First Full Day

Sunrise

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.

Central Airport Beach

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.

Twin Cove

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.

Poponi Beach

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.  

Hearty Mow Farms

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.