Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Conchs and Ten Bay

We asked the bartender at The Beach House for a suggestion of another beautiful spot we might enjoy and she suggested Ten Bay, which I thought she was saying 'Tam Bay,' but I was wrong. Her directions were a little unclear, and the way I transcribed the directions were even more troublesome. This led us to go down one long and bumpy road (most all roads in Eleuthera are long and bumpy) that ended in a loading ramp for boats and plenty of lime stone. It soon became clear that this was a spot where conch fishermen come in and separate the meaty conchy from its pink shell. This resulted in the whole area being littered with empty, slightly broken but still incredibly pretty shells.
I made friends with two of them.

I also took one back to the apartment but ultimately decided that it didn't deserve to find itself in Philadelphia forever. It deserved better than that.
So we didn't get lost exactly (it's hard to get lost on an island with only one main road), but we did struggle to find the turn off for Ten Bay. So we stopped at a little farm/plant store and took a look around before asking the woman manning the register what we were doing wrong.
With her guidance we successfully got to Ten Bay. In fact we had started going down the road that would have ultimately led us to the beach, but it was so bumpy and seemingly remote that we backed up and turned around. The lesson there is, of course, always drive to the end of the road; Lenny can take it. It was a very calm bay, shallow for what seemed like at least 3/4 of a mile, and clear blue waters for as far as you could care to look. There were two houses just feet away from the shore, which inspired a fierce jealousy in me. What a life that would be.


Jealousy.

There were a few others on the beach, but it was very low key and a great way to milk the rest of the day's sunny hours. I think I finished my book there. Family Fang, good book. Really, go read it. I'll wait.

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