Bahamas Trip Part Three

Before I begin writing about our latest vacation activities, Mark wanted me to be sure to point out that we’ve been enjoying a glass of wine on the beach every evening since we’ve been here – I may have neglected to mention that after the first time because it seemed repetitive. The evenings have been incredibly windy, but it’s nice to be so close to the crashing waves and to watch for shooting stars (we’ve seen a few – one really spectacular one and some so-so ones).

Anyway, I left off with our kayaking adventures on Tuesday afternoon, so I’ll try to pick up there. When we got to the apartment after kayaking, we had a visit from Giant (which is his nickname – not sure what is real name is), who is Davida’s handyman and is also renting us a car. When we met Giant during our first night on the island, he told us about his day job doing construction at the Island School, which is basically a study abroad program for high school students. It’s unique because they are trying to be entirely self-sustainable in terms of the energy they use, food and products they consume, etc. Giant invited us to come for a tour of the school, so on Tuesday afternoon he came by to make arrangements for the next day and give us directions.

Up until this point, Mark had been having trouble setting up a trip to go diving because the dive shop wouldn’t take one diver and didn’t have anyone else interested in going. While Giant was here, Darryl, the guy from the dive shop called, and Giant asked for the phone. Giant apparently knows Darryl fairly well, so he did some persuading and got Darryl to agree to set up a dive trip for Thursday morning. By the time Giant left, we had mapped out our next two days.
That evening, we went to Coco di Mamma for dinner. When we arrived, we asked to sit on the deck at first so we could watch the sunset. The man who was seating us led us to a table, pulled out my chair and then looked at me and asked if I was part Chinese or Korean. I was completely surprised – I had no idea how to respond. He said I looked like I could be part Asian, and then Mark, apparently trying to rescue the situation, agreed with him. Mark later admitted that he didn’t really see the Asian thing, though he wondered if it was because I have a round face – thanks, Mark.

We moved inside for dinner and were the only people in the restaurant aside from a woman eating by herself. Not long after we sat down, another couple came in, but they were silent for the entire meal, so it seemed a bit like everyone was listening to our conversation. Not that we have anything to hide, but it was a bit awkward. The food was good, though – the restaurant is owned by a man from Italy, so Mark had pasta with black truffle sauce and I had spaghetti with basil pesto.

The next morning, we got out for our beach walk early since we were planning to head to the school that morning. When we returned to the apartment, there was a message on the machine from Darryl, the dive shop guy, saying that he was moving up the Thursday dive and it would instead start in one hour. Our choice was either to postpone the plans with Giant or to risk Mark not being able to dive at all on this trip. For Mark, it was a no-brainer – he didn’t want to take the chance that he would miss a diving opportunity. We rushed around to get ready for the trip, and Mark left a message on Giant’s cell phone saying we weren’t going to make it to the Island School as planned.

Darryl had agreed to push back the time of the dive by half an hour, but it took us an hour to get to the marina, so we just barely made it in time. Darryl had found one other guy who wanted to go on a dive, and he pulled in just behind us. We all boarded the boat – I was going along just for the ride – and we headed out into the ocean to find the first of the two dive spots.

While Mark, Darryl and the other guy were diving, I read my book on the boat, though there were times when I wondered if I was going to get pitched overboard because the water was so choppy. Fortunately, I didn’t get seasick, although I was certainly glad that all I’d put in my stomach so far that day was toast and water. Mark loved the diving – he saw lionfish, lobster, a giant eagle ray, angel fish, coral of various shapes and colors, and more. If we could afford it, I think Mark would want to go diving every day.

The Island School is on the same end of the island as the dive shop, so after we returned to the marina, we decided to try to find Giant and work out a new plan with him in person. Giant’s directions were good, so we made it to the school where apparently everyone knows Giant, so it didn’t take us too long to find him. Unfortunately, we discovered that he hadn’t gotten our message and we had missed a tour he set up for us that morning as well as lunch with some people he thought we’d like to meet. I felt TERRIBLE, but there was nothing we could do. Giant was going to try to find someone else to give us a tour that afternoon, but it was 2 p.m. and we hadn’t had lunch yet, so we decided to reschedule for the next morning. We weren’t familiar with that part of the island, so Giant led us to a newly constructed resort area where there is a coffee shop/restaurant that seemed similar to something you would find in the U.S. Giant had to leave, so Mark and I were on our own to order sandwiches and enjoy a beautiful view of the Caribbean as we sat on a deck that could easily have been used in a Pottery Barn catalogue shoot.

By the time we made it back to the apartment, it was almost 5 p.m., so we decided to just relax for a little while before finding a place for dinner. When we did get up the energy to head out again, we went to a place called the Buccaneer Club, which is a restaurant that attracts both locals and tourists. The people watching was great, but the food was relatively mediocre. It was inexpensive, though, so we got what we paid for. I had a grilled chicken sandwich while Mark had a “conch burger” (basically fried conch pieces in a bun). I also ordered a Bahama Mama, in part because Mark wanted to try one but didn’t think it was very manly to order one himself. It was okay, though I still prefer wine over sweet cocktail drinks.

On Wednesday morning we headed back down to the south of the island where the Island School is located. We connected with Giant and started our tour, which turned out to be fascinating, particularly in terms of the innovative things they are doing to be environmentally friendly. For example, they take used cooking oil from the cruise ships that pass through and turn it into biodiesel fuel to run all of their vehicles and machinery. They also have a wood mill so they can process local wood to use in their building projects. The soil isn’t great for growing food, but they have some plants and trees in a garden, and they also raise pigs for meat and goats for milk. Most of the energy the school uses comes from solar panels and a wind mill, and they use only collected rain water.

After Giant gave us an initial tour, a guy who teaches there and is also working on his Ph.D. showed us the research facilities and explained some of the projects they have going on there. Mark understood more than I did, but I’ve lived with Mark long enough to be familiar with the challenges of research in general, so I was able to keep up with the conversation. Mark’s starting to think he got his Ph.D. in the wrong field, though. If he had gone for marine biology instead of muscle biology, he could get a job at the Island School and then be paid to go diving every day.

Our tour guide took us to lunch at the school – everyone eats together – and then we said our goodbyes to Giant and hit the road again. Mark had read about a beach at the extreme southern tip of the island, so we decided to try to find it. The information Mark found was in a book called “The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera,” and we quickly discovered that the beaches are elusive because they are almost impossible to access. We drove for three miles on a road that seemed to have been constructed to discourage anyone from driving on it rather than to facilitate transportation. There were huge potholes as well as giant rocks that Mark had to try to navigate in our SUV. The beach was worth the trip, though – we ended up on a gorgeous part of the Caribbean Sea. The air was cool, so I opted to sit in the sun with a book while Mark went in the water, and I apparently missed out on the best snorkeling yet. Mark found live coral and quite a few schools of fish while he was exploring.

We did some exploring on foot, too, and found an old lighthouse, though it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a lighthouse after what we’re used to seeing in Maine. It was a rundown square building about twenty feet high – I’m a little surprised anyone could see it from the ocean. The most it does now is act as the namesake for the beach, which is known as Lighthouse Beach.

There was no one else on the beach and we enjoyed having it to ourselves, but around 4 p.m. we decided we should probably start heading back in case we had any trouble getting out. We had to use the four wheel drive for a minute, but otherwise we were okay. Once we got back to the apartment, we took a little time to relax before we went to dinner at Captain Jack’s. We had been there for lunch on our first full day here, and were pleasantly surprised to see a much more extensive dinner menu. Mark had mahi-mahi and I had grilled chicken – both were excellent.

I think I’m caught up now, and I need to stop writing so we can get out and enjoy our last couple of days here.