Living Next Door To Alice

We're in the Abacos now and that's another story,so please join us as we look back on why we stayed at Alice Town / Hatchet Bay for over 2 months. Apart from the fact that the mooring balls are free and the water is too....if you carry it from the public taps in the streets.

The safest harbor...but I've told you that before.

The pub/bar. Da Spot. Dominos gettin' slapped down inside.

Sharnie, the barmaid below

 

 
 
 

Da fashion store

Best hamburgers we've had in 20 years right there where the kids are...next door to the bottle shop.

Julianas eatery. Tasty food....2 chairs inside if you want to eat in....on ya lap.

She's putting 2 kids through collage from her kitchen.

Internet -copying-etc.

Tom,the boss, and Goldie at the supermarket.

The rest of the bad girls that work there.Judith (left ) calls me Dundee.

Can't think why.

This beautiful lady,Alona, lives just down from the supermarket. Always the biggest smile and chat.

Would she smile when I took a photo.....no way!

Just down from Alona's house where we get our water we're usually joined by Gabriella....just to advise us and help if necessary.

Then it's back down to the dinghy dock. I'm getting too old to carry 10 gallons of water too far.

Then having done the round trip from the Government dock through town and down to the dock that's closer to the water and store ,there's usually a couple or so of da lads fishing.

Back over at the Gov. dock Thursdays are always good when the Current Pride brings in fresh produce from Nassau and Tom's shelves are full again...'til about Tuesday.

The big fella Island Link comes in Friday evening taking people and cars and trucks etc. to Nassau for the weekend and other folks to Eleuthera for the weekend......then Sunday evening she's back doing the vice-versa.

Rest of the week the dock,as well as the closest place to dinghy too,is mainly used by the crabbers. They spend at least a day a week sawing cartons of pig bones into small pieces to bait the crab pots. Stone crabs that is.

On the way up from the dock and back to Da Spot is the basketball court and park.....all kept neatly mowed by these hairy lawnmowers.....before they become lawnmower stew.

And when was the last time you saw a bunch of boys playing marbles.?

No...Alice Town isn't the Bahamas of the brochures  (lets face it ...seen one resort ya've pretty much seen 'em all ) but it's a real nice place to hang out and it's a PARTY TOWN!

Today was Spider Girls birthday party.

But I guess the biggest attraction was the playing ,mostly with this bunch, individually or as a group.

On the left Maurice (Mojo)Artist and singer /guitarist, Julie..opera singer and fast becoming "band chick " par excellence (so for 'fat ladies with horns" )  .Her husband is a famous painter www.curtishooper.com and on my right ..Nick Holmes check his pedigree  www.NickHolmesMusic.com

Can't go without mentioning Andy. We did some pretty groovy jazz duo's but never seemed to get a photo.

No bloody wonder! Geez Andy give us a smile.

 

Like these!!

Nearly forgot the last night (for us )at the Rainbow.There was a bunch of guys from Louisiana doing a sort of reality TV show. A couple of 'em were  good 'ol southern rockers and after we'd jammed with them the Hatchet Bay Junkanoo band( Eleuthera champions actually )  came marching through. Afraid it's one of those 'had to be there ' things and you're well aware of my expertise at uploading videos but there ya go.

In the car park ready to roll.

Just step aside with your sissy white boy music

This gent is the proprietor of Da Spot (the pub remember)

 

If BaTelCo would stop making pensioners stand in the corner and serving the young people first.

It would be paradise.

That's definitely Eleuthera see yez in the Abacos

Jet Setting

Introducing Jim Jordan, resort owner , charter pilot and man about town.

So Jim whilst chatting to me between sets at the Rainbow said he was flying to Nassau on business in a couple of days and would we like a ride..... Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?!

We hitched a ride down to Governors Harbour Airport with Gail up front with driver Bob , who is an expat vet (had neutered 80 dogs and cats for free last week!)and me out the back of the ute/pick up with Lucky the dog.

At the airport Jim was finishing off his pre flight checks.

In a couple of minutes we were flying past Hatchet Bay and Alice Town.

Alice Town on the right , Jabiru one of the white dots top right in the bay and the cut that was blown out of the cliff (in 1929 apparently) about 1/3 of the way across from the left.Atlantic over the back.

That's why you have to be very careful sailing round the Bahamas.

Baha Mar espanol for Shallow Sea. They lost a lot of "treasure ships" here.

Approaching Nassau

Turning towards the runway.

Incoming.

Parking.

 

 

NASSAU

               Lots of "pristine" type cruisers don't like Nassau but we love it                                          

 
    Back to the airport and it had got busy. Had to get in a queue to get to the runway and the storm clouds were building..............oooohh!

As usual I got all excited and recorded the take off and flight back on video which I haven't figured out how to edit and upload yet. Jim flew us up to Current Cut in the north of Eleuthera and took us for an unbelievable flight down to Gov. Harbour. Flying really low along the cliffs (felt like you could touch them ) and then buzzed Hatchet Bay and Jabiru then crossed over to the Atlantic (east) side and did the same thing ,passing Bills house and Jims resort then in to land.

Extra cool....thanks Jim.

 

The only still I got of the return flight (accidentally) was of Lenny Kravitz's house and beach.

Right under the wing there.

More Wild Adventures on Eleuthera

         This is fun ....sitting on your boat and getting internet ......life could be better...somewhere.
                                                                   We'll keep looking.
                                                                            Soon

This morning we turned on the laptop and surprise surprise there's Lisa on line ( it was just about midnight there ) We clicked on Skype and I've gotta tell all you lonely people...get yer ass over to Australia...Love is in the Air. So....now my eldest ( and littlest) little girl has joined the " big smiles club " when boyfriend Alan got down on one knee and slipped a ring on her finger. Lisa sent us a "selfie" at the time but a month or so later I'm editing in the latest photo....cos it's ....better and sweet.








 

Now where were we? Activities..

The Eleuthera Caves. The island is full of 'em...caves , caverns and all sorts of holes and tunnels through the limestone but the big daddy of 'em all is just a couple of miles north of Hatchet Bay/Alice Town. The day we went ,there was no one but us so it was weird and cool. The line of caves goes right across the island west to east.Apparently one has to get down on hands and knees to crawl the last bit into the open on the Atlantic side...so one (read two ) didn't go that far..about a mile.

The caves haven't been developed like many with lights and guides etc and dats a good thing.

Turn your torches/flashlights off and it's total darkness.

For example the first is camera flash and the second is sorta how it was.

 

 

OK ..I couldn't get them next to each other but you get the idea.

 

One of the big caverns. The black dots are bats.

There is some graffiti from the late 1800's but there's a lot more from idiots who think future visitors are going to give a  *&#! that Fred and Mandy were there once.!

Nevertheless it was pretty spectak.

Last weekend at Gregory Town, the next settlement north of here,they had the Pineapple Jam music festival. Unfortunately I see that the only still shots I got (haven't figured how to edit and upload videos ) were of the Gregory Town Brass Band.....but...let me tell you there was 12 bands altogether from all over and it was all so impressive that I was videoing them all...or the rum made me think I was taking stills.

Absolute highlight was a gospel choir from James Cistern.Think the church scene from The Blues Brothers and your close. The Pastor/keyboard player /lead singer was as close to James Brown as ya like and with a hot bass player and drummer and two more tenors and about fifteen or so women/girls joyously 'Praisin' the Lord' ...blew our minds. I told the Pastor afterwards that if that's what went on at his church I just might....I dunno.

It all went so well that our whiteboy band led by Nick, who put the whole thing together, didn't even get time to play...which was probably a good thing after 6 hours of drinkin' rum.

Still an all Bill and I were happy we got a tee shirt.!

OK I'll post this. Happy Easter.

Eleuthera Activities

If hanging about...playing music...going to BBQs and the beach are activities......well that's what we've been doing to stay active. You've still got to cook and wash up and keep the lovely Jabiru clean ....well the crew does that....the captain's got more important tasks to do,like check the mooring lines aren't chafing etc.
Driving round the island,or more like driving up and down,as it's very narrow and nearly 120 miles long,is another activity. Here's the historic Governors Harbour library where we can swap books for that other activity...reading.

 

 And here's the interior with some kids getting active with some paint. It's all go .

Driving north we come to the Glass Window which used to be a natural rock bridge 'til a hurricane took it out last century some time and they replaced it with a road bridge.

That's the Atlantic spilling over into the Sound (Caribbean according to real estate salespersons).

I told you it was a narrow island.

Back down south is Rock Sound that has this interesting  hole way back from the shore that is connected to the sound by underground "tunnels' and is full of fish that swim through from the sound to feed on tourist handouts .I worry about the laziness of young fish nowadays.

Way down south the deserted,and hard to get to Lighthouse Beach . You have to walk 2 or 3 hundred yards through scrub and sand dunes.( action!) 

Gail beachcombs.

And I carry.

Most of the beaches on Eleuthera are pink (ish )

Up ,just north of Hatchet Bay again is Surfers Beach that has great surf breaks off another hard to get to beach.Just having the little digital camera I couldn't get surfing shots as the breaks are way out near the reef but even the shore break was big enough to pound me into the sand and into submission.

The surfers have built these shelters on the beach and observation towers and seats further up the hill.They are decorated with the tons of flotsam that washes up on the Atlantic beaches. Some of it local but mostly from Europe and Africa.

OK ......finally...music.

 

Warm up gig for the Eleuthera All that Jazz festival.

Couple of North Carolina lads(3 including me)

CJ Reggae's out ..and the chick in the yellow top belted out some t'riffic rock an' roll then disappeared into the night again.

Very cool jazzy night at the Rainbow Inn

Stay tuned for a very exciting flight to Nassau for a day and exploring the subterranean delights of the caves , the Pineapple Jam festival and if y'all are still awake I'd like to show you around Alice Town ,the sweet little settlement overlooking 'atchet Bay.

Oh... and we found this little gem at the North Eleuthera airport.

I think the artist/carpenter didn't quite get the idea that our bodies are supposed to be hidden and the average human head is half the size of his or her cutouts!

Nevertheless it gets included in our worldwide collection because it's.....sooo bad.

 

 

Possibly Back On Line

Helloooo again. Once more I've let things slide....the internet thingy that we got from BTC which is the old Batelco only worked for standard what's names and the gadget that's s'posed to run the Ipad didn't like Skypy stuff and it was also hard to coordinate shore time for laptop wifi and as the Ipad would not allow me to blog on it( in the manner to which I'd become accustomed )
it all got hard...specially when some geek at blogger decided to change things again....I could go on...but......fortunately we met a 15 year old on an Aussie/English catamaran and he pointed out that one can use the Ipad as a personal hotspot and now we have internet on board. Fantastic. I can't praise the amazing advances in technology enough........OK...having said that I will bring you up to date.

Here's Jabiru on a mooring ball in Hatchet Bay on the west coast of Eleuthera. Eleuthera is actually a Greek word meaning Freedom. We got here about 12th of February and havn't moved since. Hatchet Bay was a salt pond with a narrow strip of cliffs separating it from the sound ,or Caribbean side as real estate people call it, so back whenever they blew a hole in the cliffs and created an opening which of course turned the pond into a bay. Great protection from the weekly cold fronts that our Canadian friends send down all winter.

                                     Here's a lovely old vessel leaving through the cut.

Our friend Bill,who we met back home in Oriental, had suggested we have a look at Eleuthera as it's a cool island.....yes....and there are a lot of expat musicians here who play a lot round the bars..yes. Bill's been building a house here during the winter months so we came ,we saw and havn't pulled a sail up for 2 months.
Here's Bill's house.

And this is Bill and his roof gang celebrating getting the roof on and the walls up to lock up stage
                                                      ready to finish off next year.

Meanwhile,back on da boat. As soon as we got here we drove about 20 miles south to the lovely settlement of Governors Harbour ,which is the capitol, and got our sim card for the Ipad. The first email that popped up was great news from my youngest daughter Lainie who had just gone and " eloped " . So now we have a new son in law ,Jarrod (,called Jazz by his lovely wife ) and we shall look forward to meeting him one of these days.He's a cop so my little girl's in good hands! The two of them haven't stopped smiling for months.

So to finish this li'l old post here's the delightful Governors Harbour.

New post with what we've been doing here...coming up.