It seems like the weather had not been particularly great our first few days on Eleuthera and this day was no exception, in fact I think it was a little worse than the previous.   Since we were unable to kayak or snorkel around the house it was pointless to stick around so J decided we needed to go to the bakery for breakfast again.  He was really just after more donuts.  I think it had been quite some time since he had eaten donuts so he was trying to get in as many as he could.  Once he had his fill we were off to do the rounds again and try to find a beach calm enough to snorkel.   We decided to do a repeat of two days earlier, not sure why we thought it would be calmer this time around but we went for it anyway. 

Stop 1 - Central Airport Beach, just as windy as last time. Stop 2 - Twin Cove, there was someone at the first cove so we decided to try out the second cove.   It was a little calmer than Central Airport, but still pretty churned up but it looked doable.  We were starting to get sick of the wind and lack of decent snorkeling opportunities so we decided to just go for it anyway.  The water was pretty churned up but we were able to see some really cool fish including a trunkfish and scrawled filefish.  I just love the filefish they are so amazing.  This one had purple spots that looked like florescent lights underwater.

Well due to the weather, our snorkel was pretty short lived. We dried off, and had a picnic with the grouper ceviche we made the night before.  It was delicious!!!  We used hot peppers, onions, lime juice and fresh tomatoes from Island Farms.  I am not sure what kind of hot peppers they were, small oval ones that varied from yellow to red, probably bird peppers?  We just added one and it was perfectly spicy by our standards, not so hot you can’t taste it, but hot enough you won’t forget it.  We like things a bit on the hotter side so I would not recommend them peppers to anyone who did not like a little heat. 

After lunch we decided to see if we could find the cove at James Point. We thought that it might be sheltered from the wind a little more since the wind seemed to be coming from the southeast.  We wound up at James Point Beach instead and it was raging so we took another beach walk, and checked out the old shipwreck.   J fished a little around the wreckage just to see if there was anything out there.  He had a couple bites but did not land anything.  We decided to call it a day at that point and head home to clean up and think about dinner.

We decided to put off cooking the snapper one more night and treat ourselves to dinner at the Rainbow Inn.  It was still a little early so we stopped at Kel-D’s in James Cistern for a couple of Sands.  It was a little early for the Kel-D’s crowd too and there were only a couple of people at the bar, all watching a movie.  We chatted with a few of the locals that were just coming in after work then headed on our way.

We arrived at the Rainbow Inn not long after they opened and we were seated right away.  They have really great service, probably the best out of of all the places we have eaten on Eleuthera.  We decided to splurge for our first drink and we each ordered a Gimlet.  They were fabulous but potent so we switch to Sands with our meal.

For dinner we ordered the seafood platter for two, it came with fresh Mahi Mahi (caught that day and some of the best I've had), grilled lobster tails, shrimp, calamari, conch fritters and excellent grilled vegetables.  It was a tremendous amount of food.   It’s a good thing J is a good eater and burns it right off because we were not about to leave a precious morsel of that delicious meal on our plate.

On our way out the door a couple stopped us and asked about our giant seafood platter.  They said they were too intimidated to order one after they saw our huge plate come out.  We told them how great it was and chatted with them for a while.  It was one of the last days of their trip and they had just gotten engaged.  We congratulated them and told them we were married on Eleuthera and celebrating our third anniversary this trip.  It sounds like they fell instantly in love with Eleuthera just as we did and will definitely be back.  

We only made it as far as the parking lot before running into another jolly bunch.  They had just been on a fishing charter with Captain Z (Gregory Town) and had provided the delicious Mahi Mahi we ate for dinner.  We had a great time carrying on with them in the parking lot.  Finally about an hour after our initial attempt at departure we made it back to the car.  We were having so much fun and there was a serious discussion at this point on whether or not we should join the party and go back in for more drinks.  But it was well after dark and we decided to error on the safe and sober side and head back to Caribbean Blue. 

It was not the most thrilling of days but we still got to snorkel a little and have a fabulous meal.  Even a windy stormy day on Eleuthera is better than a being at work.   

It was another windy morning at Caribbean Blue so we were hoping if we would headed south some of the Atlantic beaches would be calmer.  We did not have internet access and the data plan on my cell phone worked rather inconsistently so checking the weather was not always an option.  Not that the forecast is ever that accurate anyway. 

We stopped at The Bakery on our way out and picked up some fresh bread, donuts and breakfast sandwiches, then we hit the road.   J remembered how much he likes donuts and craved them every morning after that.   I think the lemon and cherry filled were his two favorites.
 

It turned out that the weather was a repeat from the day before and it was windy everywhere so we just did more sight seeing.  Our first stop was Whiteland, this used to be one of our favorite spots and we had heard the road was blocked off so we wanted to check.   They have cleared the road but it was very overgrown.   We spoke to someone later on in the trip who said he had just called to have it cleared just a few days before.   The wind was howling at Whiteland so we hopped in the car and headed off again.  We took a peek at a bonefish spot along the way but it was still just a little too breezy and those finicky bonefish just weren’t having it.  We did get to see quite a few sea turtles swim by, which is always exciting.

Next stop was a random left between Rock Sound and Tarpum Bay.  This took us to an old garbage dump.  The water was calmer here but it did not look like the greatest snorkeling and the atmosphere left a little to be desired.  So we moved on to Double Bay, then Gert Bay, same old story too rough and windy to snorkel.

J saw a random road he had always wanted to check out on the way back so we decided to take it.  It was the burliest Eleuthera road we have ever been on.  We drive some rough roads in Montana so our tolerance is pretty high, but this road was seriously overgrown.  Leave it to J to pick something like that.  We did not want to keep going but it was too overgrown to to back up or and there was not place to turn around so we slowly plodded along.   Finally we made it to a turn around where we parked.  We could hear the water so we just walked the rest of the way.  J brought his spinning rod just in case.  It was a good thing he did because after two casts he landed a really nice yellowtail snapper.   The water was still way to rough to snorkel, so we walked a little farther down the road and found a sheltered cove that looked like it might be OK for some "extreme snorkeling".  Getting in and out of the water along the rocks was actually a lot easier than I anticipated but the waves were pretty darn rough and my mask kept fogging in the cold water.  I lasted about 20min tops but J stayed in long enough to get himself a lobster. 

I had run out of patience for extreme snorkeling at this point and just wanted some sandy beach time so we headed to Burrows Liquor for a few cold beers, then on to Twin Cove.  We lounged on the beach and had a little beer sampler.  After a while we figured even with the wind it was not as rough at Twin Cove as our two previous extreme snorkel adventures so we decided to jump in.   I also guess I need to explain that typically we go 200 yards or more off shore because the reefs are livelier, the fish bigger and the clarity is much better, but the water can be a lot rougher.  We had a nice little 30-45min snorkel and J got a good size grouper, he was having quite a successful day as a provider.   Typically we have a kayak or floating waterproof receptacle to put the fish in so there is not blood in the water, but we had not gotten into our groove yet.   So when I realized we were at least 300 yards off shore with no where to put the fish I started hauling a$$ back to shore.   I guess I was supposed to stick close to him and look for sharks but my survival instincts decided fleeing was the best option in this circumstance.  J made fun of me days after that and said I was a terrible wing man (woman) and I would have felt really bad if he had been bit by a shark because I abandoned him.

After a full day of exploring we headed back to Caribbean Blue for cocktail hour. I had another spunky monkey and J discovered his new favorite the John Collins.  We made big a batch of ceviche out of the grouper and had lobster and green salad with Island Farms fine herb dressing for dinner.  It was another spectacular albeit windy day on Eleuthera.

My internal clock did a great job of waking me up just before sunrise every morning of our trip, despite it being 5am in our home time zone.   You typically don’t get too see the sunrise on the Caribbean side but lucky for us the way that Caribbean Blue is oriented you can watch both the sunrise and the sunset from different sides of the deck. 
We had a decent breeze the majority of our trip so the no-seeums were not much of an issue this time around.  I also think that we have started building up an immunity to them, because when we did get bit the bites were not nearly as swollen, itchy and long lasting as I remember.   That being said the few times when they were out I still made sure to wear my "bug suit".  I hate putting on Deet in the evening after I shower so instead of using pesticides I would put my socks over my pant legs then flip flops on over my socks (I packed light) and then my grey hoodie tightened up so only my eyes nose and mouth were showing.  I was told I looked like a space woman crossed with a 1940’s baseball player, but it was very very effective.  I never once missed enjoying my coffee outside at sunrise or my glass of wine at sunset.  Priorities!

Well anyway I thoroughly enjoyed my first morning back on Eleuthera by watching the sunrise with a my coffee spiked with just a little coconut rum.  It was a little breezy but calm enough to take the kayak out, so we decided to head for Levi Island.  J did a little spin fishing from the kayak while I paddled us around the front of the island.  Before long a tern spotted us starting diving for the lure every time J cast.   We did not want to injure the tern and the wind was picking rather up quickly so we decided to head back.  We decided to troll the lure all the way back but still had no luck.

By the time we got back to the house it was too rough to snorkel so we decided to explore some of the closer Atlantic beaches.  We had a huge shock the day before when we paid $80 for a half a tank of gas so we thought we better limit our drive time.  We found out later on that we had paid for someone else’s gas along with our own, but it was still hovering well over the $6 mark so we wanted to use it sparingly.

We normally head south and had never really explored the beaches around GHB before so we thought we would give it a try and do a little reconnaissance for a calmer day.  The first place we wound up was the area by the old naval base and central airport beach.   We explored around for a little while till we found a place to access the beach and took a long beach walk.   It turned out to be just as rough and windy on the Atlantic side so after our walk we decided to just keep driving around looking for good spots to go when the wind died down.  

Eventually we wound up on the rough sandy Old Queens Highway and decided to follow it for a while.  After a long rough, somewhat scenic drive found a turn that took us to the water, well to the top of a cliff that had a rough trail down to the water.   

From the top of the cliff that it looked like the water might be calm enough to snorkel so we decided to give it a try.   After a quick lunch of turkey, salami, lettuce and fresh tomato sandwiches (we just love the tomatoes on Eleuthera) we were ready to climb down.  It was steeper than it looked at first but after some delicate footwork and using tree branches for support we made it to a small beach or more accurately a flat rocky area with a little bit of sand.  The waves were a rougher than they looked from above but we went for it anyway.  Once we were in the water there was a shallow rocky area about 3-4 feet deep that extended out just shy of a hundred yards before it was deep enough to snorkel.  We put our fins on and worked out way out against the waves till it dropped off.  

Once we made it out it to the reef the snorkeling was spectacular.  We saw a lot of wonderful fish and some really fabulous coral formations.  Despite all the fun we were having the water was a little chilly and the waves were bouncing us around quite a bit so we decided to go back to shore after about 45 minutes.  Getting back to shore turned out to be trickier than we had anticipated.  What we did not realize when we were getting in was that there were sea urchins everywhere in the shallow part close to shore.  The waves had increased since we had originally got in the water, so we were not able to snorkel right up to shore without risking being thrown into the rocks.  Instead we needed to take our fins off and walk in the last 30 feet or so.  Trying fight the waves, while avoiding stepping on the urchins and trying to take our fins off at the same time turned out to be rather difficult.  Every time I got close to getting my fins off a giant wave would knock me over.  J finally had to grab me by the scruff of my rash guard and hold me upright so I could and pull my fins off.  Needless to say the bruises I accumulated trying to get to shore stuck around for most of our trip.  By the time we got to shore the waves had taken their toll on us, as we were not used to “extreme snorkeling” yet so we both had to sit for about 30 minutes to get our balance back.   

We scaled back up the cliff and made it safely back to the vehicle for a hard eared Kalik.  Then we headed down the road another mile or so where we discovered Twin Coves.  We both shook our heads knowing if we had gone just a little farther down the road we could have had a nice easy snorkel, but that’s just not our style.

We decided to keep going and followed the road all the way to Club Med beach stopping here and there along the way.  It was still mid-afternoon so we decided head up to North Palmetto Point and check out Poponi Beach too.  Poponi is another great place for beach walks so we wandered down the beach for a while then decided to call it a day and head back to Caribbean Blue and clean ourselves up.

We were pretty pooped after our full day and I was not in the mood to cook so we decided to go back out for dinner.  I tried to call the Front Porch and Rainbow Inn to see if either was open since it was Sunday, but I could not get the house phone to work so we decided to take a drive and find out 9so much for saving gas).  They were both closed, but we did get explore some more.  There is a new farm and produce stand called The Hearty Mow between Rainbow Bay and Hatchet Bay that is definitely worth stopping at.  They also have fresh bread 3 days a week (M, W, F?).  So after our little detour we headed back to Governors Harbour to the Sunset Inn just in time for the sunset.  

There was just the one waitress working at the Sunset Inn and almost every table was full (some customers not being too patient) so we felt pretty bad for the poor thing.   We chatted with her a little and told her we were in no hurry.  She told us how the night before it was just as bad and someone had stiffed her about $40 on their bill too (basically her gratuity).   She thought they had just miscounted and was really hoping they would come back.  The poor thing was working her butt off and just having a really rough couple of days. 
We started off with a rum punch, yummy but too sweet for my taste.  After my 3 month pre-vacation diet of low carb, no wheat, no alcohol, and no sugar, I have become hyper sensitive to sweets.  We moved on to beer and decided to try Sands since Kalik was just not hitting the spot this time around.  The Sands did the trick and were converts for the rest of the trip.  We enjoyed our cocktails and watched the spectacular sunset while waiting for our meal.  We both had the grouper, crab and rice and green salad for dinner.  It was delicious and I could not have asked for a more wonderful end to our first day back on Eleuthera.

After a year of planning we finally began our long two day journey to Eleuthera.  We departed at 5:45am on Friday and after two 40-50min stops we finally arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 5pm on time and with all our luggage accounted for.  

We used my husband’s hotel points to get ourselves what we thought would be a swanky oceanfront room in FLL.   We did not realize that it would be spring break in Florida and that most the hotels were booked solid.  So of course the "free" room was the bottom of the barrel.   HA HA what were we thinking free and nice, yea right?   We wound up in the hotels old building with a dank run-down room, surrounded by spring breakers and complete with prostitutes on the corner.  Honestly the whole thing was rather amusing and it was free so we had a nice chuckle.  We did have a nice marina view where we could gawk at all the fancy yachts.   We also found a really fun bar on the water so we wound up having a pretty fun time holding up in Florida counting the minutes till we could go back to paradise.

We were up bright and early Saturday morning and after breakfast and a nice walk we headed off to FLL.   We have always taken the United (once Continental) connection from FLL to ELH or GHB.   Up to this point we had arrived at the proper airport 50% of the time, arrived typically 1-3 hours late every time, but we had always departed Eleuthera on time and from the proper airport.   The last time we flew it was a different airline, running the connections this time it was Silver Airways.   I have to say we were very impressed.   The planes are newer, cleaner and the weekend flights have larger planes that even have with bathrooms and drink service.  We arrived within 15 minutes of our scheduled time and it was a really pleasant flight.   We even had cocktails, I had a very classy mini bottle of Barefoot Pinot and J had Glenlivet.

We met Stanton Cooper at the airport to pick up our rig for the next 3 weeks.  He really hooked us up this time with a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee. There was plenty of room, everything worked and it had good tires and a roof rack.  It served us very well on our numerous adventures. 

We're staying at Caribbean Blue for the first two weeks which is just a few miles from the airport so we made a quick stop by the house, dropped off our luggage, and checked to see what supplies we needed to get through the next couple of days.  We grabbed a cooler and rushed out to get the shopping over with.   About 90 minutes later and $400 poorer we had a full tank of gas, Island Farms veggies dressing and sauces, enough groceries for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2-3 days and and plenty of beer, wine and liquor.

We were back home to Caribbean Blue and in the water before 3pm.   After a nice snorkel, it was time for cocktail hour so we enjoyed a round of spunky monkeys (recipe below) on the deck then started working on dinner.   There was a light breeze so we were able to enjoy dinner at sunset outside on the deck.   We had an island farms salad with fresh lobster and fine herb dressing for dinner, accompanied by a glass of  Malbec.   We also met the two giant lizards (later to be named El Gordo (Zordo) and Gordette) who would frequent the deck in the daytime and beg for food.

Spunky Monkey Recipe: Fill a glass with Ice, add one shot dark rum, one shot Ricardo Coconut Rum, and a generous squeeze of lime. Fill with club soda, stir and enjoy. 

Liquor Prices: (as best I can remember). 
Trivento Malbec, and Malbec Blends from Bristols in Cupids Cay:  We found this to be the best wine value, it was around $12 a bottle and drank like a $8-9 bottle in the states.    We prefer Bristols by far for wine selection.  They also accept credit cards.

Beer: We paid $40 a case for Sands light and $46 for Kalik and Heineken.   We prefer Burrows for beer selection and prices. 

Liquor:  Rum ranged from $10-$15, Jameson 15 year was around $15, and Absolute was around $12.  We like to shop around for liquor but when we are in a hurry we always go to Burrows.