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ATSC Eleuthera Trips: some details...

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.

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?

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!

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.

Shell Eleuthera with James Cordy & the ATSC

James Cordy and Conch                           Photo © Ellen Bulger

James Cordy leads the Astronaut Trail Shell Club Eleuthera trips. He knows the territory well. A master conchologist, Jim discovered two new species of marine snails on Eleuthera: Volvarina jimcordyi and Volvarina cordyorum. He has been shelling on Eleuthera since 1992 and has visited the island over forty times. Jim knows where the good beaches are and how to get there, which isn’t always easy or obvious. He will plan the daily itinerary based on tides and weather conditions and wind direction. 

ATSC Trips: BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH B-YATCHES!

Do not adjust your set, THESE COLORS ARE REAL!    photo © Ellen Bulger

For some of us, vacation = beach. Sure, there are other types of recreational trips you can take, but they must be qualified as a ski vacation or a backpacking vacation or a vineyard-tour vacation or whatever. If we simply say vacation, we mean BEACH.

Crowded beaches have their virtues. People watching can be fun. But for a shelling trip, we want the beach to ourselves. On a shelling trip, we want to poke through that wrackline and beachcomb. On a shelling trip we are going to want to put on a mask and jump in that water! You don’t have to collect shells to have a good time with us, but you should be a beach lover.

Eleuthera isn’t for everyone. It’s usually pretty quiet. If you rafted a few of the big cruise ships together, that would be more people than you’d find on the whole 110-mile long island. If you want nightclubs or shopping, head to Nassau or Grand Bahama.

Here’s what they have on Eleuthera: beaches! And yes, there are charming little towns and other things of note, but mainly beaches. If you were using the terrain generator of the old SimCity game to create an island with the maximum ratio of beach to landmass, you could hardly solve that equation more effectively than nature has with Eleuthera.

Coves, bays, cliffs, lagoons, barrier islands, reefs, sandbars, meadows, blue holes, salt ponds, mangroves and more.

White sand, pink sand, blue sky, turquoise water. Aaaaaaaah!

THE ESSENTIAL DIVE SKIN and other things to pack

ELEUTHERA PACKING LIST

Mask, fins, snorkel

Hat, sunglasses

Mesh bag for shell collecting
Gloves (gardening gloves work fine)

DIVE SKIN!

picnic gear & water bottles

snacks & essential foods (specialty food options are limited)

medications & toiletries

camera, notebook, a good paperback

DIVE SKINS ARE ESSENTIAL

• Cheaper than a Speedo.

• Protects you from that strong Bahamian sun. (Sunscreen may be toxic to coral & you.)

• Protects you from jellyfish and sea wasp stings.

• On land, protects you from sandflies.

• During long beach hikes, wetting the suit keeps you cool.
• Crazy comfortable to wear.

• Is actually pretty damn flattering.
• If you take up speed skating, all you need are skates and a helmet.
• Should you decide to become a super hero, all you need is a cape.

This is one of the reasons you need a dive skin. Sea Wasps are not common in Eleutheran waters .  But they do show up on the back side in places like Tarpum Bay. Over a dozen trips, I have seen three sea wasps there. But it only takes one to sting you. These blisters are from one tentacle and happened in an instant. I asked the folks who lived in Tarpum Bay what we could do to help the stung person be more comfortable and was told ALOE on the outside, RUM on the inside. Getting back in the water helps, but you have to sleep some time and the stings persist for a week or so.

Are ATSC Eleuthera Trips for You?

The club runs trips to Eleuthera in the Bahamas 3 x year. ATSC makes NO money from the trips. This isn't for profit, it is simply a group of people who travel together to enjoy shelling. 

There are plenty of people who prefer all-inclusive resorts and luxury cruises, but some of us prefer something simpler.

ATSC Eleuthera trips are not for everyone.

This might not be your cup of tea,

IF:

1. You require pampering.

2. You demand luxury hotels, fancy restaurants, lots of shopping and nightclubs.

3. You need to be surrounded by crowds of people.

4. You aren't interested in making your own fun. 

5. A mosquito bite or a broken air conditioner sends you off the deep end.

Our Eleuthera trip can be swell for you,  

IF:

1. You love nature.

2. You want to get off the beaten path.

3. You want to go to a different beach all day, every day.

4. You want to snorkel, swim and beachcomb.

5. Your idea of paradise is empty unspoiled sugar-sand beaches and crystal clear water.

6. You appreciate a local culture that is friendly and relaxed.

7. You want to collect shells!

No Traffic on the Queen's Highway.     Photo © Ellen Bulger