Chase the Bah Humbugs Away – Day 5

We woke early due to torrential rains coming down. We walked over to the main pod to have coffee and work on some editing, when thunder and lightning did appear. We checked the radar and the weather all over Long Island was very Bah Humbugish for Christmas Eve Day. Our hope was to head north today, but looking at the radar we would just be running into more rain.

After breakfast of french toast sticks, we headed to Seawinds to pick up a few grocery items.

We made a plan to go to Galloway by the cut and see if the weather would change.

Dark clouds surrounded us, but we decided to fight the bah humbugs and get in the water when Santa came floating by with a reindeer.

After the float some potential future Christmas cards photo were taken.

We lunched after the float and walked around this part of Galloway beach, the dark clouds disappeared and bright sun appeared.

After our lunch and walk, we packed up and headed to the first part of Galloway Beach. Where we meet our instagram friend Iseewildtrees and her husband, they had just landed the night before and this was their first beach excursion out. Yeah I know, we meet on the internet and guess what? We are going on a boat trip with them too. It was wonderful to meet in person. We didn’t stay long, as we wanted them to enjoy the solitude of the beach. I was excited to find a new beach rock had appeared.

At the homestead, we headed down to the beach for another long beach walk to soak in the sun and admire the glorious blues of the water.

After the beach walk it was cocktail hour. We did have a wee bit of snake incident. Why do they find us in the Bahamas why? Christmas of 2004 was our first experience and well, we don’t tell that story to many. It’s a way of life here, but damn this little guy was getting in the way of Mike delivering Kaliks.

Little guy didn’t want Mike bringing me beer

We decided dinner would be leftovers, which would allow us time to go view sunset back at Galloway. We did notice a huge cloud bank but decided to give it a go anyways. So no viewing of the sun setting, but it was still lovely.

We came back to gumbo leftovers, a game of blokus and working on this blog, which truly had the bah humbugs with all the technical problems that existed. I decided to abandon any more work on this thing and head outside to watch the night sky. WOW, we could see the milky way and we had shooting stars, you know I made a wish.

As we took the photos of us, I kept thinking of the caption, keep the storm at bay with mirth and merriment, chase those bah humbugs away.

Keep the storm at bay with mirth and merriment, chase the bah humbugs away.

December 25, 2019 0

Day 5 – Hitting Up Our Go To Spots

I was up early to soak in the morning calls of the birds and watch the day begin.

Our plan today was farmer’s market at 8 a.m. return to the house and revisit some of our favorite places, our go to spots.

We had breakfast of an omelet with toast smeared with locally made guava jam. After breakfast I had my second attempt at making johnny cake. I used a smaller pan, lowered the oven temperature and lessened the baking time. It worked I made johnny cake without a burn! It came out of the oven just before we left for the farmers market, perfect timing.

Well the farmers market today was not bustling, only a few vendors were around and not much food stuff. We picked up a papaya, starfruit jam, onions and passionfruit! We thought we would drive by a little later to see if more vendors would come. Well they didn’t.

View from the farmer’s market parking lot

We unpacked the few items and then packed up for the day. Our first stop was Dean’s Blue Hole, the world’s second deepest blue hole. On our first visit here, I was too chicken to swim over it, in it or near it. When we returned home, I was upset with myself and vowed next trip I would get over my fear. Yup over that fear. We snorkeled the hole and around the area. It was a workout as the current was very strong. We spent about an hour here, finding sand dollars and sea biscuits. We left our sea treasures behind and headed off to our next destination.

the edge of the hole
Sunrays going down into the blue hole
Don’t step on the fire worm
a live sea biscuit
sand dollars and a dead sea biscuit
day 5 and first people on the beach encounter

We drove up south to Ford’s Landing. We always walk to the right (amazing shelling here) but today we turned left, as there was more sand to walk on, hopped in the water and floated. The blues here always take my breath away.

After all that sun and water, we needed lunch. We turned towards the north and went to Galloway beach because we knew the casuarina pines would provide us with shade. We found a shady spot and enjoyed our sandwiches and my yummy johnny cake. After lunch we were beat and returned to our home base.

Mike enjoying johnny cake

I had hoped to go for a snorkel when we landed at the apartment, but the tide was way out, so a snorkel wouldn’t work very well. Instead we went for a float. In certain spots the water was hot today, not warm but hot. You could compare it to pedicure soaking water hot.

After the float, we made a papaya lime no bake cheesecake. By then I was spent, I needed a nap and I took one. Mike researched our adventures for tomorrow. Dinner was leftover casserole and broccoli salad. We wondered why the horizon looked so hazy and come to find out it might be the Sahara dust blowing over us.

After dinner and cleanup, Mike went for his sunset swim, bringing me a gift from the sea while I sat absorbing all the beauty.

Today we revisited three of our go to spots for snorkeling, views and shade. It’s always good to have a few go to spots.

July 13, 2019 0

Day 3 – Mother Nature’s Amusement Park

Oh Mother Nature you provided us with such joy today, we loved your visual presentations, wild rides and underwater adventures. We certainly felt like we were in Mother Nature’s Amusement Park.

I was up early and went to see the drama of the clouds down by the water. Overnight we had a downpour, much needed to fill the cisterns here. The dark clouds enveloped us most of the day.

After savoring the quiet of the early morning, I returned to the apartment and made dinner for tonight, tuna noodle casserole. It is so hot here the best time to cook dinner is in the morning and reheat in the microwave at dinner time. After that was made it was time to make breakfast. Our host, Cheryl gave us a very ripe papaya yesterday, which was a perfect topping for our french toast sticks for breakfast.

Remember the rain I mentioned? It really brought out the frogs and this one was carrying her baby.

After breakfast we prepared our gear and lunch for the day. Our destination was Galloway Beach, but further out than we have driven before. On our way to our destination, the ancient island woman that sells fruit by the roadside had a bunch of dilly fruit. We stopped and I asked her how much, she said 3 for $5, which I thought was a bit steep. We had stopped and I didn’t want to give tourists a bad reputation so I said sure. I picked my 3 dillies and then she told me to take two more. I don’t know what happened next but she grabbed all the fruit she had and walked it to our car. In total she gave us 13 dilly for $5, what a bargain, now we just need them to soften up.

Oh my Mother Nature outdid herself today with the views and the “river” adventure we had. We walked the beach, the sandbars, we had a wild ride down the river towards the ocean and then we lunched. It was a blast and oh yes we plan to return here this trip.

After lunch we headed out to Lochabar Bay area to walk a bit. While walking we spotted turtles swimming about.

As I was starting to crisp up, we decided it was time to head back home. At home I went for a snorkel, Mike paddleboarded and then enjoyed a float. I worked on my underwater picture taking skills, as I haven’t done it in a while. I still need to work on it, but the little jetties on our beach provide for a great practice area.

After our snorkel and paddle/float, we retired indoors until dinner time. After dinner and clean up, it was sunset time and another float for Mike. Sunset wasn’t grand, but we will cut Mother Nature some slack as she provided a great amusement park for us all day, she worked hard!

July 11, 2019 0

Goodbye to 2018- Day 10

The last day of 2018 and our last full day here on island started with a spectacular sunrise.

After a lazy morning of coffee and french toast sticks, we meandered over to Ford’s beach for one last walk about. This beach is a prime shelling spot, but today the ocean wasn’t offering much. We did get two new to us shells though, so I shouldn’t get greedy. We walked to the north of the boat ramp, further than we have walked here before.

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It was getting close to lunch, so off to Max’s for one last lunch out on the island. I had grilled wahoo, while Mike enjoyed the conch salad. Finally we learned to carry bug spray with us and spray up before sitting at Max’s. The no seeums can be brutal here.

On our return home, we stopped at this little roadside house. Would love to know the story behind it.

Once at the house we began the ritual of packing up, consolidating the collected shells and cleaning up. Ok I did sneak in a nap, while Mike did most of the work. I did snap a picture of our lovely beach. There were pig prints in the sand today, hmmmm.

The homeowners came over before we went out for our sunset viewing. They had just returned to the island and it was wonderful to meet them in person.

After chatting for a while we departed to watch the final sunset of 2018 at Galloway beach. Upon entering the beach area we were both sad to see someone had taken the “happy rocks” that were there early in the week.

The sun was as beautiful as she was this morning. Thankful our last sunset of 2018 was dramatic.

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Great island to say goodbye to 2018 and hello to a hopeful 2019 on.

December 31, 2018 0

Reunited and It Feels So Good – Day 5

I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning, all giddy with excitement knowing we would be reunited with our luggage today.

First things though coffee down at the beach watching the sunrise. We finally have a rain free morning to get down to the beach.

Is that the sunrise? Oh no it’s Mike in his new bright shirt!

After our first cup of coffee we returned to the house to make ricotta pancakes for breakfast. This is the first time I added coconut to them and wow, it made it taste so tropical. We topped our deliciousness with guava jam and bananas. No need for maple syrup.

After devouring this scrumptiousness, we headed to the airport. Once there Vern, our Christmas Angel, greeted us with a big smile and went to her car to grab our bag. We hugged her repeatedly and I gave her some fancy chocolates, I had brought from home that were actually in the bag that never left my side. I had two boxes and I was able to give out both on this trip. I think from now on I will travel with some of the nice chocolates, never know when you might need a thank you!

Once we returned with our precious cargo, we unpacked the item that we missed the most and had really been suffering without first, our coffee.

After unpacking the clothes and getting into proper fitting bathing suits, we headed out to revisit some of our favorite beaches. We are staying on Lochabar Beach, however we love Lochabar Bay for the blues of the water and Clem’s blue hole, so we headed over there. Once again it was high tide and choppy so any snorkeling and shell collecting was not going to happen. But a beach walk was going to happen.

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Our next beach stop was Galloway Beach to sit and eat our lunch. You can guess what lunch was, our island lunch preference, pb and guava!

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I started to pink, so it was time to head back to the house to rest and lotion up again. Following the nap, we went into Clarence Town to the Boxing Day Bazaar. We tried to go last year, but couldn’t find it. Which if you knew how small the town was, you would laugh at us. At the bazaar we picked up a few tickets to purchase a homemade dessert spice loaf and some conch fritters. While there we ran into a family that flew over with us. Our luggage woes were nothing to compared to theirs come to find out. Their luggage is still in Nassau waiting to clear customs and these people have little people. So really I can’t complain. We were here around 2 p.m. on the early side of things. We heard it really gets going after 4 p.m.

On our way home with our conch fritters, we stopped at one last beach for the day, Dunmore beach. The wind had really picked up and we could see rain clouds approaching, so we didn’t walk far or for long.

Once home, we had appetizers of conch fritters and watched the rain approach. Sadly it looked like it was headed for Clarence Town and the Boxing Day fun.

We did have two good beach finds today, after visiting three beaches (four if you count ours).

Our late afternoon fading into evening, was laid back and easy. Dinner of chicken enchiladas and cards to finish off the day.

So happy to have our bag back and even better knowing it wasn’t taken, just misplaced. I am so excited for tomorrow’s cup of coffee, so good to be reunited with our clothes and good coffee.

December 26, 2018 0

Day 6 – Making Plans

To day it was about making our next trip plan around sand dollars hunts.

After a restless night’s sleep due to little wind, an air conditioning unit set for an Arctic chill and waiting to hear back about our first choice rental, we got up early made the coffee and went to Dean’s Blue Hole to enjoy it.

But we decided to walk across from the hole to that other beach to sit and sip.

After enjoying the coffee, we walked the beach and while walking we received the news that our first choice rental was unavailable. Wespent time considering what our options were, go back to our Christmas place, go to another island, find another rental here, hmmm…

After our coffee, walk and conversation we returned to the cottage to search once again for another spot to spend the holidays at. We found a rental that met every want, except for sunset views, which we are desperately missing here. While searching, our power went out, a sign this was a good time to drive out to check out the rental. While checking it out we found the Dunmore Ruins, which we had been looking for the other day. We decided if the rental was only missing sunset views we could survive, it sits on a hill and we have a better view of the sky, so maybe we could get some dramatic color. Not sure if power was restored at our current rental, we stopped at Galloways to see if it was calm enough for a snorkel. It looked calm so we set up camp and went in.

In we went, however the rolling small waves made Mike a little seasick so he got out while I tried to snap some underwater photos. It was a bit churned up so not the clearest pictures.

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Of course there were sand dollars to be found in the water. I left these behind, maybe it will make some tourist’s day that doesn’t go out snorkeling. Mike also tried to blend in with the view, so he would be left behind to.

We packed up and headed into Clarence Town to find the bakery. We found it and picked up two slices of poppy seed and a pumpkin bread for our coffee beach walk tomorrow. While here, in a spot that I had reception, we sent an email to ask about Island Dreams vacation rental.

We needed lunch and still not sure if power returned (power can go out for hours here on the island), we went to Max’s Conch Bar for lunch. The owner’s wife recognized us as repeat customers and spent some time chatting with us. I had my usual grouper fingers and Mike enjoyed cracked conch. While enjoying our lunch we received word Island Dreams was available for our next trip and we confirmed booking

We were utterly exhausted, after a stop at the grocery store for supplies for tonight’s fish stew we returned to the house that had power restored and napped for an hour. After feeling a bit better, a snorkel and sand dollar hunt at Dean’s was had. The fish were abundant as were the sand dollars.

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We came home, cleaned up, wrote, made dinner, relaxed, enjoyed dinner, read and went to sleep. Contented in knowing we have a rental for our next trip, making plans today that worked out.

April 13, 2018 0