It was finally February 10th, the day we had been excitedly waiting for! Elisa, Rohan and Kamaal were scheduled to arrive in Rock Sound around 4:30 pm which meant that we were going to be leaving the boat and spending some time returning to land life. Since they weren’t arriving until the afternoon we had plenty of time to do some school work, pack for a week on land and get some groceries before we checked in to the cottage we had rented right in front of a great anchorage.
When they finally arrived it was wonderful and almost felt surreal. We had a great time catching up and planning our adventures for the next few days. We spent the first couple of day in Rock Sound checking out the Cathedral Caves and the Blue Hole as well as snorkeling on a great beach on the ocean side. We had almost forgotten how easy it is to get around when you have a car.
The rental car that we had was a Nisan Serena. It was surprisingly compact despite comfortably accommodating all six of us. However it did tend to get a little complainy when we would take it down narrow, unpaved roads to get to the beach. The roads in Eleuthera are rough. The Queen’s Highway which runs down the middle of the island from North to South is well paved but most other roads are very rough and narrow.
After a couple of days exploring the sites near Rock Sound we decided to head further afield. We started by getting a tour of the CTI farm. It’s a really neat nonprofit that runs a school, farm, restaurant and inn. It was really interesting to see the set up at the farm. The were growing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and various herbs hydroponically. The crops were housed inside a building that looked like a greenhouse but was actually designed to keep out excess heat. It had roof panels that would automatically unroll to shade the plants when the temperature got too high. It was neat how the challenges of growing vegetables in the Bahamas are exactly the opposite of Canada. Fall and winter is the growing season here and it’s excessive heat in the spring that bring the season to an end.
Following our farm tour we continued on to Governors Harbour where we stumbled across a really lovely little restaurant for lunch. The food was amazing and I was even able to get a proper latte something I haven’t had since leaving the US.
With lunch out of the way we were ready to check out the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve. The paths through the different sections of the preserve were beautiful and included a lot of information about the native plants and their uses. It also included a section about the Lucayan people who were the indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas and who were wiped out within a generation of Columbus’ arrival.
A couple of days later we headed even further afield all the way past Governors Harbour to the Queen’s Baths. Aria, Jesse and I had visited them briefly when we were in in Eleuthera the first time and were excited to see them again and to share them with Elisa et. Al. The Bath’s are located very near the narrowest point in Eleuthera so after a soak int eh Bath’s we walked across the street to spend the rest of the afternoon swimming an snorkeling on the protected side. While we were there we stumbled upon a little patch of coral just off the shore that literally had thousands of small fish gathered on it.
The next day was Sunday and since most things are closed in the Bahamas on Sundays we though it would be a good time to take everyone out on the boat to do some snorkeling on the far side of the bay. Kamaal loved exploring the boat and building forts with Aria as we motored over.
After lunch and a quick swim, Kamaal and I stayed on the boat while everyone else dingyed around snorkeling at a blue hole and the base of some little islands. All went smoothly for the swimmers although most of them ended up in the water a little earlier then expected when the dingy tipped over.
Our time together was quickly coming to an end. It’s amazing how fast 8 days can fly by. The last few days Jesse and I got the provisioning done. We’re now full up on food, water, fuel and propane. When we weren’t provisioning we did find time to explore some more beautiful beaches.
Before we knew it time was up and we we’re saying good bye. It was such a wonderful treat to see them and spend so much time together but it also made us a little homesick for the ease of life on land and a lot homesick for all the people we love back home.
