April 9, 2008

Yesterday we woke to another beautiful day. Last night 10 of us decided to get together and rent 2 cars and tour the island. We had heard that there was a six passenger vehicle and a compact car available for rent at the gas station near the dinghy dock. So it was decided that 3 of the boats would rent the “big” vehicle and we would rent the compact car for the Hearts Desire’s and ourselves. Then we would all caravan to the northernmost point of the island and do the tourist thing.

When we went over to the gas station we found that the big 6 passenger car was a Chevy Celebrity. When we were renting the cars the woman was explaining the insurance to us. I expressed my concern as to the very limited coverage that was being offered. She explained that that was all that was available but not to worry, if there was a problem, my car insurance back in the states would cover it. I’m nodding in complete agreement while inside I’m thinking about the fact that back in the states I don’t even have a car, much less car insurance. Not to mention the fact I haven’t even driven a car since July of last year and then there’s that whole “wrong side of the road thing”.

So we watch in amusement as our six friends stuffed themselves into their car and we hopped into our roomy 4 door Nissan Sentra. Driving on the left side of the road was a lot easier than I expected it to be. The only tension was when you had to turn onto a side street or into a parking lot. It really felt like it took a whole lot of thought as to where you were supposed to be.


We went north on the Queens Highway (every island with a road has one). We went from town to town as we worked our way north along the coast. We stopped to look at some of the anchorages that we’re considering using in the next few days.

Theres a bridge in an area called The Glass Window. To the west is beautiful protected shallow water while to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. The bridge is about 40 feet above the water. Back in the nineties a rogue wave came through and hit the bridge. The bridge deck was lifted and pushed west about 8 feet.





It sits where the ocean left it. They added some support and moved the road over a bit to the bridges new location. It’s hard to imagine the ocean building to the height of this bridge, its even harder to imagine that this bridge could even be remotely considered as being safe. It’s got to weigh over hundred tons, this thing had to get whacked pretty hard to have it move so far. There’s an average of about one tourist a year that gets swept away while climbing out on the rocks to take pictures during storms. Its always a tourist as in this instance “local knowledge” is more than just an expression.

The 10 of us stopped for lunch at a place called the Seven Seas. They fed us all for 113 dollars. The food was good, the portions were appropriate and most of the people had multiple beers. Straight Coke for me though, don’t want to get too cocky with that whole left side of the road thing.

Once at the north end of the island we were headed for a place called Preachers Cave. In 1649 the first settlers on Eleuthera had a rather inauspicious introduction to the island. They had both of their ships flounder on the reefs guarding the north side of the island. Although only one person died during the ship wreck, they lost all of their provisions. So they were left with no food or shelter but through dumb luck they came ashore near probably the largest cave in all the Bahamas. So with this huge cave providing shelter they were able to establish themselves on the island.

After touring our way south we decided to stop in for dinner at Poppa Georges Pizza and Internet Cafe. There was seating for twelve so the ten of us pushed all the tables in the place together and gave our orders. George charges 15 dollars an hour for internet. That’s pretty high so all of us passed on this “opportunity”. George is a real personable guy so one of the cruisers explained to him that if he advertised free internet with the purchase of 2 pies he’d have to shoo people away. George thought for a moment and replied “What I really could use is a couple of investors”. Boom, that shut everybody up about George and his marketing strategies. Instead of pizza ovens in the kitchen George had 3 stoves like your Mom had at home. He’d fashion up your pie and slip it right into a conventional oven to bake. They were fabulous. There were 5 fairly large pizzas between the 10 of us and very little was carried home.

We got back to the car rental place after they closed so we will go in early tomorrow to settle up. Our road trip was just over 300 kilometers for the day, I’m not sure how far that is in miles but it’s a buttload. I used to love to drive but I gotta say that it’s the hardest thing I’ve done in a while. I haven’t had to concentrate for hours at a time on anything in ages. I was exhausted, stuffed from dinner and ready for bed shortly after getting back to the boat.