It was early Tuesday morning flight to Fort Lauderdale with a long layover there until we ended up in Nassau that evening. A cab ride from the Fort Lauderdale airport took us to an awesome restaurant called Gilbert's 17th Street Grill. We had lunch there. We then walked 2 miles to get the first feel of the many times our toes would squish in the sand.
It was a good way to burn the long layover, so then it was a cab back to the airport to catch our evening flight to Nassau. Once on the island, we took a $20 cab ride and dined at Luciano’s of Chicago. It was more great food and the patio looked across the bay to the massive and illuminated Atlantis Resort and Casino. It’s the Vegas of the Bahamas.
Day Two:
Still in Nassau, we took a $1.25 bus ride downtown. The locals use the bus, and $20 cab rides everywhere just weren’t practical. We toured the hand crafted local gifts and trinkets of The Straw Market, then made our way to “Da Fish Fry”. This is a strip of local restaurants in Nassau that cater to feeding the masses of residents as well as those fresh off the cruise ships.
That evening we were back at the Nassau airport, but this time on the tiny domestic flights area. We were walking down a runway and aboard a small 15 seat prop plane that took us to Eleuthera Island. (Pronounced Elle-YEW-thrah)
There we landed on an air strip of Governor’s Harbor, the capital of the island. The man we rented a car from flagged us down, and handed us the keys to a Chevy Malibu. It was in dire condition, but had four wheels and an engine. Eleuthera is 100 miles long, and no more than a mile wide. In some places the island is much less wide.
There is a single, unpainted two lane road runs the stretch of the island, and only has “driveways” that split off it. Some leading to run down shacks of the locals, others giant gated areas were celebrities are known to reside.
We took the squeaky brakes and blown suspension Malibu rental car to the Sky Beach Club were we were going to call home for the next 4 days.
Dinner was had at the Bistro at the Club. The bistro had a one manned, tiny little kitchen, but a cook that turned out some of the best food ever tasted.
Day Three:
A morning worth sleeping in, and had breakfast at the Bistro. We then concluded that we were the only two on the resort and all the workers had left for the night. We were likely the only two souls in a 2 mile radius, enjoying it all to ourselves in the dead quiet, beautifully starry skies of our own little section of tranquility. The Sky Beach Club is carved out of a Cliffside and the area looks over the roaring shores of the Atlantic. We took our morning to spend it down at the beach, frolicking in the crystal clear warm waters, realizing that in either direction until as far as we could see there wasn’t a single person to be found.
Deciding that we’d explore with our less than trusty Malibu, we ventured north. The internets told us the Laughing Lizard was a great local grub spot, but upon finding it, it was closed. So we continued driving until we found the Glass Window Bridge.
This is a single lane man made bridge that connects parts of the island. One side is the vicious Atlantic with 10-15 foot swells pounding the cliffs, and on the other side is a shallow glass smooth Caribbean sea. All split by this bridge. The bridge had a blow hole, were a 10 inch hole was connected to the ocean swells, and regularly water would spew from it 20 feet into the air.
After checking out this cool spot, we continued further north to the smaller North Eleuthera airport and by the time we made it there we were starving. Across the building that was the airport was a shack full of locals. There we ordered up and devoured possibly the best burger I’ve ever eating. Homemade, fresh, prepared on the spot burgers. Amazingly good. We departed and returned to the Sky Beach Club for the evening’s dinner.
Day Four:
Complete and total relaxation was the name of the game for this day. Slept in, had breakfast and lunch at the bistro. We spent most of the day lying on chairs zoning out listening to the waves crash ashore. Then to the infinity edge pool were Simi read a book and I napped. Dinner at the bistro, completely and utterly relaxed. We did nothing that day and it was everything it needed to be.
We opted to find a local bakery. It was recommended by the Sky Beach Club, but was practically impossible to find. No street names, no signage, just a small white building were an old lady pointed at when we asked after giving up our search. Homemade pastries were our breakfast of choice, and we opted to explore the southern bits of the island.
Long spans of nothing but the single road, zero cars and no speed limits we shot way south. We would only slow for the tiniest of fishing ports that dotted the shores split off from this main artery. Eventually we made it all the way to the fishing town of Cape Eleuthera. We spotted all new accommodations and big boats resting, waiting to be rented out for some deep sea fishing.
In the Bahamas’ Coffee Company Restaurant for lunch did we see the hundreds of images of car sized fish people caught and hung for all to see. We left the cape and took the long road back to the Sky Beach Club for our final night there.
Day Six:
We packed and departed the Sky Beach club. Car rental returned at the airport, and aboard the same little plane that dropped us off. No shoe removal, no metal detectors, and in fact we were headed down the taxi way before everyone was even seated. It was a skip back across the sea and we back in Nassau. We took more bus rides around, shopping and answered Simi’s craving the whole time for some coconut ice cream.
That answered, back to our Sheraton hotel for quality R&R time with a hammock. Then a nice walk a couple blocks to an Italian restaurant. It was OK, as my lasagna tasted like Chef Boyardee made it.
Day Seven:
We booked a beach day at the Blue Lagoon. About 30 years ago a massive storm split this little island creating a lagoon between the shores of the Atlantic swells. A forever influx of fresh water crashing over the rocks and into the calm, warm waters of the lagoon was perfect for someone to monopolize into a resort. They trucked in tons of sand, inflatables, beach chairs, and even went so far as to make it a dolphin sanctuary. For $200 a head you could swim with the dolphins. .
Neither Simi nor I were interested, and we opted to find a couple plastic Adirondack chairs on a sand bar of the lagoon. There the two of us sat in 6 inches of bath water with the occasional 12 inch sea surge as everyone but us enjoyed their dolphin time. We left the chairs and found another shaded hammock as the crowds then raided the beach. The peace and quiet was gone. We had lunch and spent a good 8am to 4pm at the lagoon. Manmade relaxation. Still just as good.
Day Eight:
It was an early morning trip to the other end of the island on a bus for a day of snorkeling. On a boat and out into the ocean with our guide, we jumped into the waters to snorkel around a massive reef. There were the thousands of fish, coral, and such. It’s so cool seeing everything so vivid in the crystal clear waters. We were there for about 45 minutes then the captain took us to shallower waters were we were up close to a plane crash. There we were face to face with a lackadaisical barracuda. He was just putzing around and never got close to anyone. I did have an underwater camera (film is getting developed) and took some good shots of the spiky teeth on the barracuda so big it didn’t even fit in his mouth!
Then the excitement began as our captain read us our dos and don’ts and we were in Caribbean reef shark territory. They sunk a bait box to the 30 foot deep ocean floor, and the sharks went down for feeding. I jumped in, Simi didn’t go for it, and 20 feet below were a dozen sharks all circling the bait for their turn in feeding. Once the sharks got enough they began coming to the surface. That was the queue to get the heck outta the water. The captain pulled the bait back to the surface and the sharks continued nibbling at the surface. It was awesome!
We had lunch at the docks, and headed back to the hotel. We then took another bus down to the water taxi. $4 a head to head over to the Atlantis resort were we stumbled around the massive complex, checking out the aquarium and in a glass tunnel with the same reef sharks swimming over head in the aquarium.
A taxi then took us back to Luciano’s of Chicago, as the food was good enough to return too.
Day Nine
It was a quick bus ride to downtown Nassau for last minute gifts, and then a cab ride to the airport, a series of plane rides back to Columbus, arriving home around 11pm to unpack and get back into the groove. Feeling so refreshed, nicely tanned as well. It was a great trip to zero out the blood pressure for the holidaze approaching and an awesome vacation. As always thanks for reading.
If you're interested in more pix, they are available here in the first four albums:
https://picasaweb.google.com/106913679852802708833
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