I cant believe it is our last full day on Eleuthera.  After 3 weeks this feels like our life now.   We feel like we belong, and are destined to be here.  The thought of going back to dreary spring in Montana is utterly depressing.  I know we live in a spectacularly beautiful place, it just kind of sucks during the shoulder seasons.  I should be looking forward to planting my garden, but instead I am wishing we lived on Eleuthera and I could just plant a garden here. 
    It was a pretty grey cloudy morning so the sunrise was nothing to write home about.   We watched it anyway, and did our usual morning routine, then went about making the most of our day.  We started off with a beach walk toward Airport Beach.  J brought his pole with him, hoping to get in a little more fishing in, but had no luck.  

      After our long walk the weather cleared a little bit so we figured we better jump on the chance to get one last snorkel in.   We decided to head to the southern end of DaVilla's little beach this time.  There are remains of an old sea wall there and out from it is a nice reef that starts at the shoreline and extends out about 400 yards.   It is not the easiest spot to get in and out of but it was well worth it.  Despite the water being churned up a little, it was great snorkeling.  The farther out we went the more fish we saw and the bigger they got.   It is hard to tell from the photos but there were some really big fish out there.  The grouper is one of the biggest we have seen.  If you look at the yellowtail snapper, they were large, maybe 18" or so, so you can imagine the size of the grouper in front of them.  
      We got so caught up in our snorkeling and watching all the beautiful fish, that none of us looked up to check to see what the weather was doing till we started to hear distant rumbling and noticed it was getting darker out.   Finally when we popped our heads out of the water we realized there were ominous black clouds all around us.  It was an immediate consensus among the four of us that we need to get to shore ASAP.  We quickly worked our way back in and by the time we mad it to shore it was just starting to rain.   We quickly headed back up to the house as the rain started picking up, getting a nice freshwater shower along the way. 

      It was still raining pretty steadily after we got home and dried off so we decide we might as well head to Ronnies, rather than sit around the house.  It was really dumping by the time we got to Ronnie's and we made a mad dash from the car, but even in that short distance we were completely drenched, again.   We ordered up some 2 for $5 beers and parked ourselves for a while.  The rain never did let up while we were there but we figured we better get out of there before we got in too much trouble, so we headed back home. 

      By the time we got back the rain had finally stopped, so the guys grabbed their sopping wet gear and headed out for another snorkel.    S and I said it was a bad idea as it seemed like the storm was not quite over and we could still hear thunder and see lightning off in the distance.  They insisted it quite a ways off and we were being overly cautious so we lost that one, at first... 

      Less than 5 minutes in the thunder really started booming, so they came running back up to DaVilla and decided to continue on with cocktail hour instead.   

      We still did not want to sit around so we took our drinks "to go" and headed out for another beach walk.  This time we headed south toward the old sea wall.  On the top of the cliff above it is an old abandoned house.  It looks like it was a really nice place back in the day, but now it pretty dilapidated, with broken or boarded up windows and pieces of the roof missing.    D and J decided to climb up the rotten old stairs to the top of the bluff and check it out.   It was in compete disrepair, but the front door was open so they went in to check it out.  They saw clothes strewn about and a pile of trash as if someone had recently been squatting there.  As they were getting that uneasy feeling that maybe they should not be there since someone could possibly be living there one of them accidentally kicked a can.  The sound echoed just like a horror film and they both came running out of the house and tore back down to the beach full speed.   It was hilarious, especially watching J, who is afraid of nothing run away like a scared child.   S and I just sat on the beach laughing and watched them run back down the stairs.  Once they caught their breath we continued on our long beach walk.  On the way back the front door was closed, and it was not by D or J on their mad dash out of the house. 

      Well we stayed up as late as we could, making sure to finish off the last of our food and drink, before we finally had to call it a night.   Sometime around 2am we all woke up to a massive thunderstorm.  It must have been centered right over DaVilla.   The thunder and lighting were simultaneous and so forceful that I was afraid to get to close to the windows to watch it.   The windows would shake from the thunder and the entire house would light up from the lightning.   It was amazing, and frightening all at the same time.  You could see streaks of lighting hitting the water right in front of the house.   I have never experienced a storm quite like that.  I definitely would not have wanted to be out on a sailboat that night.  It kept up for quite some time, but eventually passed far enough away that we were able to get a few hours of sleep.  We took it as a sign that Eleuthera really did not want us to leave, or maybe it was just trying to scare us away. 

    If any of you have read this blog before you know exactly what we did this morning.  If not here is a quick re-cap, sunrise, coffee, breakfast & fun, the same as each and every morning on Eleuthera.   Although D and J were moving a little slower than usual after their late night around the beach bonfire last night.

    After breakfast we decided we needed one more beach outing before our trip was over.  We packed up the cooler and all our gear and hopped in the car and headed to one of our favorite beaches.  No we won't tell you which one, as I said before discovering them on your own in half the fun!! 

    We had gone to this particular beach once already this trip, but it was during the cold front so we were not able to spend as much time as we would have liked in the water.  Today was absolutely perfect, it was calm and sunny, and the water temperature seemed a lot more comfortable than it had just a week or so prior. 

    We spent a leisurely two+ hours snorkeling about, taking it all in.  This was the longest non-stop snorkel trip for S and I so far.   The boys brought their spears just in case, but they were not entirely fixated on spearing like usual.   It was a good thing they did though, as D got a nice schoolmaster and J a large Margate.  We had been seeing a lot of Margate's this trip, but had not been able to get very close to them and we were unsure if they were good eating or not.  After our last sighting I Google searched them and found they were perfectly edible.  When J finally got close enough to one he jumped on the opportunity to spear it for dinner.  It wound up tasting very similar to crab.    

    As we were just starting to tucker out and work our way to shore a small barracuda showed up and starting pestering me.  I had forgot to wear my dive gloves so it is possible it was attracted to my ring or maybe just my feminine whiles, but it was definitely getting way to close for comfort.  D and S love barracuda and it was a small enough one to be safe to eat (according to a local guide) so J asked if he could spear it.  I gave him the go ahead, since it was down to spear it or I desperately flee to the kayak, before I lost a finger.  He quickly snuck in and rescued me from the pesky barracuda.  We all decided to call it quits after that and worked our way back to shore. 

    We were all pretty tuckered out by the time we got to shore, and getting sick of sick of salami and turkey sandwiches so we decided to pack up for the day and head to the Beach House for a little late lunch.   It was perfect timing as the clouds just started rolling in as we were leaving the beach.   We made a quick run to Burrows for some ice to keep our fish cool and a few more provisions to get us through our last couple of days then we jotted off to the Beach House.  We all had grouper sandwiches, which were excellent and S and I had their signature margaritas which were also delicious. 

    After a huge late lunch we all waddled our way back to the car, and headed back to DaVilla.  We took it pretty easy for the next few hours, then at sunset decided to grab a bottle of wine and out towels and head across the road to Alabaster Beach to watch the sunset.  It was a serenely quiet and calm evening.  So calm that we had forgotten about our little no-seeum friends.  As soon as we parked ourselves on or towels they began eating us alive.  Suddenly an evening swim seemed like a great idea.  Even with the dimming light you could see way out into the shallow water.  It looked clear of critters so we went for it.  It was a fantastic swim, there is just something amazing about swimming in that low light.  Luckily none of us became shark bait and we had a fantastic time. 

    Once we left the water the no-seems went after us with a vengeance, so we grabbed the wine and hightailed it back to DaVilla.   D cooked us up the Margate and Barracuda for dinner with yellow rice and salad.  I had reached my maximum fish intake for the trip and could not even bare to take another bite.   I guess that is a good sign right, ate so much of a good thing you just don't want anymore.   I wish I could say the same about spending time on Eleuthera, but I will always want more. 

    Sorry I really dropped the ball on finishing the last few days of our trip reports.  We had a catastrophic hard drive crash and I lost all of our GoPro videos from this last trip.  I was in the process of saving a time-lapse Eleuthera sunrise video, then planning back everything up as soon as it was done.   The drive just froze midway through the saving process and went into the broken hard drive land of no return.  I was so bummed it took me months to get up the motivation to write about our trip again.  Luckily I was able to salvage most of the photos, so I am very grateful for that.  Sorry I will try to get the last of them finished up, before an entire year passes by.

    Normally by this far into a trip we would have taken a day to wander around Governor Harbour to do a little gift shopping or we would have headed north and stopped by Pam's Island Made.  I really wanted a new Eleuthera hat as mine was getting pretty rough around the edges.   But so far we had not been willing to take the time out of our "busy" days of non-stop fun to do any shopping.  We were done to the last couple of days and I really wanted to get it done, and finally I had whined at J enough that he decided today would be the day to get it over with.   The plan was the boys would go fishing in the morning and then come back around lunch and we would go shopping. 

    The boys took off right after breakfast and made it back around one or two.  They had very successful morning, 2 grouper, a hogfish, a lionfish and a mackerel.  That solved the problem of figuring out what to have for dinner.  We joke that our goal was mercury poisoning before we go back to MT, the land of old frozen seafood.  I think we came close, I definitely had my fill by the time our trip was over.     

    After a quick lunch J cleaned up and we hopped back in the car to head north.  It had been pretty choppy on the Atlantic (ocean) side, but the Caribbean (sea or Exuma sound) side was just beautiful.  We enjoyed the drive up to Pam's and I picked out a few gifts for our friends and family, and got J a sweet Eleuthera hat, but could not find a good replacement for myself so splurged on some locally made earrings instead.  After our shopping was done we hopped back in the car to go check out Gaulding Cay and the Glass Window Bridge.   

    It was really a beautiful day on the sea side and it was nice to get a little sight seeing in before our trip was over.  We had brought our snorkel gear just in case, thinking it would be nice to snorkel around Gaulding Cay, but by the time we got there it was low tide and the water looked pretty shallow, plus it was getting late in the day so we decided to pass.   

    After our little sight seeing trip we headed back home to DaVilla.  On the way back we made a quick stop at Hearty Mow and picked up some mango's and bananas as a little treat. 

    When we got back to DaVilla the wind had calmed down quite a bit.  We had been talking about having a beach bonfire since we had arrived, but it had been to windy up to this point so we decided to take advantage of the calm and make this our bonfire night.  Before the sun went all the way down we took our cocktails down to the beach and gathered driftwood for our bonfire.   Once we had a nice pile going we went back up to the house for dinner.  

    We devoured a the majority of the boys catch of the day, which D wonderfully prepared as usual, then headed back down to the water for our bonfire.   D had started getting the longs ready and pointed out that he had found a small scorpion on one of them.  It was one of the logs that I had gathered and carried quite a ways too.  The realization that I had a scorpion riding along the entire time was really fraying my nerves.  D said he smashed it into the sand and it was long gone.  I know he was trying to make me feel better but I was very doubtful that squishing a scorpion into the sand would kill it.  More like piss it off so it would want to come back and sting us and I said as much.  Now I try not to be one of those skittish girls, but sometimes I admit my fears can really get the best of me.  Turns out they were getting the best of S too.  The logs were also full of termites and you could occasional see them try to escape the fire, something that freaked her out just as much as the scorpion freaked me out. 

    We put tried to put our termite and scorpion fears out of our minds and piled in around the bonfire.  I pulled up a lawn chair, D and J split a lounge chair and S sat in the sand.  S and I sipped our wine while J and D decided a little Glenfiddich was on the menu for the evening.  We hooked up the ipod to the portable mini speaker and threw on a little reggae enjoying the flames and the night air.  J dragged over one of the logs to use as a stand for the ipod, and it turned out to be the same one I had hauled over with the scorpion in it.   They assured me it was long gone and not to worry.  A few minutes later, J decided he did not like the song that was playing and went to change it.  He reached for the ipod then stopped and said, ha ha that kind of looks like a scorpion on the ipod.  It was our little friend, returned from the depths of the sand, or one of his relatives still clinging to the log.  J smashed it into the sand with the log again.  The set his chair on top of the area where he smashed the scorpion.  I don't know why he thought this would keep it from re-surfacing but he did.  Meanwhile S kept thinking she was getting bit by something, probably no-seeums but the thought of the escaping termites crawling up her jeans, was becoming a little to much.  We stuck it out as long as we could but S and I decided we had enough of the creepy crawlies and abruptly called it a night, dealing with a serious amount of ridicule from J and D.   We both did a bit of a speedwalk back up to the house, walked in the door and stripped off all our clothes that we swore were covered in termites and scorpions, tossed them in the washing machine.  Then we pretended like the whole incident never happened and went to our perspective bedrooms to read.   

D and J fearless men that they are, stayed up having a great old time, finishing off the bottle of Glenfiddich by the bonfire.  They finally stumbled into the house many hours later, free of any termite bites or scorpion stings.  I awoke to them rustling in the kitchen as they were preparing themselves a post-midnight snack before bed. 

I think we may need to have a new beach bonfire experience next time, sans termites and scorpions.  

    Finally, after 3 full days of steady breeze at DaVilla, we got a nice calm day and it was perfect.  I had my typical zen morning sipping coffee and watching the sunrise.  If you have not figured it out yet, this is my favorite pastime.   

    As soon as it started to warm up the boys headed out to the outer reef with the kayak and their spears.  S went on her daily trek to the far end of Airport beach and back and I lounged on the beach reading my book. 

    J and D returned a few hours later with a strawberry grouper and right about the same time S returned from her lengthy beach walk.    We all lounged around for a while, then J and I decided to head out for another snorkel.  
    Earlier D had been going on about these huge parrotfish he had been seeing.  We were all thinking they were probably the same size as the parrotfish we had been seeing at parrotfish beach, maybe around 2-3 ft tops.   After about an hour or so of snorkeling around I spotted a nice sized lobster.  We were seeing them quite frequently now that lobster season had ended.  They seemed like they somehow knew that they could safely roam once again, without the constant fear of spear-fishermen.  I pointed it out to J, chuckling at him how he could not shoot it.  Suddenly I saw these giant blue lips poke out of the reef going straight for the lobster.  It was one of the parrotfish D had seen earlier, and it was HUGE.  I had grossly underestimated D's description.  This fish was definitely closer to 4 feet long.   It popped out of the reef just for a second, looking like it was going to have a nice lobster lunch, then it spotted J and I and darted back into the reef.  I managed to snap one picture, and J got a choppy little video, but neither gives you a really clear estimate of size.   For scale the lobster was a good sized one, from tail to the tip of it's antenna was surely longer than my arm.   The parrotfish is on the left, and you can see it start to come out of the reef about 6 seconds into the video.  I would estimate it's length to be at least twice that of the lobster.   J says it was big enough to eat me, ha ha, probably not THAT big.   

    We snorkeled around for a while longer, hoping to see the parrotfish again but never did.  Finally we gave up and slowly worked our way back to shore.  After enjoying a little afternoon snack D and J headed back out for the 3rd snorkel of the day and S and I chilled in the cabana with our books.  
    D sautéed up the grouper for dinner, will salad and yellow rice on the side.  After dinner we lounged on the deck, sipping vino and watching the stars, soaking in the last of another perfect day. 

    It was our first morning at DaVilla and I was super excited about watching the sunrise on the Atlantic side.  I had hoped to wake up before the sun started to rise in order to get a pot of coffee started but I woke a little later than anticipated.   Luckily D had beaten me by a few minutes and had already made coffee so I was able to grab a cup and catch the sunrise.    Nothing makes me happier than slowly sipping a cup of coffee and watching the sunrise.   It is such a magical and peaceful time for me, savoring those last few moments before the day begins. 

    It was fairly breezy on the Atlantic for Easter Sunday so snorkeling in front of DaVilla was pretty much out of the question for the day.   D and S wanted to enjoy our new accommodations so they were not into looking for a calm beach someplace else.  J and I decided to just jot across the road to Alabaster Beach to see if it was calmer and if so do a little bonefishing and check to see if there were any decent snorkeling opportunities around the rocky edges on the far end of the beach.   

     It was low tide and Alabaster beach was dead calm.  We walked up the beach checking out all the areas they had cleared for the Easter Monday celebration.  Then we walked out into the calm water for what seemed like forever.  We did not see a single fish and the water never did seem to get much deeper than out knees, but it was spectacularly beautiful.  I snapped a couple shots of the beach then we headed up the road toward the rocky area.  
    We walked out to the point looking for decent access points to get in and out of the water and any coral formations that might be worth a closer look.  We only found one potential access point that did not look very easy.  We would have given it a try anyway but all we could see was sea grass so we figured it was probably not worth the hassle.  J tried fishing off the deeper edges of the point with no success, so we decided to give up on Alabaster. 
    The night before we had celebrated our move to DaVilla a little more enthusiastically that our alcohol rations for the Easter holiday had allowed for.  We knew all the stores would be closed, especially on Easter Sunday but we thought we would head up to Cupids Cay to see if Ronnie's was open just in case. 

    Good ole Ronnie's they're always open.  We hung around for a hour or so drinking beer and chatting with the locals.  They had a great time trying to teach J about their numbers game.  It is kind of like a Bahamian lottery where you guess a city (3 options?) then three numbers.   You come back the next day to see if your numbers are right.  J played a few numbers and got a ticket for the next day.   We stocked up on goodies on our way out, including a Ronnie's T-shirt, a Monte Cristo cigar (just for the fun of it) and a case of short neck Heinekens, which cost about $5 less than anywhere else.   We got lots of invites to the Easter Monday celebrations and said we would be back the next day to check our numbers.  

    After gawking and fantasizing about a few of the sailboats in the harbor we headed home to DaVilla with our treasures from Ronnie's.   We spent the rest of the day just lounging around DaVilla and going for little beach walks.  Just how a leisurely Easter Sunday should be spent.  We had a nice supper of salad, yellow rice and leftover fish from our exploits at CB.   After dinner J and I lounged in the hammock watching the stars and smoking our cigar.  We decided it was good as far as cigars go, but we are just not cigar smoking folks so a few puffs was all we had in us.  I brushed my teeth about 6 times before bed trying to get the taste out of my mouth, but it was still worth the experience.  

    Today was Good Friday and sadly it was our last full day at Caribbean Blue.   Luckily the weather at the house was absolutely perfect so we were able to make the most of it.  We started off the same as most mornings, coffee at sunrise then breakfast of eggs, bacon and raisin toast from Island Farms and delicious pineapple jam from DaPerk.   This was the first morning where we were all able to just stay put and not have to get in the car at all.  We had stocked up on everything the day before, since we knew most businesses were closed for Good Friday.  It was a great relief to S and I that we did not  even have to make our, what seemed like daily, quick trip to the store. 
    As soon as we finished breakfast J and D hopped in the kayak and headed back out to Levi Island to try and spear some more lionfish.  S and I caught up on a little laundry, then lounged around and enjoyed the spectacularly beautiful morning.

    After a few hours the boys returned from their kayak trip with five lionfish and a lobster.  There was only a few days left in lobster season so they were glad to get one more before it was too late.   After lunch we decided to go for a "family snorkel" and check out all the rocky areas around Caribbean Blue.   You are not allowed  to spearfish that close to shore, but since the lionfish are invasive and that tends to be where they frequent we have always assumed that rule does not apply to lionfish so the boys brought their spears just in case.   Just as we were getting ready to get in the water a giant school of jacks and blue runners came tearing by.  They had come by a couple times already that morning so this time we jumped in after them to take a closer look. 

   We swam after them for a little while watching them dart this way and that, the eventually they moved on.   We poked around a bit, sometimes heading out deep and sometimes moving closer into the shoreline.  The snorkeling is not as spectacular as some of the Atlantic beaches we go to, but there was still plenty to see.   It seemed that the jellyfish population had definitely multiplied since we our last snorkel on the Caribbean side a few days earlier.   There were little jelly's and sea walnuts EVERYWHERE, they were impossible to avoid.  We stuck with the theory that the little ones did not sting and the larger, potentially stinging moon jellies were at least few enough that we could avoid running into them.   We basically just plowed through the little ones trying to keep them off our faces, but every now and again I would feel a very mild short lived sting on my legs and I did my best to just ignore it and try not to acknowledge that some of them really did sting.

    Eventually we made it to an area where there was a giant, jellyfish free, bait ball stretching about about 25' in either direction.  The bait ball was pretty amazing, all those little tiny fish seemed to form one giant organism that slowly moved among the rocks and parted when you swam through.  S and I spent at least 30 minutes just floating in the bait ball watching all the tiny fish.  I cant really describe why we though it was so amazing but it just was. 
    After we finally started getting tired of swimming around in the bait ball we decided to work our way back to Caribbean Blue.  S and I slowly started swimming back while J and D followed, keeping a close eye out for any lionfish that might need eradicated.   Not long after I spotted the largest lionfish we had seen yet and pointed it out to D.   He speared it and I dove down to make sure there was not another one hiding under the same rock.  When I surfaced a jellyfish just happened to be right near the surface exactly where the collar of my top was.  It went right down the front of my top and when I went to try and dig it out I smashed it against my chest.  I had doubled up that day with a rash guard and a shorty wetsuit so my top was really tight and there was not much room to reach in and remove the jellyfish delicately.  I was definitely getting stung and it very painful.  Eventually I got it out and yelled I've had enough of these $@#$#@ jellyfish I am out of here and swam back as fast as I could.  S saw my entire freak out and relayed it to they boys, who had been diving for lionfish, then headed out after me.  She struggled along trying to keep up with my frantic Adrenalin and pain fueled hi-speed swim and made it back not long after I did.  By the time I got close to the house the pain had dulled quite a bit, I think that my frantic swim had thoroughly flushed off the sting.  As soon as I got to shore I struggled to strip off the shorty and rash guard then ran to the house for some ammonia.  I coated the sting in ammonia (after-bite) chugged a Sands Light and went back to the water to meet S.   By then it was pretty much down to a very dull stinging sensation but there was no way I was going to get back into the water and swim back to where we left the boys.  They were still nowhere to be seen and we assumed they were probably still fishing where we had left them.   S and I figured they needed us to come back with the kayak to pick up their fish so we grabbed a couple more Sands Light's and headed off to find them.  They were in the exact same spot, as we had suspected, so we picked up the two lionfish they had speared then slowly escorted them back to Caribbean Blue.   

    We all lounged around for the rest of the afternoon and sipped cocktails on the deck while enjoying our last evening at Caribbean Blue.  D cooked us up lobster and sauteed lionfish along with yellow rice and broccoli.  After the sun had set we took our chairs out by the water to do some stargazing.  I don't know if I have said this before but the night sky on Eleuthera is just as fabulous as its beaches.  There is so little light pollution on the out islands that the stars so vibrant and bright you can see things you never would at home.  We spend hours staring at the sky mapping out the constellations and waiting for the occasional shooting star.   It was a bittersweet night for us, being our last at Caribbean Blue, so we were doing our best to slow time as much as possible.  We were excited to be moving to a new place on the Atlantic side the next day, but we loved CB so much that we were sad to be leaving.  DaVilla was our next destination and it was our big splurge so we were really excited to see it, but moving also meant that we were down to a week left in our trip and we knew that week would come and go way too fast.   We were all getting sleepy but putting off going to bed so it just wouldn't end.  Right when S and I finally decided we just could not stay up any longer I saw a little green flicker in the water.  I pointed it out to the others and we all scoured the water too see if we could see it again.  Then all of a sudden there were hundreds of them, just little green flickers all around the water right by the surface.   They would start then stop then a bunch would flicker all at once.  Finally one got close enough to shore where we could get a better look at it.  It looked like a little green spiral spinning around it the water, sometimes it would be clearer and other times it would look cloudy.  J ran and grabbed a flashlight and we shined it into the water.  We could not see much but what it looked like it was the sea walnuts producing the green light.  In the daytime you could see this iridescent area in their bodies that looked like florescent rope lights weaving around up and down their sides.  We decided this was the same thing, only at night they glow green.  It was amazing, you could see little green dots everywhere.  The show lasted less than 5 minutes then it slowly faded out with a little flicker here and there, and by the time 15 minutes had passed it was all over.  It was the prefect little send off after two blissful weeks at CB.  S and I felt guiltless about calling it a night after that but D and J stayed up sipping whiskey for another hour or two still trying not to let the night end.   They never did see the sea walnuts flicker again.