Peace, Love and Sandy Feet in Rock Sound

March 9, 2011

We sorted out the school supplies while the generator was running and got ready for our adventures to the east side of the ocean for a day at the beach. Bahamians call this the North Side for some reason we can’t explain.  We walked up to the school and visited the kindergarten and grade two class. The kindergartens were just going out for recess so we got pictures by the playground. They just loved the Canadian flags we gave them.

Ted & the Rock Sound Kindergarten

Isn't she just a doll!

 The Grade 2 class gave us their best smiles.

                               

To all of you that were at our going away party and donated books and crafts, these pictures are for you!

What really surprised us is how polite of the children on Eleuthera have been, always saying good-morning or good-afternoon.  As we were meeting with Natasha the principal, a tour bus arrived from Princess Cay with people stopped here from Princess Cruise Lines. Natasha said that they get tours almost every day and sometimes a couple of times a day. She grabs a drum and rushes off to meet the tour bus and brings them to the grade two class where they perform 3 musical song and dance numbers for the tourist from the cruise ship. Natasha invites us to join the group and I get the children on video.  Natasha explains to the group how important tourism dollars are for them. The money gets allocated to help operate the school for which they are grateful. In fact one of the song is “tourism money is so much fun...”.  I wish I could post the video I took here but I don't have enough bandwidth on the wifi.

Natasha explains to us that the government provides funding for the basics but extra’s like glue and craft supplies which she calls “fluff” are funded by the teachers out of their own pocket.  I explained how we collected school supplies at our going away party and distributed them to the schools in the Bahamas.  I asked if other boaters dropped off supplies and sadly she said no.  George Town and the Exuma Islands get so much but I guess that these islands get forgotten. I told her that I would put something out on www.cruisernet.com  to try to spread the world.  I also recommended that they register with the Seven Seas Cruising Association. We will do our part this summer to collect craft supplies for them. 

We said our good-byes and head further up the road another mile to the east side of the island and another secluded beach.  We left our cart  at the school which we used to transport the books and promised to come back later in the day to pick it up. Natasha offered us a drive to the beach but we opted to walk instead and enjoy the island. We easily found our way down the path to the beach.  We stopped to talk to a Bahamian on the beach who was friendly but difficult to understand. He has walking along the rocks looking for shells and managed to find a turban shell with a huge hermit crab in it. He would use this as bait to catch the Triggerfish that swam along the waters edge. Today it was too rough for him to go out and fish.  He got on his bike and drove away and we never saw anyone else the rest of the day – our beach. I got a t-shirt from Ted for Christmas that said “Peace Love and Sandy Feet”. It describes our experience in the Bahamas perfectly. 

When we arrived we ate our picnic lunch and left our shoes and backpack near some rocks and head off to explore. We spend the entire afternoon walking along the beach collecting shell, sea glass and sea beans. We went in for a swim around the coral heads looking for what we could find in the water. Four hours later we were back to our shoes with a bag full of treasures.

We had seen a sign and heard about a restaurant on the ocean side so we head off in search of it with no idea how far it really is. We walk along the road and occasionally see small wooden signs telling us that we are headed in the right direction.

Rose’s Nort’ Side Restaurant sign

We follow the hydro lines and arrive on a small cluster of roofs. We walk past the first house and hear a dog barking. Rose the owner of the restaurant comes out to shout to us that we are going the wrong way. We back track and are greeted by a fat tail wagging golden lab named “Teddy” who Rose tells us “hates black people – he just growls at them but he knows the white people will pet him”. She welcomes us to her restaurant and announces we are just in time because she is about to serve dinner to some other cruisers.  With an ice-cold Klick in hand, we introduce ourselves and have time to get to know each other before we sit down at a large table to enjoy Rose’s home made Bahamian cooking.  I have to take a moment to describe the Nort’ Side Restaurant.  You first enter the bar with its sand covered floor and ceiling covered in palm fronds. What a great bar.

The sand covered floor at the bar at Nort’ Side Restaurant

You walk through the bar to the enclosed patio in the back which is an eclectic mix of shells, marine and nautical decor. A turtle shell is mounted on one of the wall. The restaurant seats 30 to 35 people and the tables are covered with freshly starched green table clothes and Rose’s hand made candle holders.   Definitely a Bahamian experience. Rose offers to drive everyone back to the dock (it’s part of the deal with dinner). She takes the other 5 cruisers first and comes back for us. We start walking and she picks us up on the way. We find out that Rose had worked at Batelco (telephone company) and had raised here  children in Grand Bahama.  Her and her husband had bought the cottage and the restaurant as a retirement dream of his 11 years ago. Unfortunately he died five months after they moved and she stayed on to run the cottages and restaurant.  She has built a reputation by word of mouth amongst the cruising community.  We were told that a visit to Rose’s is a must when going to Rock Sound.  We’re glad we had an opportunity to meet Rose.