Bahama Blues

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Ahhh . . . the pre-COVID travel days. I’m so happy that I was able to sneak this one in. I took the opportunity to get away during our spring break from March 10-15^th. Any later and I wouldn’t have gotten any international travel in for 2020. In fact, as we were sitting on the runway to return on the 15^th there was talk of cancelled flights. I didn’t know his name at the time but the guy sitting next to me on the plane happened to be David Dembroski, president of the company that runs the Property Brothers TV show. When there was a delay while we were sitting on the tarmac, we just sort of looked at each other and said ‘well, if ever there was a good place to get stranded . . . ‘



I wasn’t sure how well I’d like the Bahamas. Frankly, I didn’t know much about it. Yet, my research paid off this time. I found an ideal spot. I like to enjoy nature without floods of tourists and traffic, and in this regard, Spanish Wells did me right. I stayed at an Airbnb there for 5 nights and can’t wait to return. Next door neighbor Eleuthera is a much larger island and a bigger tourist draw. I flew into the northern airport on Eleuthera and took a water taxi over to Spanish Wells spending most of my time there with the exception of a day trip back to Eleuthera.



Arriving into the Bahamas is a treat in itself. Just looking down and gazing at the immaculate blue waters across countless islands is captivating. The airport was a tiny singular building on a desolate stretch of Eleuthera. My Airbnb host Melinda was wonderful as was her house on Russell Island (adjoining Spanish Wells by a bridge). She picked me up from the water taxi and got me going on a golf cart that I rented from her. I quickly developed a routine for my stay. Melinda had a nice beach location equipped with a hut and kayaks. I would walk the beaches for hours in addition to kayaking and snorkeling while looking for shells. It was easy to do this for the whole day. And I was shocked at the few numbers of people that were on the beautiful beaches (see pics). Every night after a quick shower it was out for a meal, typically a good burger from the Shipyard Restaurant and then an ice cream from Papa’s Scoops. Papa’s rotated flavors every night and had a steady stream of business. Don’t go to Spanish Wells looking for chain restaurants, supermarkets, or nightlife. The beauty of it lies in the peacefulness of its colorful houses surrounded by beautiful turquoise water. You are pretty much within sight of water anywhere on the island. A favorite late afternoon activity of mine was to take my golf cart to the beach at the northwest tip of Russell Island to look for that afternoon’s shells that had washed ashore. Another favorite activity was kayaking to St. George island just north of Spanish Wells.



I enjoyed my daytrip to Eleuthera but concluded that staying on Spanish Wells was the correct decision. Highlights of that day that I would recommend included seeing the Preacher’s Cave, the Sapphire Blue Hole, and the Glass Window. I also enjoyed the beach and swimming at Cocodimama. I made it as far south as Governor’s Harbor thereby leaving a reason for a return visit. I also skipped over the big draw – Pink Sands Beach – to leave for another time.

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Photos

Souvenirs?
I typically bring home chocolate, wine, cheese, honey but this trip was a bit different at the onset of COVID19