Perhaps you've heard of this "Fashion Gallery"
If this isn't a motivator, I don't know what is
Kalikfish
Lefty and Hot Dog, keeping it real
That's our Ruth
RUTH’S ROCK SOUND HIGHLIGHTS - PART 2
SATURDAY, MARCH 22ND
Today we hung out with Gary, who has rights with his
father to the property in Rock Sound that we are
interested in purchasing. Jack negotiated a pretty
damn good deal with Gary’s father, Daniel. Gary drove
us to Tarpum Bay today to view the mile long
beachfront property he also has for sale. We
unfortunately don’t have the 2.5 million dollars to
buy it…but Gary was hoping we would know of someone
who does. I had a good time with Gary, our time spent
was surely entertaining, but the guy has a seriously
depressing bad attitude and by the end of the day I
was more than relieved to be away from his pessimism
and extreme negativity, not to mention his racism.
We concluded the day by joining the festivities at
the Homecoming. Everyone and their mom came from
Nassau, so it was packed and exciting but the feel of
the celebration was a bit different. Instead of
Bahamian music the DJ was mostly playing R&B pop. The
night was kind of a blur to me since I had been
matching beers with Jack and Gary all day. We ran into
a couple named Steve and Kim that we had met at Black
Point in the Exumas and hadn’t seen since Georgetown.
Both Jack and I didn’t even recognize them we meet so
many people. Don’t even bother asking me what happened
the rest of the night.
SUNDAY, MARCH 23rd, EASTER
Like Christmas, I thought of my family a great deal
on and around Easter. We had no phone and no internet
service available where we were so thinking of them
was the best I could do. Easter Sunday was a
beautiful, beautiful day. I forgot to mention that it
rained on Good Friday, just like it has the past five
or so years no matter where I’ve been. Interesting
phenomenon.
I awoke and immediately ran 3 miles in the sweltering
9AM heat. The sun was strong but so was my run. I said
hello to Lita before the run and ran into Albert
afterwards, to whom I gave a great big hug. I knew we
were planning on leaving Rock Sound soon so it felt
good to see them both before heading out.
Back on the boat I decided I’d make fish cakes while
Johnny slept. We still had one big and one small fish
left. I forgot to mention I made “fish sticks”
(basically fried fish) the other day with our second
large fish. We had homemade fries with it. I find a
lot of pleasure in experimenting with healthy food on
the boat. I got the idea for fish cakes from the back
of a soup mix packet, but I had to alter the recipe
entirely to fit in with the ingredients we had on
board. First I boiled about two cups of salted and
peppered water. Then I plopped in both of the fish
along with the soup mix and steamed them. Meanwhile I
finely chopped onions, green peppers, and celery.
While the cooked fish were cooling, I beat two eggs
with a fork, added the veggies, and added a bit of
salt, pepper, and oregano. When the fish were cool
enough to handle, I de-boned them and flaked the meat
into the mixture. I added a tiny bit of lime juice
(prob about 1 tbsp) and one cup crushed corn flakes
(instead of bread crumbs, which we didn’t have). I
mixed it and mashed it while heating up a cup of oil
in the frying pan (don’t worry I was careful!) I
formed the mixture into small patties, or “cakes,”
with my hands, coated them with flour, and cooked them
until they were golden brown delicious! So we had
fish cakes for our Easter breakfast! They turned out
excellent, if you don’t mind me saying so haha! I was
proud of my experimentation and how perfect they
turned out!
Afterwards I laid out in the dingy with the book 1984
by George Orwell. Within two pages I was sound asleep.
The warmth of the sun swallowed me whole; the gentle
rise and fall of the dinghy as it floated atop of the
water had me feeling like a fetus swishing around
inside its initial and most sacred home. I napped hard
for almost two hours but it was one of those instances
where I woke up sleepily thinking I had only had my
eyes shut for about ten minutes. It was a beautiful
awakening.
The festival started early and displayed a more
religious theme today. It consisted of a slue of
different Gospel concerts. We heard everything from
our boat. It began with the minister asking everyone
to bow their heads in prayer. I found myself bowing my
head, closing my eyes, and reflecting on everything I
am thankful for. I contemplated my good fortune – my
amazing husband, my wonderful family (and his), this
wonderful opportunity to sail and see more of the
world, the opportunity to really enjoy life and
appreciate what’s all around me and what I have. The
prayer was followed by a seemingly tone deaf Scotsman
who very, very poorly played about eight verses of
Amazing Grace on his bagpipe. As terrible and wavering
as the sound coming from his pipe was (and I’m a huge
fan of bagpipes), the effort and sincerity in which
the man played brought me to tears which flowed
continuously until the drawn out song was over. In
fact, there are tears in my eyes right now just
writing and thinking about it again. Something about a
person doing his/her best to share what they have with
the world strikes a huge chord. That and the fact that
I was then and am now feeling very sentimental about
the people I love and grateful for my life and for the
things that I have.
Jack and I were a bit weary of festival-ing so we
stayed in that night and watched the movie Derailed
starring Jennifer Aniston and some other jackass. My
opinion of the movie is that it stunk, partly because
the characters behaved unrealistically and
irrationally but mainly because they had immoral
motives. At the conclusion of the movie the “hero” got
away with cheating on his wife and the directors
defined this as a positive thing with its “feel good”
ending. I wondered how many chumps (I accidentally
wrote “chimps” at first) walked away from the movie
feeling good about it even though this main character
loser got off the hook.
One of these last nights at Rock Sound we tried shark
fishing off the pier once more. No luck, but as we
were packing up we saw the largest sting ray EVER! It
was floating around on the bottom of about 2 feet of
water looking for food at the end of the pier. Imagine
ME lying down flat. This is how WIDE this thing was!
Its eyes were as big as my HEAD. Literally. I couldn’t
take my eyes off of it! I gawked at it until it turned
into the deeper water and swam away. Amazing. Grace.
MONDAY, March 24th
This morning Jack took the dinghy to shore to fill up
a few of our gas tanks while I packed up the boat and
latched things into place. We heard a cold front was
coming in and refused to remain in Rock Sound a minute
further. We had been here a decent amount of time and
didn’t want to be stuck for the better part of a week
while a front rolled through. We anxiously got on our
way, jib up and motor running. Within miles of being
out of the bay a heavy rainstorm hit us hard! The wind
picked up and the rain belted us like buckets of cats
and dogs! Meeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooowwwwww!!
Thankfully it didn’t last too terribly long and
passed over us as we were moving in the opposite
direction. It did leave us soaked so we kept out
raingear on just in case there was more to come. The
wind steadily increased its speed literally every few
minutes. At first we attempted to sail with the jib
and the reefed main, but the winds were too strong so
we tried just the full main. The wind picked up still.
Finally we had only the jib out for stability and a
bit of extra push but the wind became so strong that
we needed to keep trimming the sail until there was no
sail to fly. Every time we adjusted the sails, which
was about five or six times, we had to turn the boat
into the wind and the waves, which was a difficult
task because of the strength of the wind. It’s ultra
important to keep the boat pointed into the wind while
adjusting the sails otherwise they are impossible to
hoist. When the wind reaches a certain strength it
takes both tiller and motor to maneuver the boat to
keep it from being pushed to one side or another by
the wind or waves. Because of Jack’s strength he was
the one hoisting the sail against the wind while I was
desperately trying to hold the boats positioned into
the wind. Things were a bit strenuous…
We followed the coast for approximately eleven miles
until these enormous, black dark clouds began to
surround us on three sides. The wind was pushing them
our way - FAST. Although we didn’t see any lightening
we heard bold, rumbling thunder. Without discussion we
turned the boat toward shore. We hoped to make it
there before the storm approached, and planned to
anchor it out. Thankfully we made it JUST IN TIME. The
rain began sprinkling down as we threw out the anchor.
I threw out a bucket to catch the water so we could
put it in the batteries, which were low. We jumped
inside, closed the door, and zipped the cover. Jack
pinned tablecloths with clothespins to the area under
the ceiling where water always leaks in during rain.
The wind speed maxed out. It became frighteningly
dark. Then, like the flip of a switch, the rain
EXPLODED down. There wasn’t any lightening and only
distant thunder, but the rain fell so thick, so fast,
so hard, and so LOUD that we had to raise our voices
to hear each other! Jack took a video of the
experience. We couldn’t believe how deafening it was!
I couldn’t see a thing out the window the rain was so
profuse!
We anchored for an hour and within that time it
rained at least 4 inches!! Four inches in one hour. We
had more than enough water for the batteries! We were
right outside Tarpum Bay which meant another 15 miles
to Governor’s Harbor. I named the GPS waypoint “Gov’s
Harb.” We were lighthearted yet determined. The wind
had dissipated almost entirely. About an hour into the
treck, we started seeing lightening and hearing
thunder. The seconds between the two added to 40 so we
figured the storm was occurring over the Exumas which
was exactly 40 miles away. Imagine that! Being out on
the water, with nothing to block the sound and light,
we were hearing thunder and seeing lightening that was
40 miles away from us! Unbelievably sweet.
About an hour away from Gov’s Harb though, we started
seeing flashes of lightening VERY close to us. It was
definitely heat lightening – high in the sky and no
thunder to follow it. But the flashes were so bright
they were literally blinding. After every one it took
about five seconds for my night vision to come back!
They were also occurring closer and closer to us. It
was very nerve-racking!!! I asked Jack if he would be
willing to connect a wire (that we have for occasions
such as this) from the mast into the water, so as to
channel the lightening strike in case it hits the
mast. We’re not exactly sure if this method works for
heat lightening as it would for your standard
lightening strike…but precautions, precautions,
precautions.
Bottom line is we made it! Wheee! We arrived after
dark and were forced to navigate around a few small
islands that were located right outside the anchorage.
It was very dark because the sky was cloudy. Jack used
the chart to create waypoints on the GPS where the
islands were situated. Thankfully (and surprisingly)
Governor’s Harbor had street lights, so I could just
barely make out the silhouettes in the dark.
As soon as we set anchor we noticed the fish were
jumping so we excitedly threw a couple lines in the
water. They weren’t biting though. It was a really
nice harbor, very calm despite the heavy winds
earlier. There was no anchor symbol on the chart,
which generally tells boaters what spot is a good
place to anchor, thus we were the only boat there.
Throughout this trip we’ve often anchored wherever we
saw fit or wherever looked like a good place based on
the charts whether the chart provided us with the
anchor symbol or not.
GOVERNOR’S HARBOR/RAINBOW BEACH
TUESDAY 3/25
The next morning we brought the boat closer to shore
since we could see the bottom (therefore the depth)
better under the sun. We anchored so close that we
were practically beached at low tide, but it was very
nice because we didn’t even need the dinghy to get to
and from shore, we would just wade back and forth to
and from the boat. Governor’s Harbor is beautiful. It
is very green and very hilly. It has a harbor on the
south shore (where we first anchored) as well as a
larger harbor on southwest side (where we brought the
boat during the following cold front). At this point
the wind from the last front was still strong but the
wind didn’t touch us at all where we were. There were
about six boats anchored in the larger harbor that
were experiencing rocky waters from the northeast wind
blowing across the long fetch of the bay. They all
could have easily brought their boats around to where
we were because the depth was mostly around 20 feet in
our bay, but God forbid they didn’t listen to the
charts. I’m actually not sure what was keeping them
away, but that would be my guess. It was super super
calm where we were.
Across the street from us was a library that had
wireless internet. We paid $40 dollars for 10 hours
each. Even though we stayed in Gov’s Harb for two
weeks I still had about four hours left and Jack two
or three by the time we left. Oh well. Worth it. It’s
how I found out my poor worried parents contacted the
coast guard in search of us. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
So we checked out the library, the grocery, the lay
of the land, and the Blue Room where we ordered
‘cracked conch’ which is basically conch tenderized
and fried. IT WAS THE BEST WE’VE EVER HAD! We
couldn’t stop telling them. I don’t know WHAT they did
that was different from all the other places, or from
us even, but it was amazing and a good deal.
WEDNESDAY, 3/26
Ran three miles this morning. I wish I could run
around town in order to check out the layout but there
are too many dogs. They are very friendly dogs, unlike
most of the other places in the Bahamas. Here they
will playfully chase after me, even playfully nip at
my hands until I slow down and wave them away.
Elsewhere the dogs are mistreated, underfed, and tied
up to a stake under the blazing hot sun with a short
piece of chain. In Georgetown, Long Island, and even
here in Hatchet Bay, dogs have charged me, growling
and barking menacingly. In instances where they
weren’t chained up I would stop running immediately
and start yelling harshly at them, which actually
caused them to instinctly stop and sometimes even back
away! Other times people in passing cars or nearby
houses have helped me. And today (April 8th in Hatchet
Bay) someone came out of their house and threw a rock
at the dogs that were running at me. Since Georgetown
I never run without carrying my pepper spray.
Jack saw a realtor to check into the property for sale
on Rock Sound, only to be pointed in the direction of
a different piece of land right here in Governor’s
Harbor that has a foundation on it. We liked Rock
Sound and the offer to buy property there really was a
great opportunity, but Governor’s Harbor is clearly a
much nicer area. Plus the property in Gov’s Harb has
ruins on it for about the same price, which is perfect
because pouring and building the foundation is the
most expensive and time consuming part of building on
the island. We checked out the property and really
fell for it. We were falling for the town in general
and all the friendly people there. The foundation is
about 20 years old and some parts crumbling, so we
thought this fact would help lower the price. We
decided we would look for the owner and try to work
something out.
In Rock Sound Jack made a lobster trap using a plastic
carton he found on the beach at Little San Salvador
and 80 lb test fishing line. Today we set the trap
behind Laughing Bird Cay, one of the islands we had to
navigate around in the dark on our way to the
anchorage. There were many coral heads in the water
and the island had rocky over-hands, so it looked like
a promising place to catch a lobster, crab, or some
kind of fish. Jack sewed three of his 2 lb dive
weights to the top of the trap in order to keep it
oriented right under water. We ran a 20-25 foot line
through it and tied a buoy on the end so that we could
find it easily later. We rowed the dinghy out to the
island, which worked out well until we found it was
nearly impossible to make any headway back due to the
strength of the north wind. It took the two of us
rowing at once and probably four times as long to make
it back to our boat!
That night we made a campfire on beach! How exciting!
We couldn’t believe we had gone all this time without
doing this before! It was about time! We bought
Kalicks and Guinesses for the occasion. Jack found a
pallet on the side of the road and carried it quarter
of a mile to the beach. The beach was across the road
from a few small apartments for rent, but the
apartments had a long lawn and garden so the location
felt very secluded. There was a bench built between
the trees, actually notched INTO the trees. There was
also a tire swing hanging off one of the trees. It was
a great spot for a fire! We dug a pit and I tore up a
bunch of cardboard boxes we had found while Jack cut
up the pallet with his hatchet. The fire was
a-blazin’! Even though the north wind was strong and
we could feel it, we were on the south side and it
didn’t disturb the fire. We hung out and looked at the
stars and had some laughs and stared absent-mindedly
into the fire until it was down to hot embers. Then we
placed a few long boards across it and using a frying
pan cooked steaks! They cooked quickly and turned out
perfectly! It was a sweet success! J
THURSDAY 3/27
This morning I sprinted a mile, Jack and I caught
lunch at the Pina Café which was highly overpriced and
served me a Krab salad when I really ordered a Crab
salad from the menu. Gross. I had an ice-cream cone
and a cookie instead. Jack wasn’t pleased I didn’t eat
much. From there we headed over to Lloyd Johnson’s
office, the man who steered us toward the Gov’s Harb
property. We also stopped by two other real estate
offices to slyly compare pricing. We spent a bit of
time walking around looking for one of the property’s
owners, Rosa, so we could talk to her about buying. We
were told to check all the town bars. We finally found
her on Ronnie’s – a bar and car rental joint over on
Cupid’s Cay, a small isthmus that provides the
protection that creates the harbor. Investors once had
big plans for Cupid’s Cay, but hurricanes had
different ideas. People still live on the Cay but many
of the homes are rundown and/or abandoned and 99% of
the waterfront properties are destroyed.
Rosa and we decided on a fair price for the property
but she would have to consult her older brother who
also owns the land before shaking on it. We agreed she
would come find us on the boat the next morning. We
spent the rest of the day at the library and on the
boat where I finished reading 1984. Amazing book.
Prophetic and amazing.
That night we had yet another campfire! Yay! This
time we made burgers and taters! Early on we threw a
couple potatoes into the hot fire while it was
blazin’. By the time the fire was low enough to cook
the burgers, the potatoes were perfectly cooked! We
used the frying pan for the burgs. The only
distasteful thing about the potats was that they were
caked with ash…. and it was dark…. so that first bite
wasn’t my favorite….yay for ketchup!
FRIDAY 3/28
This morning Rosa was a no-show. In fact she was a
no-show Saturday, Sunday, Monday and finally on
Tuesday we hunted her down to get the scoop. By the
time we finally found her she told us she had spoken
with her brother Howard, but he wanted to get the
property appraised before discussing a selling price,
which makes sense. Further into the following week
Jack was finally able to speak with him on the phone.
He lives in Atlanta and is a studious person and easy
to talk to (unlike Rosa), but after sending us on a
wild goose chase between calling him on pay phones,
checking in with Lloyd (who is a complete prick
honestly), and searching for inarticulate Rosa
multiple times for the better half of two weeks, he
finally decided he is going to have his pastor
appraise the property and will eventually let us know
the selling price is. At that point we realized it was
time to move on. But before I move ahead I will
examine some highlights of that week:
Friday was the weekly fish fry with music, dancing
and, well, fried fish. They served the usual snapper
with potato salad, mac n’ cheese, and peas n’ rice.
Yum. This fish fry was very different than the Rock
Sound Festival and all other parties we’d been to in
the Bahamas in that there were many tourists in
attendance in addition to a wedding party from the
states. Therefore the DJ played the usual lame dance
hits (i.e. The Macarena). The crowd was different thus
the feel of the gathering was different as well. Maybe
if we were getting drunk like everyone else we would
have enjoyed ourselves a bit more, but I doubt it.
Everything seemed off to me. It wasn’t Bahamian
enough. We decided to walk around instead and check
out “our property.” We actually ran into a few drunken
weirdos (both tourists and Bahamians) and the entire
night left us with a very surreal feeling.
We still felt very good about Governor’s Harbor
though and had a really fun week. More highlights:
Throughout the next week I ran 4, then 4.2, then 4 1/2
miles! The area is really hilly so they were
exhilarating runs! One time I ran to the ocean and
basked in the breathtaking scene, letting the partly
pink sand run through my hands.
Someone had actually taken the lobster trap Jack made
(we heard this happens from time to time when a
fisherman doesn’t want anyone encroaching on his
territory). That really bothered me a great deal
because Jack had worked so hard on it! L !
But Jack didn’t let it bother him. He simply went to
the hardware store and bought wire similar to chicken
wire, then went to work shaping it into a box, bending
and twisting the wires to make an opening that would
be easy for a crab or lobster to enter and hard for
one to get out. The man!! J
We eventually went out to Levi Island, about a mile
away, to drop it into the water. This time we didn’t
place a buoy on it but instead memorized where we put
it under water. We placed it beside a couple of rocks
underneath a rocky overhang and kept the 80 lb test
fishing line that was attached to it out of the water.
This was our second time bringing the boat to Levi
Island. We knew to set the trap there because the
first time we visited, we went snorkeling and Jack
snagged a crab in less than a minute of being in the
water. The following is an excerpt from a blog I
started writing after getting out of the water during
that first visit:
<< I love this world. I LOVE THIS BOAT! Jack just
speared a crab – A CRAB! He had just jumped into the
water – realistically he’d been in for less than a
minute and he turns around holding a giant crab! As of
this moment, he has been in the water for
approximately 40 minutes, searching every nook and
cranny this side of Levi Island. Levi Island is a
small cay east/southeast of Governor’s harbor. We came
here to snorkel, possibly scuba, and definitely look
for some foooood.
I’m back at the boat relaxing, enjoying myself,
basking in the afternoon sun, drying off, enjoying the
scenery, and relishing in the delight of Jack’s catch!
<<
During that first visit to Levi Island Jack was stung
by a jellyfish but didn’t realize it until awhile
later. The sting wasn’t serious but it did bother him
for a couple days. There were so many jelly fish
floating around I didn’t feel very comfortable going
in without my wet suit therefore I didn’t do any
diving (it’s hopeless to try to dive with it on
because it is 3 inches thick and makes me super
buoyant). I also saw a different type of stingray that
I haven’t seen before. It was on the small side, maybe
a foot wide, and its colors were that of the coral
around it. It was dark brown with dark yellowish
spots. The crab Jack caught was also of similar
colors, a perfect camouflage in its surroundings. We
went over to the island a second time to drop the crab
trap Jack made. There were a few caves over there,
pretty deep and wide. The caves were gorgeous!
Unfortunately we didn’t have the camera with us, but
we spent some time exploring. There is no way to
describe the intricate layers of volcanic rock and how
complex, mysterious, and beautiful they were!
On our way back from Levi Island we drove past Cupid’s
Cay where we saw three guys hanging out in the water
outside their vacation home. We called out big hellos
and told them we were looking for property in the
area. They invited us to stop by later. Their names
were Dan, Larry, and Frank. So later on we stopped in
just to say hi. They were in the midst of a Dominos
game in their living room. They stopped the game to
chat with us and immediately invited us to stay for
dinner. They were extremely nice guys and also
extremely funny, I mean awesome senses of humor and
really hilarious antics. They made pasta and salad and
offered us drinks. We stayed until midnight, hanging
out on the deck, eating iced cream (butter pecan to be
exact) and watching their trash pile burn. They had to
leave the Bahamas the day after next but they were
really interested in going for a sail on the boat so
the following afternoon we took them out for a few
hours and sailed around outside of the bay with a
reefed main in about 12 mph winds from the southeast.
Haha I love how I remember those details better than
anything else. At one point Frank started singing “If
you dream of sand dunes and salty air…” and I chimed
in, “Quaint little villages here and there…”I
proceeded to play the tune (really a remix of the 40s
original) on my Ipod. Jack then insisted we play some
of my music while we finish up the sail. It was a real
pleasant time.
We rented a car while we were in Gov’s Harb so that we
could see more of the island and check out what the
real estate companies had to offer. The car rental
joint is located at Ronnie’s Bar. We actually ran into
a guy who drank a beer while he waited for his car to
show up! There was almost no paperwork, just a slip
where you print your name, and none of us even had to
bring our driver’s licenses! We rented the car at 2 in
the afternoon wednesday and had it until 5pm the next
day. The first afternoon we drove around checking out
as many lots as we could using a few maps and
printouts we got from the real estate offices. Some
highlights that had nothing to do with real estate :
Surfer’s Beach – The waves here are supposed to be the
tallest around the island because they break very high
over the reefs. There were no surfers there that day,
but the view was stunning and the breaking waves were
pretty big. The “road” we had to drive to get there
was atrocious and exciting in itself. A serious car
beater-upper. Another highlight: The Glass Window –
The thinnest part of Eleuthra where turning to one
side you get a view of the vast ocean and its heaving,
crashing waves and turning your head to the other side
you get a view of the smooth glass-like water of the
Sound. Hence the name, glass window. More highly
stunning views of the sea and the coral rock that
surrounds it! The “bridge” you have to drive across is
wide enough for one car and is pretty shabby. The
bridge had to be built because at one time the waves
crashed so hard against the thin rock that it broke
away and for a number of years no one was able to
cross from one part of the island to the other. We
took plenty of pictures before continuing our drive
all the way to the tip of the island, called Whale
Point.
We took a lot of pictures, assessed many different
areas on the island, discussed our options, and
decided if we couldn’t get the property in Gov’s Harb
we wanted to go for a hillside lot in Rainbow Beach
about six miles north of Gov’s. It is a gorgeous lot,
60 feet high with a scenic view of the Sound AND of
the ocean and as well as an amazing view of the
surrounding land. It is just beautiful. And the lot is
not pricey either. The water is directly across the
road, there is a beach (that had been made in the 70s)
right down the road, and the anchorage by the beach
is protected by a small curving peninsula which would
be perfect for the boat! The location has been made
into a subdivision and the community is has created an
association to help keep the area maintained. For
instance the roads in the community are nicely paved
or scraped, there is a community trash dump, and the
area is generally free of trash (unlike most places in
the Bahamas). If we had a lot or house there we would
have access to the Rainbow Beach which has a boat
launch, picnic tables, and thatch huts. We’d also have
access to tennis courts and to the Rainbow Inn
restaurant and bar. The more we talked about it, the
more we realized if we had the lot at Rainbow Beach we
would be able to enjoy the best of both worlds
(meaning Rainbow Beach AND Governor’s Harbor) but not
the other way around. This, and the fact that the lot
in Rainbow Beach has an automatically clear title, led
us to decide to put an offer on the lot. As of now we
are waiting to hear back from Jonathan, the real
estate agent who is acting as the middle man for us.
(It took us a couple of weeks to decide all this, but
for convenience sake I’m summing it up).
That night we picked up a hitch-hiker – finally we can
pay back our good fortune! His name was Patrick Bethel
and we drove him to his job where he worked as a
security guard at a resort on the Atlantic side of
Gov’s Harb. From there we drove south about 5 miles to
Palmetto Point where we heard that had PIZZA. Being
pizza fanatics we were not about to pass up an
opportunity to drive to get pizza. We ate at a joint
called Nate and Jenny’s.
On our second day with the rental car, we used it to
drive to the ferry dock that would take us to Harbor
Island. We’ve heard so many things about Harbor Island
since being here – that is is the island of “pink
sand,” that celebrities frequent it, and there is even
a popular Bahamian song about it that gets stuck in
our head occasionally – we just had to check it out.
After driving to the tip of Eleuthra, we jumped on a
“water taxi” which scooted us quickly across a
beautiful bay to the island. We were running out of
time with the car so we had to be brisk in carrying
out our plans. Once on the island we started in the
direction of the ocean where the “pink sand” was
located. Halfway there we hitched a ride from a
Bahamian on a golf cart. The beach was gorgeous, but
like most of the “pink sand” beaches we’ve been to, it
was mostly white sand and only looking very closely
could you make out the pink specs of coral. It was
very beautiful though and we filled an old Craisons
bag full of sand to bring back for our families. I
skipped and splashed around in the water gaily. It was
lovely. There were three gorgeous horses lounging on
the beach for guests to pay to ride. A father took her
little girl for a ride. It was very sweet.
We didn’t hang out on the beach for very long because
of our time issue. We walked back to the other side to
hit up a dive shop so we could purchase some more dive
weights but like every place here, they only had them
for rent. We took the water taxi back to the main
island and started driving back. The day, like
yesterday, was beautiful! Perfect for cruising. We
waved at every person we passed and picked up a girl
on the way to Harbor Island and picked up to
hitchhikers on the way back to Gov’s Harb. Before
picking up the hikers on our way back, we took the
opportunity of our freedom to drink and drive and
picked up beers at four different bars on our way
down! Yay! (For all of you who are worried upon
hearing this, please know there is only one main road
that runs up and down the island, making it pretty
difficult for an accident to occur). We spent the rest
of the day wandering around Cupid’s Cay and hanging
out with a few of the locals. We decided to pass on
the fish fry and spend the night on the boat instead.
SATURDAY April 5th
Saturday we hung out at the library checking emails
and updating blogs until 4pm. We spent the evening
fishing off the man-made jetty that runs off of
Cupid’s Cay and essentially provides most of the
protection for Governor’s Harbor. I hooked a fish
almost right away but I didn’t have a leader attached
and it bit right through my line. We spent a couple
hours on the jetty, basking in the warmth of the sun
as it set, feeling the cool breeze, and hearing the
sound of the water as it bubbled and churned against
the big rock pilings of the jetty. We didn’t have any
luck with the fish but I was really happy to have
spent some time there because it was so relaxing. We
packed up and headed over to Larry and Dan’s house
(even though they were gone) and watched the rest of
the sun set from the front of their house.
That night we made yet another amazing campfire on
“our spot” on the beach. This time we cooked chicken
thighs, spinach, and beans. I love these campfires! We
need to have another one soon!
SUNDAY, April 6th
Sunday we left Gov’s Harb to anchor at Rainbow Beach,
check out the lot, and examine the anchorage there.
Before leaving we ran into Donnie and Danny Rolle, two
brothers who were actually cocaine babies and have
certain deformities and speech impediments. They are
seriously two of the nicest people in the world,
despite their setbacks. Donnie met us our first day in
Gov’s Harb and let us in on the fish fry event and I
saw Danny every time I ran, always exchanging a
friendly good-morning and a few kind words. One time
Danny even shooed away a couple dogs that were
following me as I tried to run. They are two really
great people and we enjoyed talking with them a lot.
We stopped by Levi Island on our way out to pick up
the crab trap. Jack jumped in the water in his gear
and I dinghied over to the spot to pick up the trap
and bring it back. The wind had picked up over night
and was blowing from the southwest churning up the
water. The waves were white as they smashed against
the rocks and coral. I felt like I was white water
rafting and it was a lot of fuN! Unfortunately the
trap didn’t catch any crabs and because of the
roughness of the water we decided to get on our way
and not hang around to snorkel looking.
It didn’t take long to make it to Rainbow Cay/Rainbow
Beach. We anchored, and started snorkeling the cay
right away. The life around the cay looked healthy.
There were many grassy patches and dark coral heads
COVERED in sea fans! The current was strong as it
wrapped around the tip of the cay. The sea fans swayed
back and forth swiftly under the force of the current.
I saw AT LEAST a hundred of them! Many of them were
purple, and all looked sturdy and beautiful. There
were many deep dark crevasses under the overhanging
rock of the cay, home of hundreds of minnows. I only
saw a handful of fish, and they were on the small
side, though I know there must have been more and
bigger fish hiding out in the dark cracks. I saw two
small stingrays, the newer type that are dark brown
and yellowish, floating along the bottom looking for
food.
In the midst of enjoying the underwater life I spotted
a crab! I’m amazed my eyes even caught it because it
was exactly the same color of the coral rock it was
lying on. Since Jack had the spear and the lighter wet
suit I called out to him. He swam over and dove down,
scooped up the crab and jammed the spear into it. The
thing is, the crab barely tried to get away because it
was entangled in fishing line L! The poor thing had
gotten so tangled that the line, which had gotten
snagged on a piece of coral, had pulled its leg off,
and the leg was still dangling close behind the body
of the crab, still wrapped up in the line. I swam
hard against the current back toward the boat,
dragging the crab body by the fishing line behind me.
When I got on board I saw poor crabby was still alive
so I stabbed its head with a knife. As I did so, it
kept flopping its belly open and shut. What? Flopping
its BELLY up and down? I realized the crab was
carrying a bunch of EGGS and was trying to get rid of
them as it was dying! I carefully ripped its belly off
and released the eggs into the water so that either a)
they’d have a chance to live or b) at least they’d
become fish food. I started steaming the crab and
shortly after stuck it in the fridge just in case we
didn’t have a chance to eat it right away.
Jack eventually came back to the boat after having
snorkeled to the other side of the cay where he
literally swam through hundreds of thousands of
minnows! We hopped onto shore to check out the lot and
analyze its position for viewing the sunset. Position:
Perfect.
MONDAY, April 7th
Today we met Jonathan, our real estate buddy, at 11AM
to pinpoint the exact location of the lot. Turns out
Jack and I had already pinned down the exact location
based on a crappy map of the lots made in the 70s. We
discussed our offer with Jonathan and he has taken it
from there.
Throughout the night the wind had picked up and by
the feel of things we figured a front was about to
roll through. We chose to stick around Rainbow Beach
to survey the area and decided we’d head up to Hatchet
Bay because our anchorage was getting rough. Sure
enough the rain started pouring down but we didn’t
mind. We took a short walk over to the ocean side to
see the view and check out Smuggler’s Beach. All the
roads in the area have sweet names like Smugglers Hill
Rd, Pirate Lane, Spyglass Rd, and the road our lot is
situated on is called Buccaneer Road. We took shelter
on someone’s porch for about a half hour while the
rain came down hard. We continued on to the Rainbow
Inn bar & restaurant, which was closed. On our way
back to the boat the rain REALLY started coming down
hard this time so I stuck my thumb out at the first
car that came over the hill. The driver, named Robert,
picked us up and we rode with him back to Governor’s
Harbor for beer, milk, and meat. Although he was
Bahamian, Robert sounded JUST LIKE Arnold
Schwartzenegger (however it’s spelled) except when I
excitedly told him so he immediately changed the
subject. Later on I noticed he wore two hearing aids
and we realized he was mostly deaf and had a hard time
hearing himself speak which is why he sounded that
way. Whoops. Other tidbits about Robert: he drove to
and from Governor’s Harbor 130 mph in the rain up and
over hills and around dangerous curves. Plus every
time he drove up a hill he would drift to the RIGHT
side of the road!!! (the wrong side!) I appreciated
the ride but was never so relieved to get out of a
car!
When we got back to the boat it was too rocky for
life so we moved 3 miles north to Hatchet Bay without
sails. The pond is large and has a very small opening
for boat entry. We took a mooring in the shallowest
part closest to shore away from the other moored
boats. We settled in, fished a little bit, and Jack
helped me de-shell the crab and cut up veggies for a
crab chowder! It was an amazing soup and there is
plenty leftover that I can’t wait to have again! We
laughed ourselves to sleep listening to the comedy
station on the XM.
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