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...

First Nite & Next Very Long Day....Tarpum Bay

We had quite the journey down to Tarpum Bay, each time we stopped to take pictures, all I could think of was how badly I wanted to get into that crystal clear water! And it was HOT! The roads are rough and there are very few signs along the Queen's Highway. We "happened" thru Governor's Harbour and stopped at the Shell Station - only to find out that "everything" is pretty much on a "cash basis!" No Shell cards, no credit cards - just good old cash. Thought at the time the store wasn't that well stocked.....well actually it is! Large selection of canned and boxed food. On the HWY again....seemed like forever to get there, but Hope was doing a great job at driving on the left hand side of the road with a left hand car! We spotted the house and made the correct assumption (quite an easy process of elimination) and we drove on into Tarpum Bay and the lady at the little market let us use the phone so we could call the homeowner's sistah to meet us at the cottage. Had a peek around store, with the occasional cockaroach scurrying by and reminded myself "I am on a tropical island..." Finally met up at the house and all seemed just great! Brand new house! Gorgeous views - couldn't be more private. Whew! We made it! We got our cossies on and ventured out to the beach for a pre-sunset swim. I say swim loosely because the tide was way, way out. So we kinda floated in very warm, clear, knee deep water. It felt so good to let all your worries go and relax.
Next we ventured in to shower and go and seach for some food. Yeah, uh, sorry... no shower tonite. Good old hose rinse off outside, I always get sand in my pants. I think maybe Hope had her eye on me when I walked in the house to make sure my feet were sandless. OCD + SAND=bad mix:} She had already spied the broom. This is our first trip altogether and we all know I am not "known for neatness" so I wasn't too sure what I could get away with.....I didn't want Hope secretly wanting to swipe ME with the broom! We dressed and looked at some great notes & recommendations that had been left for us and we ventured into Tarpum Bay convinced we were all gonna love the fresh conch salad, well Hope and I did - Kara was smart and knew well enough to steer clear! After watching the local "conch maker" we decided against it. We went into the local "order your food to go" place (Sammy's?) and got our food to go. We asked where we could buy beer and we were directed to a little building a block down. Just a few older, local guys drinking beer, and we went and asked for a 12 pack of KALIK and when the guy told us $37 I almost fell over....Search around for cheapest beer - great liquor store in South Palmetto on the left driving North. Hope and Kara got the BBQue Chicken and I got the fried Red Snapper. Was good, prefer my fish guillotined though, and the rice & peas is good but more like brown rice and lentils (actually pigeon peas), and you get a thick chunk/block of mac-n-cheese. Hope put her PJ's on and we were all gonna relax and watch a little TV to wind down. But wait............Yes, that's Hope's ScReAm! Tada....Perri to the rescue. Who knew there were Scorpions on Eleuthera? Sorry, but we had to smush it in half....it had to go and not onto the porch either! Kara and I gorged our Cadbury's Picnic bar (yea! Cadbury's...luv'n it), while Hope nibbled hers and saved for later. ONCE AGAIN....tropical island=bugs! Hers was covered in the AM with minute sand flea thingys - not even rinsable. Needless to say we finally collapsed in bed and slept great.

New day, got up and wandered down to beach with tea in hand - Serenity Now! Was Nirvana! Per Hope, see about the dogs! I have never been so petrified in my life.....We were all in major panic stage - wondering what to do. If we got too deep in the water would they stay on the shoreline? Would they ever go away? They were right on our asses so it wasn't like you could stop to find a piece of coral/lava rock to what......... throw at 5 dogs? WTF?? I was so, so peesed off! I got out the phone book and called the Ministry of Tourism....Hope tells about our adventure where we pretty much got laughed right out of Tarpum Bay at the Police Station. We knew we were not going back on the beach so we decided it was still early enough to "find Ocean Hole" in Rock Sound. We gassed up and went searching. After asking directions, we were on our way again....Think small roads, very small settlements with lots of lefts and rights. We Found It! We were so hot and the water was so inviting we couldn't wait to jump in. Yea....easy to get in but how in the heck do you get out. We looked and talked and lo and behold here comes a group of teens from South Carolina visiting on a mission - all very sweet and polite. They were all lining up getting ready to jump in from the very top and we were asking them how they planned to get out! We couldn't wait for our turn. I jumped off a lower ledge - and managed to get out so we were confident we'd make it. Hope and I jumped from the very top and one of the kids got a great picture of her jumping. Kara came in at the lower ledge - it was a "BIG" jump and you either had to "run at it or jump really far out", at last we were all relaxing in the healing waters of Ocean Hole! What a thrill.

Getting out is very doable - just ungainly, as you can see! And Hope is getting a good chuckle watching me trying to pull my fat arse up! LOL! Then we kept driving looking for a beach and we got way off any beaten track - we were in the middle of knowhere! (Me thinks we were almost to Light House Beach?!?) Wisely decided to turn around and make our way back to the house hoping the issue with the city water had been solved! No water - come to find out there had been a problem with the new city water for quite awhile. Hhmm....doesn't sound good. Luckily after all that ensued we were able to find another place to go.......we got a full refund which had to be "gathered" but we waited patiently...and there was alot of luck involved because Spencer's Lil Red House was about the only rental in our little local booklet left on the counter other than a $500 per night resort! Hope and Kara went on a RE-packing frenzy while I sucked down my Kalik and called Spencer for the ThIrD time telling him we were on our way.............oh and how do we get there? It was a few Xanax and Kaliks later that we arrived (hot and sweaty - no less) at Mate & Jenny's in South Palmetto, ordered a drink and used the phone to call Spencer to "come get us" (we were to return to Mate & Jenny's pronto for a few more cocktails and some friend making). Not much business goes on after 7 or 8 at nite and Spencer was packing to go on a family cruise. He was super friendly and we followed him down a dark and VERY bumpy road to our new humble abode! We ended up closing Mate & Jenny's and making some new friends.........
By Perri

ps. Our new local buddies thought it was really funny that we wanted to jump in Ocean Hole! They don't! We are going to get them to jump in next time!