Here’s how the trips work: In order to make these trips as
affordable as possible, we share apartments. Mostly we make our own food. We
share rental cars and gas. Jim works out a schedule of sites for the week
optimized based on tides and conditions. Each morning we load our gear and
provisions into the cars and drive to one of the sites. Some sites are a full
day event. Some days we will split the day between two different beaches. We
might stop and do some terrestrial tourist stuff, but mostly we’re beach-beach-beach.
If you wanted to break off from the group for a day and head up to Spanish
Wells or Harbour Island, that’s up to you. According to the Travel Channel, the
beach on Harbour Island is the most beautiful beach in the world, and it is
lovely. But there are plenty of other beaches every bit as gorgeous on
Eleuthera proper.
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| Porch Photo © Ellen Bulger |
ACCOMMODATIONS: We fly into Eleuthera, into Rock Sound Airport and from
there drive to Tarpum Bay Settlement (Town?) our base of operations. Apartments are shared; four people per. Each
apartment has a small living/dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom and two
bedrooms. One of the bedrooms will have a double bed, the other two twin beds.
The kitchen has a refrigerator, a coffee maker, a four-burner gas stove with an
oven and a microwave. There are a few dishes and pans. (Nothing fancy, but it
gets the job done.) There are air conditioning units in each bedroom and one in
the living/dining room. There is a television set, a couch, an armchair, a
dining room set w/table and four chairs. There are plastic chairs on the
covered tiled porch. The bay and a beach are right across the street. What more
do you need, really?
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| Good to Go in the Red Car Photo © Ellen Bulger |
TRANSPORTATION:
We rent cars, usually one for every apartment of four
people. Gas isn’t cheap anywhere, but it is more expensive on the island so
you’ll be glad to split the cost. Bahamians drive on the left side of the road,
but the cars come in from the U.S., so the steering wheels are on the left as
well, which makes the driving weird. On the bright side, mostly we just drive
on one road, The Queen’s Highway, which like the island itself, is long and
straight and runs for over a hundred miles. It is hard to get lost. But it can
be a bit of a trick to find the beaches.
A TYPICAL DAY:
Wake. Make breakfast and pack lunch. (Some of us scoot out
to do a little Tarpum Bay photography.) Load the cars with gear, water and
provisions. Drive to the day’s destination beach: snorkel, picnic, hike,
explore, beachcomb, swim. Some days we visit two different beaches. Add water,
rinse, repeat. Return to TB. Rinse gear and hang to dry, dinner, swim in the
bay, explore the town, put up feet, gloat over shells. Probably go to bed early
because TIRED and there will be another wonderful site tomorrow!
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| Conch Master Mise en Place Photo © Ellen Bulger |
FOOD & DRINK:
Mostly we cook our own meals. We bring some of our groceries
with us, because we don’t want to miss a single moment at the beach, but there
are a couple of small markets right in town and a very presentable little
supermarket in Rock Sound that we usually visit by the second day of the trip. In
Tarpum Bay there are a couple of take outs for conch salad, fried fish and
chicken, and, of course, a nice cold Kalik. There are no swanky restaurants.
PRO TIP: If pineapples are in season, buy one. They aren’t cheap, but
buy one anyway. Eleutheran pineapples are the food of the gods. If you eat one
at the beginning of the week, you’ll probably end up eating one a day and you will
wish for more. You will come home and those pineapples will haunt your dreams.
