

'All rum is good, mon'

So true.

Ted knocked a coconut off one of the trees back at the resort and we had some delicious rum punch on our deck. Everywhere we went afterwards, Alexandra requested 'rum punch without the booze.'

On Tuesday, we drove all the way to the southern tip of the island in search of the Bannerman town lighthouse. We didn't find it, but instead found another beautiful deserted beach with lots of shells. Ted caught a barracuda there.

On the drive back North, we stopped in Wemyss Bight where we had another excellent Bahamian lunch at the Ship to Shore restaurant, prepared for us by a woman named Chantal.

We then tried the beach there for a while and then headed back North to find Half Sound Beach , which Rose had recommended. This beach was really a long way off the beaten path...maybe 2 miles down a rough unpaved road

Wednesday was a windy day and not a good day for fishing or swimming. We went to Ten Bay beach in the morning, but this time the water was choppy and we were cold in spite of the bright sunshine.

So we drank some rum, ate some conch, tried the pool, walked the beach at Tippy's and just relaxed

On Thursday, Ted went out with guide Paul Petty in search of bonefish while Alexandra and I relaxed by the pool, had lunch, went shopping and relaxed by the pool some more. We had dinner at the Cigatoo restaurant that night which is actually in the Quality Inn down the road from Pineapple Fields. There were both tourists and locals eating at this restaurant...it serves Chinese and Bahamian cuisine and is more reasonably priced than Tippy's.

On Friday, Ted took us to Savannah Sound, a large flats area that Paul Petty had shown him the day before.

For lunch we drove to the town of Tarpum Bay where the locals buy and sell freshly caught fish in the afternoon and ate at a little shack called Barbies. Ted had some dumpling soup that was to die for.

Then we went back to Ten Bay Beach where the water was again calm and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon swimming.

By Saturday, although Ted still maintained that we should have taken 2 weeks to enjoy this island, Alexandra and I had grown a little weary of being away from home. We drove back to Royal's house to return his car. He and his friend Donna drove us back to the tiny North Eleuthera airport. Donna gave Alexandra a fruit called a sapadilly to eat in the airport and then we went through the process of checking in and having our baggage searched. The security agent confiscated Ted's expensive cigar lighter because apparently you can't bring anything combustible on board an aircraft these days. Go figure. In no time, we were headed towards Fort Lauderdale and the dreaded 4 hour layover. Customs, Immigrations and more margaritas made that time pass a little faster, but we were exhausted by the time we got home at around 9PM.