Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Eleuthera – it’s not for everyone

We drove through some small towns such as Cupid’s Cay, Alice Town and Hatchet Bay on our day tour of the island. We stopped at Gregory Town, home of the Pineapple capital of Eleuthera in search of fresh pineapple. At it turns out pineapple season is in June but we managed to find a “bakery” with some pineapple tarts and a couple of “Inland native craft shops”, one which we spent a fair amount of time and money. Back in the car we go off-road and follow an ocean side trail (which is single lane, packed sand road) in search of the former Club Med restaurant and what is dubbed as the most beautiful pink sand beach in Eleuthera.  Believe it or not we followed the directions of a tourist. Talk about the blind leading the blind. We figured that he was probably laughing his head off knowing we were going on a wild goose chase. We finally abandon the sand and rocky road at a T-intersection and head for a civilized road to try and preserve George’s car. On second though we should have rented an SUV.  It was now 16:00 and we had not had lunch yet so we take another road and find the former Club Med (destroyed by Hurricane Floyd) now called French Leave. We follow the road further south and come upon The Beach House Restaurant and Tapas Bar simply known as The Beach House.  The setting is amazing and the sand truly is pink and like powder. If you come to the Boatel this summer, just ask me to see this special pink sand, I have a sample to prove it. We enjoyed dinner at this very relaxed and superb restaurant. This was our first real non-Bahamian restaurant that we experienced during the winter, meaning no peas and rice, no Bahamian mac and cheese, no coleslaw.  
The Beach House
Dinner with Marsha & Chris
The end of a perfect day. Notice the birds flying on the left above the dock.
 We headed back on the road to the boat and so ends our special day on the road in Eleuthera.
I bought a t-shirt in Gregory Town that stated  “Eleuthera – it’s not for everyone”.  I thought to myself what an odd marketing message. You would expect to hear “Eleuthera – something for everyone”.  We discussed it with our waitress at the restaurant.  It is said that Eleuthera is for those that do not need to be entertained but rather for people who find pleasure in the simpler things. It’s for people who do not need the casinos, fast food outlets or the malls, but rather those that see the joy in the beautiful of natural things such as pink sand beaches and perfect sunsets.  Eleuthera is for people who walk to the beat of a different drum.  I would say that Eleuthera is for us.

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