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Post by Cookie on Jan 11, 2019 11:24:13 GMT
January 9: we putzed around home, the wind was blowing hard (from the northwest, I think), causing rough seas at our cottage. Mr. Cookie worked on a map framing project, using bamboo, while sitting out front, but far enough away to avoid the sea spray. In the afternoon we went to the northern end of Winding Bay beach. So calm and peaceful! A friend returned from fishing while we were lounging. They caught 13 barracuda but no other variety. While they don't eat barracuda, they have lots of friends who do, so the barracuda-eaters of Tarpum Bay were well fed that night! Short walk on the beach, realized the dinner I planned should have been started earlier because it needs to rest in the fridge, oops, leftovers for dinner.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 11, 2019 11:42:51 GMT
January 10: I prepped dinner early as our friends (and caretakers) were coming for dinner. Mr. Cookie completed the map framing project and hung it up - looks GREAT. The wind was still causing really rough seas here.
Off to Islandia beach at around 1:30 PM. The tide was receding by then so we expected a decent beach sit and we weren't disappointed. The water looked decently calm, but when we took the paddle boards out, it seemed pretty choppy, so we aborted that mission. As we sat we encountered two small groups of people, a record number of people on Islandia (at least for us). A group of three said a friendly hello and quickly walked up the beach and got into the water. They were clearly out to snorkel and spearfish. Then a couple from the north fork of Long Island NY came. They were prepared to snorkel - full wetsuits. Very friendly visit while they got into the wetsuits. They're staying at Ten Bay. Their favorite meal so far was at the Front Porch, stone crab. Methinks they might enjoy islands with a less OUT-island feel. The gal said she misses the vibrant blooms and lushness of other islands they have visited. And they said they miss tropical fruits and fresh vegetables. Eleuthera, it's not for everyone. Yay!
Our friends and 2 of their children came for dinner. Excellent visit, mediocre food (sorry F&P, I tried!). We started talking about Junkanoo, and P pulled out her phone to show us pics of the 3 kids - from the time they were really little - in their Junkanoo costumes. Just wonderful.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 11, 2019 14:16:57 GMT
January 10 addendum: In the morning, I made a bunch of tactical errors. Believing my ground beef was yucky (this was NOT one of my errors, it really was yucky, smelled off, tasted gross, ew), I called Midway Cost Cutters to see if they would be open (it was Majority Rule Day, a national holiday). Midway seems to be open at times other markets are not. Yes, they would be open, and yes, they carry ground beef. I drove down there, no ground beef. I hadn't asked the right question, which might have been, "Do you carry ground beef, AND do you have any in stock at present?" Okay... guests coming for dinner... and I remembered Bret's suggestion of Uncle John's in Savannah Sound. He had some frozen ground beef! Yippee. Thanks Bret! Back to Tarpum Bay... and Bert's for the Best was open, with the same ground beef as Uncle John's, and Carey's little grocery store (next to the Buywise hardware) was also open (IDK if they have ground beef). Sooooooo, I went on a drive down north for no good reason, could have found what I wanted right at home. D'oh.
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Post by debc on Jan 11, 2019 21:23:40 GMT
Following (and really jealous)
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Post by Cookie on Jan 13, 2019 11:59:20 GMT
Thanks for the encouragement Deb. I'm not sure I'm providing info that will help others have a fantastic time on Eleuthera... but if I'm amusing you, then it's all good. When I started this trip report, I hypothesized that since we are newbie owners on the island and we still do a fair amount of exploring/tourist type things, our experiences might be relevant to this website. We're also living the life that so many Eleuthera-devotees dream of, and I further hypothesized that that aspect might be interesting to certain readers. In any event, we're almost at the end of this trip/project. Whether to write again for a future trip, TBD. January 11: wind forecast at 10 mph to be out of the east northeast seemed favorable to paddle board around the Pineapple Cays of South Palmetto Point. We left home just after 10 AM. Um, winds didn't seem to be coming from that direction, and tides weren't favorable, so we abandoned the plan to explore the Pineapple cays. Instead, we paddled toward the south (into the wind/kinda against the tide) so we would have an easy return trip. We paddled to Ten Bay! That was a really interesting length of shoreline that we hadn't previously seen. There is a pretty deep drop off from the rocky shoreline, and a lot of spots I think might be good snorkeling. Well, good to me, a novice and like-to-be-close-to-shore kinda gal. Total paddle time: 2.5 hours, felt really mellow after. Making mistaken conclusions based on wind direction predictions is a repeated frustration. IDK if we are incompetent at reading maps coupled with wind predictions, or if the wind swirls around in certain locations... We've tried to paddle the Pineapple Cays a few times, and every time we've decided it looks too hard or unsafe. Aargh! Back home, dinner, streamed Netflix, yada yada yada.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 13, 2019 12:33:30 GMT
January 12: Mr. Cookie went for a paddle of Half Sound in the late morning. He saw a 4-5 foot lemon shark, rays, turtles. Parked at the canal, crossed the mouth of the sound, hugged the shore all the way over to Quarter Sound, and back. I had a fairly lazy day at home, but did finally get motivated enough to wash the inside windows. The best part of my day was a visit from our 7 year old neighbor who wanted to show us his new tom-tom that he would be playing at Junkanoo. He can really play that drum!
Early dinner of homemade pizza and then off to Junkanoo in GH. We arrived at 7 PM, and that was about 1.5 hours too early. We paid $25 each for seats, and while that's a lotta money, it was nice to be able to sit. FYI, general admission was $10. Good show, and man oh man was the GH group H-U-G-E (long line of participants). Not sure exactly what the GH group's theme was, but something along the lines of childhood TV shows/characters. Tarpum Bay's Unity Builders had "In Da Bush" as their theme, and Rock Sound's New Vision's theme was something like "Wings and Things" - a bird theme - really lovely costumes IMO. Savannah Sound's group Lucayans had "Bahamian Tings" (think Kalik and Goombay) as their theme, and I think they had a bigger group than in the last 2 years. Caveat emptor, I could have a lot of the info above mixed up or just plain wrong! It was a fun night. And late for this early bird.
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Post by kathleenl on Jan 13, 2019 19:17:32 GMT
Interesting installments Deb, thanks! When we go back, which will be awhile I might reach out for more specific near shore snorkel spots and paddle routes (tho we'll likely kayak instead). You and Mr. Cookie sure do paddle a lot which is impressive.
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Post by debc on Jan 13, 2019 22:16:34 GMT
LOL Kathleen, this is Cookies TR, not mine.
Cookie, so loving this! Even though I know it's going to come to a close soon, I really am hanging onto every word.
Bravo! All your experiences are greatly appreciated, I can close my eyes but still
see. Thank You!
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Post by Cookie on Jan 14, 2019 11:04:51 GMT
Thanks again for the encouragement Deb and Kathleen.
January 13: walked some of Winding Bay and Joseph's Cay, a nice long stroll. We parked at the public access point *just* north of the homes. Some locals call it Marty's beach; I think Marty is the owner of one of the houses close to that access.
Then Mr. Cookie went for a paddle of Tarpum Bay and I cleaned the exterior of the windows. When we dreamed of owning an island home, it never occurred to me that salt spray would be a frequent thing - duh! I AM NOT COMPLAINING! How very lucky we are to be on this adventure, and hey, if you're gonna clean windows, doing it here is pretty darned good.
When out on the bay, Mr. Cookie saw that the Seaside Breeze had its grill going. We decided to walk down there to see if ribs were on the menu that day... yep! We sat out in front of our house enjoying the water view and some cocktails until the no-see-ums drove us inside. Conundrum: light/no wind... calm seas but no-see-ems. Medium to higher winds... rougher seas but NO no-see-ems.
Then takeaway ribs, fries and macaroni & cheese for dinner, around $18 each (Mr. Cookie doesn't pay attention to these things, and he did the pickup). Very good and plenty of food.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 15, 2019 11:45:38 GMT
January 14: paddle boarded Half Sound and the canal (and its mangroves) for 2 hours. We saw more wildlife in the canal this time: turtles, small lemon shark, a lot of juvenile fish, and a 2.5 foot barracuda. The weather was perfect: sunny, calm and a light breeze.
Back at home, Mr. Cookie worked while I did errands and chores, and then we sat at the water's edge in front of our cottage, cocktails in hand. It was a rather boring day, but it had a nice, relaxed pace.
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Post by debc on Jan 15, 2019 21:22:21 GMT
@ Cookie, Love those nice relaxing days and lots of good info given. I so appreciate you taking the time to do this report.
Gotta ask though, have you seen the cutest little pup just down the road from you with it's parents. Almost looks
like a husky (the pup). Beautiful little potcake, I have a pic. Don't know how to post it here.
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Post by kathleenl on Jan 16, 2019 12:05:24 GMT
Deb, I haven't tried it yet, but it *seems* there are two ways to post a photo. For both you need to select Reply (top or bottom right on the screen) rather than just typing in the Quick Reply box. Then you will have access to a tool bar. If you have your photo stored on a site that permits third party hosting (I think Photo Bucket charged extra for that at one point), then select the Insert Image icon from the tool bar and insert the link to your photo. If you want to directly insert a photo, look for the Add Attachment button which is above and to the right of the tool bar. There is a 1MB limit per attachment. I am assuming this would work for photos...I'm transitioning laptops and haven't dealt with photos yet or I would try it now. The Tool Bar also has emogie options , Bold, italic, color and other formatting options.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 16, 2019 14:14:12 GMT
Deb, try Kathleen's pic advice so I can see the cute Tarpum Bay potcake! IDK if I've seen him. Sorry to say, several neighborhood dogs were poisoned (even one who was always chained to his yard, and he never bothered anyone) so I'm not sure if your little friend is still around. I did see a cute little guy several times, but I think s/he looks more shepherd than husky.
January 15: We started out at Ten Bay, low tide, high expectations. The flies were unbearable, not sure if it could have been due to a fella raking seaweed under the close supervision of a home owner. We moved on to the beach in North Palmetto Point where we enjoyed a couple of hours and a couple of beers.
Stopped at the Queen of Tarts on the way back home. Kendra is very friendly and FAST. Mr. Cookie said the cracked conch was really good, and my French fries really hit the spot.
And then we spent a few hours buttoning down the house for our departure: rinsing paddle boards, snorkel gears, lounge chairs, beach chairs and umbrella, WD-40'ing the working metal hinges/parts of the foregoing, and stowing it all in the shipping container. One of the nicest benefits of owning a home on Eleuthera is that we don't feel sad when we're nearing the end of a stay because we know we will be back soon. I wish everyone who loves Eleuthera could have such good fortune.
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Post by Cookie on Jan 16, 2019 14:27:28 GMT
Salty Dog! FYI, I had to turn off "Live" iPhoto and then crop it in order to make the size of the image acceptable (it made the image smaller in terms of data size).
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Post by cokach on Jan 17, 2019 3:39:44 GMT
What is wrong with us as humans to think that what Bahamians do to animals is o.k?
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