First, this is only the second time Sharmila and I are doing an international vacation together since the kids were born. In the last 23 years, the only other time we did such a vacation was when we went to Portugal when Sharmila turned 40.

Second, the location – Eleuthera. I have not come across anybody who has heard of this island except Ted Dimbero – who was born in the Bahamas and apparently used to do summer camps in this island.

I was Google searching about islands a few years back and was struck by the water colors in the images. One side of the island is the Atlantic with its dark blue colors. And the other side is the Caribbean Sea with its sky blue color. The island is long and thin and there is a glass bridge where you can see both sides of the water! See the picture attached.

And now comes the third interesting twist. Instead of getting sunny weather, we are likely to get a lot of rain and wind due to Tropical Storm Elsa. Instead of pushing out our plans, we filled up our suitcases with all sorts of rain gear. The idea is to enjoy the beauty of these islands when they get totally drenched!!

Accidentally found this bridge while scanning satellite pictures on Google a few years back. Sharmila and I wanted to visit that spot where you can see the two different colors of water from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Made it there today!! It was raining but what the heck? Got out, got drenched and took some pictures on the iPhone. You can see the two waters on two sides. Wish I had a drone…

And this is on a rainy day. I have to believe that on a sunny day, it must be even more dramatic!

After seeing the bridge, the next stop was to the catch up lunch at a local place – and some local rum!!

Some spicy stuff from the island (the mango one was awesome) and some ginger and pineapple rum… And now I cannot remember what was the food I ate 🙂 (Actually, it was fish tacos)

It was a 90km drive to our cottage. The island is thin but very long. It has a lot of trees on either side of the only road – Queens Highway – that is there. Driving on this, you would not know that the Ocean and the Sea is barely a few hundred meters on either side!!

Mid way thru the drive to the cottage, Sharmila and I stopped at a random beach. There were a lot of conches that Sharmila picked up. Check out the ominous looking storm headed our way!

(P.S. Did you know the Dark and Stormy cocktail is also from another Atlantic island? Can you guess where?)

Sharmila is totally smitten by the view. The cottage is right on absolutely cerulean blue waters. I am afraid she might not want to leave!

The good beaches are on the other side of the island from the resort. And by other side, I mean about one km. So, everybody gets a golf cart to go to the beach and back!! Had a lot of fun maneuvering the cart around the pot holes!

The sand on the French Leave Beach looked slightly different. It did not have the familiar white or yellowish color. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was looking pink. Sharmila and I had found out about the Pink Beach in this island but this was not that beach.

Regardless, it did look pinkish. Picked up some sand and realized that there are a lot of red particles in it. Check out the picture. You will see a lot of tiny red dots – which is why the beach looks pinkish.

When we came back to the resort, found out from the locals that those are actually corals. Some of the corals get knocked off from the reefs and then waves and water over time pound them to small particles and leave some of them on the beach!!

But the smart money is on she trying to figure out how not to leave this island!

The sun is out today is full glory. Sipping tea from the balcony, I am mesmerized by how resplendent the blue and green colors look in sunlight.

But there are not too many food items we saw that had coconut in it. Ted told me about trying the local coconut bread but none of the coconut cocktails or coconuts by the roadside that we have seen in some other islands…

Found a kite that had flown off from whoever it belonged and was stranded with its line stuck in the kelp. Freed up the line and played it with for some time on the beach.

Another beach location in North Eleuthera. It looks like somebody brushed across the canvas as many different blue colors as one could find!

The sun was up in full glory. Drove back an hour to the bridge to see how the waters looked in the sunlight. This time, I climbed up a nearby limestone outgrowth and took the shot. You can see the bridge and you can see how different the waters look on the Atlantic Ocean side and the Caribbean Sea side. It is an incredible view – almost jarring to watch from the bridge how two endless bodies of water are simultaneously very different colors while being in contact with each other!

Took Ted’s advice and we are off to the Harbor Island. (a nearby island). With masks on in the speedboat, we looked like a bunch of small time, ill-organized pirates. With stylish sunglasses, though 🙂

You can see the Atlantic waters in the corner. I was facing the bridge and the Caribbean Sea.

Unlike the island we are in, this one has a lot of people and tourists. It was only a 4 minute boat ride but a complete change in scenery – in terms of human activities. Interesting divide of American tourists who were all on the beach (some throwing a coconut looking thing – called “football”) and British tourists who were all glued to the England-Ukraine football (soccer – the ball is decidedly more “ball”y in shape) game in the bar!

Everybody seemingly moves in golf carts in this island. I had not reserved any and all the cart rental places were booked up due to the July 4th weekend. So Sharmila and I walked up most of the island. (It is a very small one).

The sand looked and felt good. The water was warm.

Also, my flip flops had snapped 🙂 I guess I had not planned to climb up a rock in my flip flops. A local guy gave us a ride to a flip flop shop for me to get a new pair.

Sharmila did not like my theory that I should carry my old pair too – that way, even if one of the new one snaps – I still will have a pair. I recognize that depending on which one snaps, there is a case where it would distinctly look unfashionable – but who looks at what flip flops one is wearing when you have so many beautiful sights to see? Plus whoever accused me of having any fashion sense, ever?

First, I saw one of them crossing the road. Then there were a few more. And then there were a lot more! Had to pull the car over to get close to one or two of them to take a few shots.

Very beautiful looking crabs. Found out later from the locals that these crabs are fairly common in the Antilles islands. They are unique in the sense they are born in the water (all crabs have gills) but then they migrate to land. The females, after mating, go back to the water to lay their eggs.

In the peak of the season, they take over the roads. And yet, not one of them was smashed by any of the cars going by. They can dart real, real fast when scared.

It not only let me come pretty close to it (I did not get too close – if you remember, I was still wearing flip flops – and one of them chasing me with a heavy DSLR hanging around my neck would not make for a picturesque scene), it even seemed to do a local dance for me!!

To bring a break to an otherwise riot of blue color everywhere!

One the advice we got from the locals was to explore the island by taking all the small roads branching off from the main and only arterial road. This being a very long and thin island, all the small roads invariably ended in a beach or water.

While checking out some of those small roads, landed up at a place that looked like a dock from the yesteryears. Either a storm or the effect of water over many years has completely blown it apart.

The water was blue as blue it could be!

“So, Trish, what are the non-touristy beaches?”, I asked Trisha (who goes by Trish) who was serving us breakfast.
“What are you looking for?”
“When you, your husband and your seventeen month old baby go – which beach do you go to?”
“We go to Cocodimama beach”
“Why?”
“It is quiet, not many people at all and you have sand bars going way into the water”.
“Okay. Which side road do I need to take?”

Following Trish’s instructions we reached Cocodimama beach. It was as beautiful as you can imagine. Pristine clear water and the sandbars ran hundreds of yards in. Even when the water was barely six inches deep, you could see the slight bluish color. Lots of fishes and lot of conch shells on the beach!

Aimlessly driving around, we chanced upon this side road. The first thing that struck me was – Well, if it is a Hidden Beach, why advertise it? Sooner or later, it will not live up to its name, right?

Anyways, we got in to see where it led.

After seeing a lot of beaches and sort of beaten down by the heat, we picked a random place by the beach to sit down and cool down over a gin and tonic. We could not have picked a better place. Made friends with the owner Richard and Shirley who were serving us. Both of them are from Nassau.

Richard opened this place just a few weeks back. Lovely spot. He has a fascinating life history which has taken him to England, US, Dominican republic and Haiti. He talked a lot about Haiti. He had gone there on a missionary trip. On his way back, all he had was the clothes he was wearing. Gave away everything else. The description of how poor some parts of that country is beggars description. Had the best time chatting with him.

Shirley – a very smart and a very polite person (every answer had a Sir or Madam) in it – is bubbling with energy. Her goal in life is to be a veterinarian. Because she loves animals.

Again, great time spent..

… lazily staring into the deep waters as the waves come by endlessly!

… do not forget to stop by this place. Say Hi to Richard, Shirley and Shelly. Don’t forget their cute dog Gino!!

Great food, great drinks, great location – but most importantly, great conversations with them.

This place is on the south end of James Cistern (you cannot miss it).

Chatting with Richard, staring into the Caribbean Sea, something very red in color not too far from us caught my eye.

“Richard, what are those?”

“Those are conch shells”

“That red in color?”

“Yes”

“Whose are those?”

“Mine”

“Can I see them?”

“Sure!”

Richard took us down from the restaurant to the rocks below and showed us the conch shells. I did not realize that the inside of the conch shells are that red in color!!

These are four of the eight he had. Each one is about a foot in length!

Richard gifted this near foot long conch shell to Sharmila. Without fear or favor, Sharmila threw away all the other shells she had gathered from Cocodimama beach!!

Impressive size and color!

Picked up a lot of local cocktail tips from Shelly in the evening…

You can hear the constant lashing of the waves. And a few roosters in the horizon.

Over the last few years, I have driven on the “other” side of the road (of course, lawfully!) in other countries. Mostly in different Caribbean islands.

It takes a few minutes to get used to. What helps is that the driver’s seat is also on the ‘other” side compared to the US. A driver’s instinct is to keep himself or herself in the middle of the road (away from the curb). So, it works out.

Except some small problems sometimes creep up – like the one I had in Grand Cayman. It took me three days to learn how NOT to turn on the windshield wiper every time I wanted to put the turn signal on!

Eleuthera experience was one level of confusion more! The driving is on the left side of the road alright. But the rental car I got, as you see, is a Ford car with the steering wheel the way it is in the US. So, it is a mix and match problem!!

So far, it has worked out…

Country #26 with a 5K run

From the airplane, we could see the long sand dunes below layered one after the other. Pretty much like this picture. Except this is actually under two feet of water – very clear water, I must say!

But stay here for how nice the people are. Every single person in this island is very friendly. You may remember Richard, Shirley and Shelly from previous posts. On Sunday, the cigar-toting Edgar at the Liquor store and Alicia from the grocery store helped me fix a problem. (I was potentially running low on cash and both the ATMs in the island were not working!!).

In the resort itself, the people are even nicer, if that is even possible. Florence – the lady from Haiti who has been cleaning our room has been super nice. She told us her story from Haiti.

Nothing can start your day as well as a good breakfast by the turquoise blue waters and great conversations with Torez and Trisha. Both of them have young kids – almost a year and a half old. In fact, I got to meet Torez’s daughter – who was super friendly – in keeping with the island ethos, I guess. She saw me and immediately gave me a fist bump!!

“So, we come here for vacation. You live here. Where do you go for vacation?”

“Florida!”

“Really? What is there that you do not have here?”

“Tall buildings!” said Torez

“Tall buildings?”

“Yes, I can look up. Here you cannot look up!”

“That is funny”

Trisha added – “You come here to see what you do not have. We go there to see what we do not have!”

Sounds about fair!!

Took Ted’s advice and decided to go check up Spanish Wells. Well, that is the city. The island in St. George’s Cay. A few centuries back, the Spanish, on their way back to Europe used to stop in this island to fill up their boats with potable water. (They had dug up wells in the island for that purpose). Thus the name of the city.

Sharmila and I went there with higher ambition. She was trying to see if she could buy some local spicy sauces.

(BTW, we did not get any there)

We explored the whole island of St. George’s Cay (Spanish Wells) as well as the next one – Russell Island – on this cart.

Coconuts and mangoes! There were a lot of guavas too..

Previous night, Sharmila and I had struck up a conversation with some local customers in that Delish bar in Eleuthera. The lady had told us to definitely try out Budda’s bar and restaurant. So, here we are!!

If St. Kitt’s and Nevis drink was the Killer Bees, it is definitely Dizzy Budda for the Bahamas! This is the specialty drink at the Budda.

The whole place is filled up with small boards of very funny sayings – mostly to do with alcohol. You can spend thirty minutes just going around the whole place and reading up all the boards. If you ever come to this part of the world, do visit this place. Here are some examples:

“I seriously need a speed bump between by brain and my mouth”

“Exercise makes you look better naked. So does tequila. Your choice.”

“Potatoes make fries, chips and vodka. Seems like the other vegetables are not even trying”

and so on…

Listening to old Bengali songs sitting in a landing dock jutting into the water. The memories of old days triggered by the songs and the gentle sound of the waves crashing into the dock posts was a heady mix!

That is the Caribbean Sea meeting the sky in the horizon long after sunset!

… then every evening ended with Nigel. This towering man was our company every evening at the resort bar – where we caught up with our night caps and sometimes dinner too!! Last evening, we got to know about his life story. It is always a humbling experience getting to know the real people. Everybody has a story I can learn so much from…

Reminded me of her dad when he left our house in Atlanta in 2014. (We lost him in 2018) Before he got up in the car for the airport, he looked at the pool one last time and had muttered under his breath – “Bye Bye, pool“.

His daughter’s pool just got bigger!

You might recollect that our trip to Spanish Wells, while otherwise very successful, did not yield any local hot sauces. Not one to give up on her pursuit of hot sauces, Sharmila, one our drive back to the airport, went back to the restaurant where we had eaten first. They were closed. The owner lived in the house next door. She made them open their shop and bought these four bottles from them!!!

The woman will do anything for spicy sauces. I remember in Zapallar in Chile, where the chef had come out from the kitchen and gifted her a local spicy sauce bottle!

ELH might be my airport #143 but it is top in the books in terms of people, hospitality and just island beauty. Where else can you order your burger and fries before security and as you wait at the tarmac for an hour for the incoming flight, the security guys run your order thru the X-ray and get it to you?

Island life!

Sharmila and I took a final beach walk this morning before heading back to the US. During our walk, we met another local couple. He is from here and she is from Canada.

Sharmila explained to them how I am interested in settling in a place like this. But she was worried of important things like medical support.

Remember Trisha from earlier posts? Yeah, she had to go to Nassau to give birth to her baby. No hospitals here.

The couple tried to calm us down by saying that in case of an emergency, we will be airlifted and in an hospital in Nassau within 35 minutes.

As Sharmila and they kept talking, I withdrew. Pondering over a question that seemed more important to me…

“Is the idea to live where we push death to a later death or is the idea to truly live a better life before we die (whenever that is)?”

What do you think?

If you ever landed in Atlanta airport in the international terminal and came out of customs and immigration anytime in the late afternoon, you would see this place teeming with people. Waiting to welcome their near and dear ones coming in from abroad. Half of them would be my fellow Indian brethren awaiting the Qatar Airways flight!

Today, as you see – there was nobody. Nobody!! I almost did a double quick thinking I had come out of the wrong side!

The effect of Covid is still very pronounced!