Our Adventure begins

I arrived in Eleuthera on January 6th 2011. The weather was gorgeous – about 78 degrees and wonderful. I arrived with a rolling carry-on bag and two suitcases all stuffed with frozen meat. Over 150 pounds of it and it all made it just fine. Now we are eating like kings. I think I might gain a few pounds on during my time here.

So, before my family arrived, I painted the ceilings, painted the walls, unpacked three pallets and cleaned. I had a great time but worked from about 7:30am till past midnight for five days. I had a blast. I also went to church with my friend and neighbor – they attend a Methodist church and it is really beautiful. The service was a lot different than I am used to (they sang Oh Come All ye Faithful with a Reggae beat) but I had a fun time.

My family joined me on Tuesday January 11th. The kids have been so excited to get here and they have been great. We have been busy doing small jobs (like fixing toilets – why do toilets always break? And more painting, stained glass bathroom windows, hanging pictures, getting DirectTV working (but too late for me to watch the Pats loose but I am on the Steelers tomorrow!!) and as of last night – the Internet is now up and running!) And today, Saturday the 22nd, outside work has official begun at Parlay at Sunset. The forms are prepared for our patio, the house is being prepped for painting, new soffits will be installed, repair a few missing shingles before painting the roof and installing hurricane rated roof vents, and prep for a concrete wall that will (theoretically) help to protect our home if our sand dune seawall is breached in a storm. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it is done! Many pictures soon to follow.

So some fun stuff – Charlotte lost her first two teeth on Thursday. The tooth fairy visited with Bahamian and US dollars. We started school this past Monday and have been doing great. We are all having a great time of it so far and I can happily say that both of my children seem to be having fun AND benefiting from it. Off our beautiful seashell beach, we have discovered at least two resident rays (one is about three feet across) and a juvenile shark. He seemed a bit more curious about us than the rays as he came around us a couple times to check us out. I have no worries about these creatures and the children; the water is so clear and beautiful we can see all creatures from far away and they are not interested in eating us or anything, so we respect them and they don’t bother us.

We visited the most gorgeous beach yesterday. Now, my beach is beautiful; the water is amazing and it is perfect for kids with a sandy bottom and small places for snorkeling and exploring. But our beach is a shell beach (again, I love this because I am a shell hound). There are billions upon billions of shells on our beach – I just can’t even describe the different shapes, sizes and colors – you’ll have to see them for yourself;) Anyway – the beach we visited was at the old Club Med (I believe it was one of the first ones ever – it was unfortunately destroyed during a hurricane in the not too distance past) – French Leave it was called. This beach was pristine – the pink sand that Eleuthera is famous for – sand the texture of powdered sugar…it was amazing. The water was beautiful of course and Kelly snorkeled a bit right off shore and saw some really big angel fish and other coral favorites. The kids and I boogie boarded and although Char got taken out by a wave, she recovered nicely and had a good time. This beach is right in Governor’s Harbour only about 35 minutes from us and we WILL be going there regularly. I told Kelly it was a good thing I didn’t know about his beach when I arrived as I wouldn’t have gotten much done!

Last week we ventured south to try to find Lighthouse Beach, but we went down the wrong dirt road and ended up at some small beach and saw a Princess line cruise ship moored out and ferries coming back and forth (Princess visits Eleuthera regularly and they have their own beach here set up with shops that we visited in a small town about 20 minutes south of Parlay). On this beautiful beach, we saw 4 or 5 lobster carcasses – they were HUGE…these bad boys must have weighed at least 5 or more pounds and I want one! I will find these guys and let you know how it goes.

I guess the point is there are SO many gorgeous beaches in Eleuthera – all waiting to be explored!

Well, I will post more another day and photos soon as well. Wish you were all here – seriously, I do!