Tarpum Bay, Beautiful Beaches, and Vicious Dogs.....

The drive to Tarpum Bay was beautiful. Queens Highway runs the length of the island - a twisty, curvy road with little to no signage directing us...The sea was amazing...it shone in the most incredible shades of turquoise, aqua, teal....Our view was mainly of the Caribbean. (It took us a couple of days, really, to find the Atlantic even though the island is barely two miles wide!)

After traveling, I guess about 45 minutes south on Queen's Highway, stopping to admire the views and take pictures, We found our adorable little house in Tarpum Bay...off of Queen's Highway and offset from the road. We turned right, from the left side of the road...(it was a bit difficult getting the whole English way of driving down....) onto the gravel drive and were THRILLED at what we saw. There was our secluded little brand-new house and from the porch at the back of the house was a beautiful view of the Caribbean.

We could not wait to get out of the clunker and into that house! Loved it! Perfect! Beautiful......

Yet, Perri and Hope have mentioned our travails - the scorpion - I thought we were in big trouble. I had no clue there would be scorpions. We told one of the locals, they said that they really don't see that many scorpions.....hmmmm, one of the few on the island and IT'S IN HOPE'S BEDROOM! Well, as Perri mentioned, the scorpion suffered a tragedy, and we all were able to sleep our first night in Eleuthera (not without checking under the beds, under the sheets, inside the pillowcase......etc)

Next morning, BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A WALK ON THE BEACH!

Cannot express the tranquility, the beauty, and the absolute peace I felt on that beach. The walking was a bit difficult, though. As we found out, the Caribbean side of the island is much rockier than the Atlantic side. There are ledges of rock, at times, between you and the sea which makes for a bit of a treacherous trek into the water. There is no running and jumping straight into the ocean on this side of the island.....which brings me back to the walk. There we were, enjoying the sun, the walk, the shells.... Quite a way down the beach from our house, on the hill above the beach, we saw a dog. No sooner had I said, "Oh, look a dog...." did that thing come bounding down that hill, onto the beach - and he brought his friends with him!!!! These were not nice dogs, these were Cujo's friends! One even had yellowish eyes! Controlled panic is all I can think when I look back: My thoughts were -we are going to be attacked; question was, how many of us would be bitten and how bad was it going to be......Adrenaline and instinct made the three of us immediately turn around and head back to the house. We could not stay on the beach - we had to get something between us and them so we headed into the water. Yet, These dogs DID NOT STOP! They just kept coming after us. Hope was our lookout, really, and the furthest in the water from them....It was Hope, Perri in the middle, and me closest to the beach......we kept edging deeper into the water...walking (stumbling) over the rocks....we grasped hands. The three of us were in a chorus line of sorts, our elbows were bent, I had Perri's right hand in my left, Perri had Hope's right hand in her left.....and we kept walking.....we walked as closely together as we could....all the while they were behind us, growling and snarling .....only after we were safe did Hope let on that one of the dog's was inches from MY ARSE!!!

We Survived obviously, realized we truly had no running water in the house as Perri had mentioned, met the local police, and decided that Tarpum Bay was nice, but GOTTA GO! We moved on from our perfect house, and with the persistence, energy, control and determination she so well embodies, Perri got our money back - ALL OF IT- and began the search for our next home away from home......

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!