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Post by Cookie on Feb 15, 2019 21:42:16 GMT
DON'T WORRY FRIENDS! I won't bore you with another excruciatingly detailed trip report. I'll try to hit some highlights and new stuff. Travel on February 12 out of Rochester NY was brutal due to mechanical trouble with the plane. A four hour delay caused us to miss the last flight over to Eleuthera, so we stayed overnight at Orange Hill in Nassau. I know some forum members (well, members of that other forum) aren't fans of Orange Hill, but they've helped us out in a hurry twice now, without requiring 2-3 nights stay, and they put our frozen meat in their freezer. Orange Hill served us well for the seven hours we spent there. Onward to Eleuthera via Pineapple Air on the morning of February 13. Overcast skies both the 13th and 14th! Gasp. Gorgeous day today. We spent several hours on Double Bay beach. At first we were surprised to see three people out walking; they looked like maybe home owners or renters. That's a lot of people in our experience. Then five separate groups of people came, parking at or near the "public" parking spot at the southern part of the bay. There must have been 20 people on the beach. Plenty of room for everyone to enjoy paradise. And here is what it looked like today before the crowds descended:  |
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Post by kathleenl on Feb 16, 2019 2:23:25 GMT
For this newbie your last TR wasn't excruciatingly detailed, I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to highlights this time around. Appreciate that photo of Double Bay with the lens pointed north.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 17, 2019 11:13:08 GMT
Salty Dog (aka Cupcake, Goldie, Tobey) is still alive! I was worried because we didn't see him during the first several days we were here.  I think we're heading to Lighthouse today (Sunday, February 17). I'll let you know if we see any changes... Kathleen, thanks for your encouragement. I would welcome questions and comments... not sure if I'd have any answers to questions, but I'd try! |
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Post by kathleenl on Feb 17, 2019 23:32:02 GMT
Great news about your beloved Salty Dog! I'm interested in anything you post  and of course there's great interest in LHP observations. I wish we were back there again and so soon. Enjoy every moment. |
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Post by Cookie on Feb 18, 2019 11:11:58 GMT
February 17, 2019 We spent 4 hours at Lighthouse Beach. It was an absolutely lovely day. There were some people there, including a group from The Island School/Cape Eleuthera Institute (I'm old enough now that I can't tell the difference between high school aged people and college aged people 😂). Not *too* many people! (Africa side)  (Cuba side)  (Cuba side) No new signs of Disney. |
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Post by debc on Feb 20, 2019 14:06:36 GMT
Back again, I'm so jealous but really happy for you both. (HI Mr. Cookie :-)
Looking forward to your updates, never boring.
Kinda strange that some have reported seeing signs of Dizzy at LH area?
I believe I saw it on FB.
Nice that your pup is no longer MIA.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 22, 2019 9:55:11 GMT
I forgot to mention that when we went to Lighthouse on February 17, passing by the Rock Sound Airport, there were two pretty big private jets. In fact, I would call them HUGE. Still there yesterday. I always wonder who was carried to the island in such style...
Hi Deb!
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Post by debc on Feb 23, 2019 0:46:20 GMT
Hey Cookie! I wonder too. I love your hindsight mentions gal. Keep em coming when/if you have time.
All is welcome as you of course know :-). I will suck up anything you have to say good or not.
Best wishes for a great visit for you both. XO
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Post by Cookie on Feb 23, 2019 12:03:48 GMT
February 19, 2019 - spent some afternoon hours at French Leave Beach. Really lovely. Met a couple with teenaged daughter and her friend. They usually vacation in Nicaragua. Here, they were staying at Alfred House. They said that in Nicaragua they can't just sit on the beach because it's too windy. They were distressed by the trash here in Eleuthera.
Ate an early dinner at 1648 where we made friends with a couple who are sailing through The Bahamas out of their home base in Virginia. They left home in mid-October, heading south to Florida and then over to Nassau. They report rough weather, having to spend much more time in harbors than they planned. We exchanged contact info, and on...
February 21, 2019 - ... we picked them up at French Leave Resort and chauffeured them to Sky Beach Club where we had a most enjoyable lunch together. They planned to head up to Hatchet Bay on Friday, and then onward north as weather permits. Very fun and interesting people.
February 22, 2019 - mid-afternoon at Nort'side Beach South (aka car hood beach, aka crescent beach) - beautiful for a short time until the clouds completely covered the sun. Then it was still nice, just not sunny. We didn't see a single other person there.
After dinner, Mr. Cookie walked down to the Seaside Breeze. I think he had fun because I heard him come in the door just after 2 AM 😉🍻.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 23, 2019 15:18:36 GMT
February 23, 2019: exciting news from Mr. Cookie. Last night he chatted with a guy at Seaside Breeze who showed him a video of a whale beached at Windemere. There is talk that whales have recently been sighted along the Atlantic coast, and even on the Cuba side around Gregory Town. Also talk that there is sonar activity causing the whales to be where they usually aren't. IDK if any of this is true, but I would love to hear from experienced Eleuthera residents about whales around here. There is the ocean, and whales live in the ocean, so it seems possible. Has anyone out there had any whale sightings? This morning on my walk I noticed a building I've probably walked by a hundred times. Okay, maybe not that many yet. It's really neat to see the old construction. We've heard stories (including from Kervin, a Tarpum Bay resident) that people used to cut stone by hand from the iron shore, and that's what they used for construction. You can really see that here.   |
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Post by debc on Feb 23, 2019 20:41:37 GMT
Thank You Cookie, I'm really loving these posts and you getting the viewpoints of the residents.
A real thumbs up for me! Have heard stories of sonar activity disturbing whales ( other marine life in different areas )
causing them to do things not in their best interests, so sad.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 26, 2019 12:22:05 GMT
February 25, 2019: I stopped by Barbie's restaurant on my morning walk to ask if she were baking rolls & bread this Monday. She said yes so I put in an order for a dozen rolls. Yay! There would be fresh rolls for our dinner-time BLTs.
Mr. Cookie put his self designed-and-built SUP rack on our car (2x4s with yoga blocks and straps). This contraction is still working GREAT!
Off we headed to try to access Savannah Sound SOUTH of the bridge/gate to Windermere (we'd previously only ever accessed NORTH of the bridge/gate). Bret's beach map shows Little Mangrove Cay Beach in that area, but we *think* that the new(ish) house Zion has blocked that access. Not entirely sure though because we left the GPS at home. On maps and GoogleEarth, there look to be a few different roads off Queen's Highway that should lead to the water. A few are chained off at the road, and one is very badly overgrown (we narrowly missed sinking a front tire in a big, deep hole, phew, backed out and abandoned that attempt). We were finally able to get to the water by skirting the Zion property.
We paddled about 10 minutes over to Windermere. Mostly calm, mostly shallow water with gentle breezes out of the SW (or so was predicted). We headed toward an UBER modern looking structure on the shore of Windermere. When we got close to shore, it was apparent that the place was maybe never finished and most likely abandoned and possibly ransacked. We'd love the hear the story behind this place. ANYONE???
We paddled north along the shore, passing a handful of homes, seeing turtles GALORE - big ones, little ones, turtles everywhere. Mr. Cookie saw what might be his biggest reef shark yet - 4 feet plus he thinks. A few bonefish and maybe a black durgeon. Winds and tide made the return to the car practically effortless; nice planning Mr. Cookie. Passed by Camp Bahamas on the paddle back.
Stopped by Barbie's on or way home. Oh no! Barbie had a terrible headache and wasn't able to bake. I hope she got some rest and shook that headache; she looked in pain.
Stopped by Bert's (just up from Barbie's) and ran into one of the Tarpum Bay Unity Builders Junkanoo players. He took us to the Junkanoo shack and we got to look around at past Junkanoo pieces. FANTASTIC!
Excellent, full day.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 27, 2019 9:54:15 GMT
I forgot to mention that we saw a flying fish (or some such) on Savannah Sound on February 25! It skipped along the surface of the water for about 20 yards, right in front of us. Pretty neat, and a first for us.
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Post by Cookie on Feb 28, 2019 10:50:46 GMT
February 27, 2019: we took a morning walk at low tide on Savannah Sound. Not much in the way of wildlife, a pretty fair amount of seaweed (enough to be a bummer), and a large capsized trimaran floating around in the sound. Mr. Cookie sure would like to get his hands on that trimaran. Oh, and a HUMONGOUS dead turtle on the beach; I'm guessing his shell was 3 plus feet long (no apparent trauma, hope he just lived out a long happy life).
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Post by Kathleen on Mar 1, 2019 1:24:40 GMT
Loving this report Cookie. Thanks again for writing.
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and of course there's great interest in LHP observations.
