Lazy Sunday

Having been on the go all week, we decided to just relax and play it by ear. Good thing because poor Kara had a sun reaction with one of her meds and woke up quite swollen. Since we are all moms, we of course gave her the third degree, insisted that she take a Benadryl and lay down for a bit.

In the meantime, Perri and I went into our "crouching tiger" positions on the beach and looked for shells. There are so many perfect little shells, it's amazing! It was a hot sunny day and of course we sat out there until we just couldn't take it anymore. Yeah, sunburned doesn't even quite begin to describe it!!

Once in the house, we watched some daytime tv and became obsessed with our bug bites. We put everything on those suckers; witch hazel, lime juice, alcohol even mouthwash and NOTHING made them stop itching. Except maybe the plastic fork that Perri used to scratch the hell out of them.

Kara was still sleeping so went ventured out to find the little wading pool like cut-out along the shoreline. It felt so good to get into that water. There were some fish swimming around, but they didn't mind us. The water was warm and very soothing on the ole bites.

Kara rejoined us - looking very refreshed - for some more shelling and then we did our "holy quick shower" routine to head out for dinner at the Sunset Inn.

Great prices, service was a little slow, but you are in the Bahamas. I don't remember what I had, but I know next time I'm getting the grouper (that's what Perri had - it was delicious!!) We did try some cracked conch and ugh!! That is a taste that one does not soon forget...not a good taste either (in my opinion). Very wild and chewy...not a big fan!!

There is some very nice art work hanging inside that was done by local artist Kevin Cooper. It was nice to see his work since we had met him at Mate & Jenny's after the famous "dog" incident.

Hard to believe we have been in Eleuthera for six days...time sure does go by fast when you are on vacation. Another perfect ending to a perfect day in paradise!

Moving on up...the coast that is

Okay, so after our horrible run-in with the dogs, and our visit from Officer Turnquest, the day was still young. We hopped in the car and headed south to Rock Sound. A few turns later and we were staring in amazement at Ocean Hole...a saltwater hole (the size of a large lake) in the middle of town. We looked at the fish, took in the scenery and wondered "didn't we read that you can swim in here?" We knew you could jump in...but how to get out was the real question.

Then a church mission group from South Carolina pulled up. Some of the kids made their way down the steps while others were at the top stripping off shirts...then "SPLASH!" We looked up to see the teens jumping off the cliff above into the ocean hole. Perri being the "talk to anyone" kinda girl she is, struck up conversation with the teens who then showed us how to get out. After some convincing, Perri and I decided we could jump off that cliff too. COWABUNGA!! Kara jumped in as well, but from the lower cliff...still adventurous since that was not exactly close to the water either.
We stayed at Ocean Hole for a while longer before deciding to head back to the house to shower......hopefully! Ahhhh, but no such luck...no water, and come to find out there had been a problem with the water prior to our arrival. At this point, we were all fed up with our current lodging situation and scared to death to go back on the beach. Perri called the cottage owners sister and nicely demanded all of our money back (including our security deposit.) The funds had to be rounded up. While waiting for our monies, Kara and I began packing and Perri began calling around to find us another abode. I went into panic mode a little...we were unfamiliar with the island and our reservation for Seabreeze had been secured months in advance...how were we going to find somewhere to stay, in our PRICE RANGE at this late point in the day???

After a couple of phones calls (small island, remember?) Perri arranged for us to meet Spencer Thompson at Mate & Jenny's in South Palmetto Point, about a 20 minute ride north. We packed up the car, did a last minute sweep of the house, decided to grab those beach towels (okay, they belonged with the cottage, but we just borrowed them...they are still in Eleuthera...lol) and by 7:30 we were on our way.

Spencer was not at Mate & Jenny's when we got there, but Mate let us use the phone; Spencer was only minutes away. We had a drink whilst waiting for him and began making conversation about our almost fatal dog attack with some locals. Upon Spencer's arrival we promised our new friends, Mate, Dorrell, Kevin, James & Meagan that we would return in a while.

Dorrell and Meagan

We followed Spencer down a road that was treacherously bumpy and had potholes that I'm sure could swallow a Mini Cooper. By this point it was dark, but we turned off the road down a short drive and there in the night was the Lil Red House.

Spencer had it prepped for our arrival and although much smaller and older than the Seabreeze Cottage, it was cozy and felt like the place to be. We paid Spencer, staked out our rooms (okay, Kara and Perri went left, I went right...LOL), debated for a few minutes about going back to Mate & Jenny's then hopped in the car.

I'm not sure if it was fate or luck, but something was working in our favor, you see, Spencer was departing the next morning for Miami. He was going on a cruise with his family (otherwise he would have joined us for a drink at Mate & Jenny's). How fortunate we were...

Our new friends were happy that we kept our word and eventhough Mate was closing (officially), he said not to worry. He even made us a bite to eat. We chatted, drank, danced, sang and let the perils of the day fade away into the darkness. Finally (I think around 1:00 am?) Mate decided he was going home. Being the night owl, party girlz we are, Perri and I immediately invited everyone back to the Lil Red House...(sorry Kara)

Down the bumpity road we went again. Everyone pitched in and helped us unload the car. Then we chit chatted the night away. By 2:30 everyone departed, exhausted (mentally and physically) we collapsed snug as bugs in our beds. Day two of our trip turned out to be the re-start to our Eleutheracation that we needed...