Lobster Sandwich c/o Coral Sands Restaurant

We ended up having lunch at the Coral Sands Beach Bar and Lounge. This was our view.
I had a lemon dacquiri, which blew my mind with its awesome sweet and tartness. I ended up having a second one free of alcohol I liked the taste so much.
We split the conch fritters, which L. declared the best she'd had. I will say they were slightly higher quality in terms of actual bits of conch and flavor. I also liked the little salad garnish with peppers and capers.
I had been hoping for lobster at some point on the trip, so when I saw the lobster sandwich on Bahamian bread I knew that was the dish for me.
L. went with the grilled Mahi-Mahi with arugula, avocado, heirloom tomatoes and a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette.
I was pleased by the lobster to mayo ratio and the bread was ridiculously - but pleasingly so - buttery.
After our meal we traipsed down to the beach and enjoyed some time in the sun. The beaches were made up of pink sand, but it wasn't really obvious unless you scooped up a bit of it into your hands. L. couldn't get over how fine it was, like confectioner's sugar.

I got into the water briefly, but the water was just a tad more busy/wave-y and I didn't stay in for too long.
As we walked our way back to the ferry dock, we saw plentitudes of mama chickens with their little chicklets.
Another wonderful day. So glad the sun came out and stayed put.

Walkabout Harbour Island

On our last full day we finally made it to Harbour Island. Wallace was nice enough to drop us off in the late morning. While many on Harbour Island enjoy getting around by golf cart, we weren't all that interested in spending $45 for the pleasure and chose to walk instead. This caused L. some grief, as her flip flops weren't really made for walking. Harbour Island is a pretty small island, so we got to see a fair amount of it. We saw: plenty of dogs, plenty of chickens, one crab crossing the street, and other things, like this wall of license plates.
Dogs.

Dogs dogs dogs.

We had planned on having lunch somewhere kind of nice and had taken the suggestion of one of the Superbowl folks...but when we got to the suggested establishment, there was nary a person to be found, let alone any indication that lunch was something they handled. But while we were trying to figure it out, we saw this amazing sign and met an elderly couple who suggested an alternative place to eat and gave us a ride half way there.
Success, all around.

Puppy, Conch Salad and Rum on Superbowl Sunday

Since we had only rented the car for two days, to get to Daddy Joe's for the Superbowl meant we'd have to walk about two miles. Something we were quite capable of doing, though we ran into one small problem. And that small problem was a puppy named Toby. See, as we were walking to the Queen's Highway (really the only major road of the island) we saw a little puppy standing at the end of a driveway. I foolishly called him over, which resulted in much petting, cooing and drooling. The drawback, however, was that once we were done saying hello to Toby he wasn't quite ready to say goodbye and continued to follow us as we tried to walk away. The fear was that he'd follow us to the highway and then get hit. We tried a few things to dissuade him, such as ignoring him, talking in low masculine tones, telling him to go home and then finally walking all the way back to his house and knocking on a door so someone could hold him while we continued on our way. It was this last attempt that ultimately succeeded. Then we were off. But shortly after beginning our walk, we met Wallace - the man everyone and their mother seems to know on the island of Eleuthera. Wallace drives a taxi and has a fleet of cars that he rents to visitors to the island. He stopped and asked us if we wanted a lift, but I was hesitant because cab rides on a small island where gas is $5 a gallon are expensive, and I knew we could easily walk the distance. But this, he countered, would just be a ride, no money necessary. And so we made friends with Wallace as he drove us to the place.
Once there we enjoyed Kalik beers and talking with the bartender and locals at the bar (we came way earlier than when the game was going to start). This was my only conch salad of the trip, and had I known how much I was going to like it, I would have been ordering it up left and right. Citrusy, spicy, refreshing, marvelous.
We befriended the bunch of expats all enjoying the living room feel of Daddy Joe's. I was rooting for whatever team had the ball, so I was happy with the outcome of the game. Afterwards Wallace (who watched the game as well) drove us and our next door neighbors back to our digs. We then enjoyed rum and pineapple soda drinks. The shell looked on.

A Day at Oleander Cove

After our breakfast we walked the little ways down to Oleander Cove, where we took the one little spot of sand and called it our own. There were reefs just off the shore, by which I became quite entranced. I saw blue fish with yellow stripes, yellow fish with blue dots, one big purple fish, so many starfish, a big snail eating a crab and other fish that may or may not have been barrucuda. So many fish! My two big regrets are that before I departed the states I didn't spend $18 for an underwater disposable camera and that I didn't spend $30 for a proper snorkel mask. The first regret resulted in no proof of all these fish that I saw. The second regret caused me to constantly be coming up for air (I had goggles) just when I was getting into looking at something. You see that far point of the cove? We swam over there. There were bigger fish there.
Itty bitty snails.
Limestone.
There are two kinds of girls in the world. The kind who would photoshop their pimple out of the photograph and the kind who would not. Today, it seems, I am the latter.


It was good that I brought my water shoes, as walking along the rocks was fun...but a killer on bare feet.

That's me with my arms raised in triumph over the pretty. Also, I saw a bunch of starfish and I won't lie, I touched them. I not only touched them, I thought they deserved to have their own community and so I put them all on the same big rock. Seven of them.
L. taking her turn with the goggles and water shoes.



So that day was basically lying down in the sun and swimming with the fishes. We also made friends with a dude who has a house in the Oleander Cove community. He told us about a Super Bowl Party being held later that evening, which we decided we would attend.

Bacon and Eggs in Gregory Town

There had been some discussion of going to the Rainbow Inn and seeing the two dudes we met earlier in the day play music, but the timing was off just a bit. They weren't starting til later in the evening, it was 5. So we drove back to the apartment and ended up having a quiet night in, which was actually lovely. We read our books. Ate some macaroni and cheese with hot dogs. Drank a few beers. Peaceful. Quiet. The next morning I woke up refreshed and renewed and cooked up a mother load of bacon as well as eggs. Then I sat outside and ate it. I think L. had some bacon and hard boiled eggs.
This cat just wouldn't quit with the cuteness and the crazy.

Rainbow Beach

After Preacher's Cave, which was on the more northern part of the island, we drove a little further south, past Gregory Town (where we were staying) to Rainbow Beach. This was a nice little beach and if it had been sunny and not raining, I think we would have had a very good time there. Unfortunately though the sun had come out during our drive from the cave the the beach, pretty much the moment we actually parked the clouds came back in full force. Nonetheless, we went and hung out for a bit. Perhaps one of the highlights of this beach was this dog, who transfixed us by gnawing on something hard and crunchy (giant mussel?) for a good length of time. A rakish dog, but smelly.
This beach had nice little picnic benches and a little protection from the elements, seriously if it had been nicer this would have been the spot.
Still and all a nice visit. Those clouds, they spited us.

Rainy Day Preacher's Cove

Saturday I woke up to wind and rain. We hoped that it would pass in the morning hours, as our plan was to use the car to take ourselves to the Harbour Island ferry and to spend a day living 'the high life.' But a key component to 'the high life' was lying on pink sand beaches for hours, which isn't quite as appealing an activity if it's windy, rainy, and kind of chilly. While we were hoping the weather would improve, we went to the Laughing Lizard to take advantage of its wireless connections to the outside world. There we spoke to two rather handsome devils, who told us about a number of possible other places we could see and enjoy even with the less than ideal weather. This sparked an interest in going to a specific cave, but upon further discussion with the woman who owned the apartments we were staying in, we realized we didn't have the serious flashlights necessary to go on such an adventure. So, instead, we went to Preacher's Cave. As was the case in many instances during our time in Eleuthera, we were almost alone on the road to get there, and certainly alone during our time at the the cave and nearby Atlantic-facing beach. The cave had a wide mouth but was a little deep. It kind of reminded me of the cave in the first season of Lost, only easier to get in and out of and minus the waterfall/indoor pool. Total sidenote: about once every six months I remember to be very angry about the last two seasons of Lost.





For lunch L. made turkey sandwiches with mustard on white bread. Was it the best sandwich of either of our lives? No. But did the location prop it up a little? Yes.
I forgot to adjust my settings when I asked L. to take this photograph, so I'm all washed out. Oh well.
After enjoying the cave and our lunch, we followed the trail to the beach. The waves were a'pounding and the wind was a'whipping, but we took full advantage of the perhaps 20 minutes of sun before the next round of rain clouds came across the horizon.


Loves it.

On the limestone outcroppings (outcroppings?) there were all these tiny little zebra-like snails. I dug them, as in, I thought they were neat.

Fish Fry in Governour's Harbor

We arranged our day around my desire to go to the weekly Governor's Harbor fish fry, which is held on Fridays and features the option of a couple of different dishes (fried whole fish, bbq chicken, pork chop) that are then served with two sides (mac n cheese, cole slaw, I forget what else). It is described as an event that draws year-round residents as well as part-time residents and tourists, and that there is often live music and dancing. We arrived at the right spot entirely by chance and only a little early. The food wasn't yet being served, and we were a little confused about how the whole thing worked. With help from a couple from Pittsburg, we figured out that you first order and the man will write your name and preferences on the bottom of a styrofoam meal container, then one must diligently listen for their name to be called in order to pick up said containers chock full of food. They also had drinks called Rum Bubbas. The husband of the Pittsburgh couple said drinking one was enough because they were "rocket fuel." They were the kind of drink that doesn't completely taste of alcohol, but must be almost 90% just that. I thought the man was being hyperbolic and ended up enjoying three rum bubbas...and no, I do not remember the drive home.
I chose to go with the barbeque chicken, which was succulent and tasty. Not sure if they really made their own sauce, but I'm not worried one way or the other.
What it looked like from a little ways away.
We made friends with middle aged Canadian and German couples.
The place began to clear out.
L. making friends with a particularly enthusiastic/not really trained dog.