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Post by Cookie on Jan 2, 2019 11:00:48 GMT
Hi all, I thought I might try posting a trip report as we go along. I'm not sure I'll have the stamina to make it through the whole trip. Also, I might bore you to death. If I get the sense that that is happening, I'll stop.
December 31: travel from Rochester, NY through ATL to NAS and then on to Rock Sound via Pineapple went smoothly. We arrived on the island just after 4 PM.
Along the way, I realized that if we weren't able to get food supplies on the day of our arrival, we were maybe going to be hungry through January 1. The website for The Market in Rock Sound says that December 31 would be an observed holiday, so I started worrying. An email to and from a friend who works at The Market advised that they would be open until 7 PM on that day. Phew, disaster averted.
I decided not to bring frozen meat this trip. We're here for 2 weeks this time, so that's a good trial run. I predict a lot of pasta and rice in our immediate future...
Our car was parked at the airport, thank you P&F. Low tire pressure; think we have a bent stem (?) that will need tending. This has been a repeated issue with the car... small one so we'll remain thankful that she is still running well.
Quick $240 stop at The Market, and we're all set up for several days. Oh, and also $48 at Stirrups for a case of Sands (credit cards not accepted), and then maybe another $70 at the 700 Wines & Spirits for rum and 2 bottles of champagne (credit cards accepted). Quick stop at Bert's for the Best for some ice. BONUS: a friend who is in the 6th grade was selling cookies to raise money for his class trip to Washington D.C. $4 for 8 cookies... what a bargain and man, were they a great treat after dinner.
We arrived chez us at around 5:30 PM. Ahhhhhh, beautiful water out front. Unpacked. Scrambled eggs and toast for dinner. Having gotten out of bed at 3:30 AM to start the travel day, 7 PM seemed like a good time for bed.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 2, 2019 11:51:10 GMT
January 1: up early, coffee, scanned the news online... DSL is not working great so far this trip. There was a dial tone on the house phone (good sign), but there seem to be lots of drops of the signal. Backup plan #1: using my old iPhone 4 (with BTC SIM card) as a hotspot is working okay. We also have an ALIV hot spot that Mr. Cookie uses primarily for business... that seems to be working well too.
After the sun came up I washed some of our windows that face the sea. Our friends who watch the house when we are away ("P&F") had pressure washed our windows before our arrival... LOTS of salt spray since our mid-November departure; that sure made my polishing up the windows a lot easier. While I was working on the windows, Mr. Cookie got lounge chairs out of storage, put folding beach chairs and a beach umbrella in the car, temporarily nailed a guard rail back in place (we need a big bolt or something... we'll see what the Buywise has), paddle boards also out of storage...
Low tide on the east side of the island was predicted to be at about 11 AM, so we agreed to leave home for an east side beach at 10. We ran a little bit late as chores took a bit longer than expected AND some dear friends strolled by and we had a good catch-up.
We went to Nort'side Beach South (I think this is what it's called, per Bret's map)(we call it car hood beach because we found a car hood there last year; a friend calls it crescent beach which makes sense) in Rock Sound. The water to the south looked a little rough but within the crescent seemed reasonably calm. Winds were predicted to be around 14 mph coming from just south of east... a nice breeze, not one bug or fly. We set up camp (beach chairs, beach bag, umbrella, little cooler with some beer), but Mr. Cookie had ants in his pants, so we strolled north along the nice sand, and back... and Mr. Cookie still didn't want to sit so we decided to take a more serious walk to the south (over rocky shoreline and sandy shoreline). We walked about 45 minutes south, and then back to camp.
Over the dune came about 8 people! And then 2 more cars parked where we parked, to add 2 more people to that group! That's the most people we've ever seen at this beach. They stayed quite a while; the whole group went in the water (which seems a little... well, I won't say chilly, but I won't say it's warm water either... definitely warmer than Cape Cod ever is, by a long shot, but I fear we've been a bit spoiled down here.)
OH MY GOSH the sunshine!!! Beautiful blue skies. We felt like we hadn't seen the sun at all since we left here in November... six weeks of gray skies... but wow, was this a GORGEOUS day back on the island.
Back home, Mr. Cookie went for a paddle while I made Moroccan eggplant lasagne for dinner... I went to bed and Mr. Cookie walked down to the Seaside Breeze. We weren't sure they would be open on New Year's day... I suspect he found some friends to hang out with... and I think our potcake friend Salty Dog (whose real name may or may not be Cupcake) escorted him home because the can of food I left on the kitchen counter (in case of this event) is gone, and a bowl of water is on the front patio. 🙂
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Post by Cookie on Jan 3, 2019 9:59:52 GMT
January 2: not a terribly exciting day. We puttered around home in the morning. I didn't accomplish much except walking to Bert's for a couple of groceries. Mr. Cookie started a project. He bought two 2x4's from the Tarpum Bay Shopping Center and intends to create a roof rack for our car that can support the weight of 4 (50 pound) paddle boards. We already have soft, inflatable racks, and while they do secure the boards onto the car, they don't distribute the weight of the boards on the FRAME of the car. The roof ends up occasionally making a popping noise in a disturbing way. You might wonder why we don't just bite the bullet and buy a Thule rack and ship it over...
Called BTC about the landline phone and DSL being out, and by the afternoon, both were working again. Yay!
Islandia Beach for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. The seaweed situation is much improved over what it was like in early November. I forgot to mention yesterday that the seaweed on Nort'side Beach South was also hugely improved over early November, and that sand ledge that had formed seems also to be resolving itself.
A brief rain shower in the morning, and then a quick few drops while we were at the beach. It was fairly cloudy, but I'm not complaining.
We saw friends and friendly acquaintances in our travels around Tarpum Bay. The community is so warm and welcoming. "Welcome home!" is how many people greet us.
More puttering around in the afternoon and takeaway from Barbie's for dinner. Chicken wings for me, and grouper fingers, peas 'n rice and coleslaw for Mr. Cookie.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 4, 2019 11:38:55 GMT
January 3: we spent 4 glorious hours at Lighthouse Beach. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold or windy, and just breezy enough, and SUNNY. There seemed to be more people than usual. 5 cars already parked at 11 AM. There were probably 12 people playing in the surf on the Carib side, and maybe 15 over on the Atlantic side. Plenty of room for everyone. We briefly visited with Krystal Andersen of Eleuthera Tours; she had some people on a tour with her. There was a cruise ship at Princess Cays. We didn't see any dune buggies; we've heard that Eleuthera Adventure Tours has stopped taking dune buggies to Lighthouse Beach because the buggies were getting beaten up by the cruisers. IDK the truth of the assertion or the reason given, but it was nice to NOT have the noise and dust that those buggies bring. The only sign of pending property transfer that we saw were two metal stakes (rebar?) spray painted orange on what might be the northern property boundary. At one of these stakes, there is a narrow path cleared to the sea. It's possible that these stakes were there when we visited in November. It's possible that these stakes have nothing to do with the Disney project. IDK. Bret, I forgot to mention that we saw Kervin at The Market on December 31. We chatted for a few minutes. He looks well, seems well and is keeping busy running crab pots (maybe wrong wording here). Back home, Mr. Cookie went for a paddle while I made black bean & veggie burritos. Mr. Cookie watched the sunset as he was returning - while ON the paddle board - he said it was really beautiful way to see the sunset. After dinner we walked to some friends' home for homemade rum raisin ice cream and Prosecco. YUM - made with some eggnog - YUM! Salty Dog followed us home for a snack. I may have stumbled on a work-around for a cell phone issue I've had when here. When we travel, I put my US-based AT&T cell phone in airplane mode so I can avoid international charges. That means that the cell phone doesn't ring through while we're away, and when arriving back home in the US, there would be all of the voice mail messages left while we were away. Before this trip, I started using an app called YouMail to screen spam/scam calls. This YouMail app sends a transcription of voice mail messages to email, and then you can listen to the voice mail over the internet without having to take the phone out of airplane mode. I'd guess there are other similar apps; I'm not a paid endorser or really endorser of any kind. Even with so many people at Lighthouse, what a beautiful, peaceful day we had there.
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Post by Bret S on Jan 4, 2019 13:27:58 GMT
Good ol' Kervin! Boy, he used to make the best conch salad and I loved how long it took because that meant spending extra time hearing his tales.
Never Miss a Beach!
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Post by Cookie on Jan 5, 2019 11:35:30 GMT
January 4: rain showers in the morning in Tarpum Bay. I just puttered around home again, and Mr. Cookie tended to some business matters over the phone. Mr. Cookie also made a pull-up bar by putting a length of tree branch between two casuarina trees in our yard. I'm struggling to maintain fitness while we are on the island... at home in the US it's just part of my routine that I go to the gym; don't hate it, don't love it, just do it. Here, I seem to find a lot of excuses. When we were tourists, missing a week, or two, of routine exercise, once - or even twice - a year didn't seem a bad thing. Now, I really need to figure out how to make this a part of life here, especially the heart-rate elevating kind. Suggestions? We headed out to Double Bay a little before noon, parking at the southern "public access" spot. Winds from the south-ish allowed a few flies to pester us, but not badly enough that we left. There were a few raindrops, but again, not enough to make us leave the beach. We took an hour-and-a-half walk, the sky cleared and there was beautiful sunshine. No seaweed to speak of... at low tide, this beach is wide and wonderful for walking. We saw a lot of sand dollar pieces, but no whole ones presented themselves. Also no ambergris anywhere so far! Queen of Tarts in Savannah Sound was open. Gotta try her this trip.
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Post by Bret S on Jan 5, 2019 13:25:40 GMT
My buddies used to run for their aerobic exercise. One guy chose the 3 mile stretch of Queen's Highway between Ten Bay and Savannah Sound. The other guy liked the community backroads that spill out onto Kemp's Creek. Me? I find my exercise in the water - swim (not float), snorkel, dive. I sometimes spend several hours a day in the water and I'm constantly moving. I usually skip the weights when I'm on isle, but they do make portable dumbbells that you fill with water. With a pair of dumbbells and a yoga mat you can pretty much do anything that you could do in a gym if you are a little creative with technique. I've seen Bahamians use rocks and bags of cement as weights. Also, one of my neighbors has road bikes. He likes to bike from Ten Bay to Tippy's and back. Finally, you could do 12 oz. curls. All you need is a full Kalik. Never Miss a Beach!
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Post by kathleenl on Jan 6, 2019 18:07:47 GMT
I think we may have encountered you and Mr. Cookie on south Double Bay Jan 4!
It was afternoon and we were at the southern most end on one last walk before packing up. We were staring at the water obsessively for another shark sighting. There was one other couple walking. Blondish hair as I recall - you know you don't exactly stare at people especially when you're the only ones on the beach, but we did exchange a quiet hello wave. I have very short brunette hair, my DH has cropped graying light brown hair and was sporting a weeks worth of unshaven grizzle. I think we were in shorts and T's, not swimwear. Darn if I can recall the time of day. Between 2-4 is my best guess. Would have loved to invite you up to the cottage for a Kalik.
Enjoying your report, it's far more detailed than the one I'm typing up.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 7, 2019 11:35:39 GMT
12 ounce curls with cans of Kalik - now that's an appealing exercise regimen! I like that suggestion the best of the ones you made, thanks Bret.
Yes, Kathleen, I think we said a quick hello on Double Bay beach. Sorry we missed a chance to chat.
December 5: a little rain in the morning. We walked part of Winding Bay in the afternoon. It was quiet, as usual. There were some folks sitting out at High Tide, but that's about all of the human action we saw.
We weren't feeling it at Winding Bay, so we hopped over to sand pit beach. We encountered a fella who was shoveling sand by HAND onto the bed of a big truck. He'd been at it for about 6 hours, he said. Ooooooof, that's a lotta work. We weren't feeling it at sand pit beach either, so we decided to run down to Rock Sound to the liquor store.
Takeaway from Seaside Breeze for dinner... cheeseburger for me and conch salad and fish wrap for Mr. Cookie.
The internet has been pretty wonky this trip. Up and down, not terrible, but also not great for streaming Netflix. I'm not complaining! Also new this trip has been some low water pressure (we're on municipal water), mostly during the day, say 8 AM until around 6 PM. Low water pressure beats the heck out of no water pressure, so again, I'm not complaining!
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Post by Cookie on Jan 7, 2019 12:15:49 GMT
January 6: Mr. Cookie started the day by going for a bike ride on the beach in Tarpum Bay and over around Islandia. He is a beast. I don't know how he can ride on that sand. It wasn't even close to low tide.
We went to lunch at Tippy's. We haven't been there in a few years. The service was a little more friendly, and the food was very good, as always. It was about $65, one beer. The much talked about bathroom remodel was a little disappointing, but I can say that the Aretha is NO LONGER The Hottest Bathroom on Earth. So that's worth something.
After lunch we headed north to Airport Beach. It was just beautiful. Wide at low tide. We sat and read and napped. And looked at an ENORMOUS shipping container vessel using binoculars that we finally remembered to put in the beach bag (thank you Mr. Cookie). Then we strolled north until we reached the rocks. We encountered one other couple who were also walking the beach. Toward the north end of the beach there were many people - either a large extended family or maybe a few different families together - hanging out on a dune-top deck. They look like a fun party group.
I hadn't planned dinner, and we didn't feel like takeaway, so we stopped at Midway Cost Cutters on the way home, nearly 5 PM. BLTs sounded easy and good, and we had everything we needed at home except bread. The only bread left on the store's bread shelf was RAISIN bread - oh no! After about 10 years of visiting this island, we can finally say (as one Bahamian friend says to EVERYTHING): no problem. First work around we thought of was to use garlic bread (from the freezer section) for the BLTs. Then Mr. Cookie spied bagels in the refrigerator section. NO PROBLEM, and the BLTs on lightly toasted plain bagels were delicious.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 8, 2019 10:13:13 GMT
January 7: stay-at-home day. We've covered a lot of ground already this trip, and Mr. Cookie wanted to get some business done, so we decided to stick close to home for the day.
I did some housework while Mr. Cookie worked, did 14 pull-ups with the assistance of an exercise band, briskly walked around Tarpum Bay, prepped a simple dinner. In the afternoon Mr. Cookie went over to Winding Bay to paddle board while I napped and then got into the whiskey rather earlier than usual, watched some HGTV. It was a nice, slow day.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 8, 2019 11:02:03 GMT
January 7 addendum: both the municipal (Tarpum Bay area) water pressure AND internet were much improved. Yay!
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Post by Bret S on Jan 8, 2019 16:41:57 GMT
Just an FYI - if Midway doesn't have what you are looking for you could always try Uncle John's back in the community of Savannah Sound. He has a small grocery and liquor store that is easy to find. Just head towards Atlantic on the main road that crosses the island and make every right turn as if you were going to Fishbones. Uncle John's is a small white building across from a little gazebo on one of the corners.
Never Miss a Beach!
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Post by debc on Jan 9, 2019 23:31:43 GMT
Oh Cookie, so sorry, I have been so busy around here with NO RAIN finally. Been working in the yard/garden & digging drainage ditches.
Trip reports are NEVER boring and loving yours though I'm so late to the party. Keep it up if you can, (HI Mr. Cookie, lol). Try Queen of Tarts, she is my
all time favorite. So waiting for more now that I know. XO Deb
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Post by Cookie on Jan 10, 2019 10:46:06 GMT
Bret, good reminder on Uncle John's in Savannah Sound. I should get that option more firmly planted in my noggin. Deb, hello. Okay, I guess I'll continue. January 8: Mr. Cookie worked again in the morning while I ran errands. On my drive from Tarpum Bay to Palmetto, I remembered that a friend once told me that I could try to buy bread from "the lady in Savannah Sound who bakes for Windermere." I decided to give her a try, so I turned right at the Eleuthera education department (or similar) sign and stopped at the first house to ask. I found her! Henretta. She told me that the bread wasn't ready yet, but if I wanted to come back later, it might be. I said I wasn't going to be long, just going to the Island Farm and then heading back directly, but that I would stop again just in case. I digress... the friend who told me how to find "the bread lady" was doing so because the bread truck in Nassau was late to the boat, and consequently the basic commercial bread was not available in the usual markets. This is the kind of thing that newcomers find puzzling and even frustrating. If you have limited time on the island, I get that - who wants to spend hours hunting down a loaf of bread? (This doesn't happen often, but it does happen...) Island Farm: spinach, cherry tomatoes, bread and camembert (of course the bread included a baguette to eat with the camembert). There were even cinnamon rolls left at 10 o'clock - the tourists must have slept late! And then back to Henretta... rolls would be another 12 minutes or so. Henretta and her husband Spence invited me to sit down in the living room and wait while the rolls finished baking. I learned that Henretta's daddy passed recently, Mr. Henry Sands. I recalled reading his obituary in The Eleutheran online. Henretta shared some stories, like how her daddy attended Charles & Princess Di's wedding, and he took care of the royals' home on Windermere. Spence drives a taxi, mostly around GH. What a lovely way to spend 12 minutes. Back home, and Mr. Cookie was still working away. I decided to run to Rock Sound to get a few items not available in my earlier travels and also stop at the Water & Sewerage Corporation to ask about a surprise $100 charge for a "NEW WTR CONN" on our most recent water bill. No resolution on the water bill issue, have to send email to be forwarded to corporate, etc. Back home, baked a lemon cake. Then we paddle boarded Half Sound. We saw a few turtles but no shark or barracuda this time. Came off the water just about 5 o'clock - THE BUG HOUR. We'll try not to do that again. Oh, and the homemade paddle board rack that Mr. Cookie created is working GREAT! Much more secure than anything else we've used in the past. So far, just 2 boards on top. Need more straps to try all 4 boards. Phew, we fit a lot into that day. Quick and easy dinner of white bean & spinach soup with garlic bread. And of course lemon cake for dessert.
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