Day Two pt. 1 - The New Normal

Sunday, June 10, 2012:   We awake to sun blaring through the window and the banging of the blinds due to the healthy breeze. It’s 6:45, and there’s no point in going back to sleep.  Put the coffee on, and hit the beach for a quick photo shoot,

 and an exploration of the tidal pools.  Then, coffee and bagels on the porch, and writing as the weather decides what it’s going to do. After changing its mind about 30 times in an hour, it’s apparently decided on hot, sunny, and breezy.  Time to explore the deserted beach to the north!

Back from the beach walk. We probably walked three miles and saw not a soul all morning. Krista keeps saying “How is there NOBODY here?!?!”  Lots of cool tidal pools and rock formations. The beaches aren’t groomed, so there’s a small amount of man-made ocean debris. Plastic is a pretty evil invention.  Hard hats? Why did we see hard hats washed up on shore? Not sure I want to know the answer to that one.  I literally took the plunge and did some light snorkeling. The moment I got in, I was greeted by a half-dozen breakfast-plate sized angel fish, just seeing what I was up to.   The tide was coming in and was pretty rough, so I resumed walking fairly quickly. Then, back closer to home, I got a little braver, and let myself drift out over a reef a little ways from shore, and I found myself in a grotto of rock pillars and brain coral, and saw at least ten different types of colorful fish, ranging from minnow-sized, to 10-12 inches long.  When the weather calms down, I’ll have to re-visit that spot.

This afternoon, off to the library, island farm, and a little sight-seeing by car! Then, dinner at home, then to Cocodimama’s for a sunset cocktail.

Day One - Discovery

Nassau – Eleuthera: OK, I now have something tangible to NOT look forward to on next Saturday.  I wasn’t instilled with a great deal of confidence at the “Southern Air Charter” desk, and then came the delay (no big deal) and then…the plane.  Now, obviously I made it here just fine, but…. The exterior of the plane was unremarkable, if small, though I noticed a disturbing amount of epoxy that had been slathered around some of the rivets on the wings.  The cockpit was very modern looking, but the cabin…… first of all, I had to bend double to fit. I have issues with claustrophobia to begin with, and this felt like I was voluntarily folding myself into a rather shabby aluminum tomb. By shabby, I mean that there was old duct tape holding the seats together, large cracks in the walls, dents and gouges in the interior.

 I’m pretty cool with flying, but this genuinely had me nervous. Not a word from our pilots, just slam the door shut, roll out to the runway, and make a rolling start – no pause for clearance from the tower, nothing. Just go. But, the engines purred like a fine machine, and takeoff and landing were incredibly smooth. 
Video - Landing at GHB

GHB – Krista’s comment: “I’ve never been to an airport that’s just a room.”  Couple this with getting swarmed with kids asking for donations to some thing or other.  Then we stepped outside and met Clinton, who, as arranged, had our rental “jeep.” I knew this wouod be a tough pill to swallow, but I peeled off five $100 bills to rent a 1995 Kia Sportage with no working seatbelts, a driver’s side window that wouldn’t roll down, aging tires, and an engine light on. You couldn’t SELL this car in Cincy for $500. As Clinton left us, he reminded us that, when driving, “Stay left, and be right.”  Oh, crap, British driving. The next thing you know we’re barreling down the “Queen’s Highway” on the left side of the road with no seatbelts in a car I don’t trust, both of us laughing nervously all the way. I instructed Krista to shout “Keep left!” every time a car approached from the other direction. I usually responded with “I’m trying….”

            Upon Clinton’s suggestion, we bypassed the gate for “Banana Beach Estates” and headed into the settlement of Governor’s Harbour for groceries and booze. Upon entering GH, the color of the water in the harbor is stunningly turquoise.  We load up at Burrows Grocery / Liquor, and finally head back to the gate to our property.  We enter the gate, and find ourselves heading down into a valley of modest homes – not really what you’d expect from a gated community. Up the other side, and out the “back” gate, we turn left on a sand “road” through the brush which is currently blocked with what looks like Bahamian scouts on a nature hike.  They eventually let us pass, and after 100 yards or so through the brush, we turn into Oceanaire. Back to civilization, BIG TIME.

VIDEO: Welcome to Oceanaire

            This is an absurdly beautiful property. Situated on a bluff right over a seemingly endless pink sand beach, and beautifully decorated and appointed. There is outdoor seating on a ¾ wraparound porch (Where I am right now. Look for the double chair in the very first post). Everything, down to the light fixtures is tasteful, if not beautiful. The view is staggering. We unpack, make a rum cocktail (3/2 parts Dark rum to Coconut rum, Pineapple juice, and mango nectar) and hit the steps down to the beach. By this time, it’s 7:00. We walk south down the beach toward our dinner destination – Sky Beach Club, about ½ mile away - where we have a great sunset meal adjacent to their infinity pool overlooking the ocean.  For you “foodies” – we each started with a vinaigrette salad of mixed local greens with pecans and goat cheese, followed by grilled grouper and rice for Krista, and the grouper special with potatoes and asparagus for me. For you “drinkies” – I have a new favorite warm weather drink. I forget the name, but it’s a Collins glass with slices of lemon and lime over ice, Patron tequila, a touch of simple syrup, and club soda.  It was unspeakably perfect.  Then, we walk back down the beach under an inky sky with more stars than I’ve ever seen before, profoundly clear constellations, like you gave Jackson Pollack a swimming pool filled with India ink, an oversized paintbrush, and a bucket of cream. With the symphony of the surf for accompaniment, and keeping a close eye out for the ghostlike appearance of our steps up the dune, we climb and fall exhausted into bed.

Day One - Travel

Dayton to Atlanta. 6/9/12

            There’s something right about flying over rural America – something that appeals to clichéd ideals of American life: vast stretches of verdant farmland, symmetrical grooves of plowed or planted plots, apportioned and divided somehow – by color, meandering rivers, forests, odd, top-down topography of Appalachian highlands – all giving the feeling that ours is an infinite expanse of healthy, rich greens and browns.  The human elements also speak to our ideal notion of ourselves: the sports complexes with baseball diamonds clustered side by side to make the shape of daisies; college and high school football stadiums, empty and full of the promise of the next game, the next season; the pools (the easiest man-made structure to spot) of various shapes, sizes, and shades of blue evoking wealth and refreshment; and even the occasional quarry or strip mining excavation hints at sweat, strength, and honest work.

            The clean lines at 30,000 feet make any time spent in an airport that much more jarring – especially in a major urban hub.  Dayton, by the way, has been impossibly pleasant and easy every time I’ve flown in to or out of there. From Jerry the long-term-parking shuttle driver, with his affected drawl and country charm that, regardless of any artifice, brightened our caffeine and sleep-deprived morning that began at 4AM. Check in was quick and easy, as was security. However, on the concourse, and in the claustrophobic crush of boarding, riding, and departing a plane, there is a pressing sense that we are, despite our ideals, an inherently hurried, harried, and anxious people.

            I don’t think I’m exempt from this assessment. What more reason to try to drop out of the world, into a beautiful place, with my best friend.

Atlanta airport:    It’s 10 am, and the “Victory Lane” bar on concourse ‘C’ is shoulder to shoulder, and most of the seats on the floor are filled. Almost everyone is drinking.  I can’t decide if this is pathetic, or awesome.  Oh, and see above.

Nassau airport:    This, so far, has been one of those experiences that, though not unpleasant, got progressively less pleasant as it went along.  The views of the beach-skirted islands and infinite shades of blue ocean was a real thrill for someone who hasn’t been south of Georgia in over 20 years.  From the tarmac, it’s clear that the airport is under construction / renovation, but where we taxi to looks brand spankin’ new. As we walk in, it’s quite beautiful for an airport, I mean really swanky, and I just assume that all of the construction and dreariness that I’d heard about the Nassau airport had been solved. Then we kept walking…and walking…and clean lines, chrome, and glass became a long sheetrock hallway with dangling work lights illuminating our way, worn, chipped and cracked concrete underneath our feet. But then, a light at the end of the tunnel? YES! We arrive in customs, in a very large room with a live Bahamian band playing in one far empty corner. Nice touch, really.    Slip on over to the “Family Islands” line and essentially get waved through into baggage, where there’s a Bacardi booth giving away rum punch. On an empty stomach, on four hours worth of sleep – hits the spot.  Get luggage, get waived through a second round of customs, and then wander a dreary corridor into “domestic departures.” A ha, this is what folks have been talking about. It’s pretty gloomy and grimy, and doesn’t instill you with confidence of an operation designed and run by the Swiss, but we drop our bags off at the counter, make sure that the right tags get put on our luggage, grab some salads at a stand-up Wendy’s, go through security again, and settle down into a large, quiet lounge, with a TV somewhere from which I’ve overheard a soothing woman’s voice say both “Jesus” and “penis” in the last five minutes.  Back to blogging. It’s almost time for our little plane to board….and no, it’s not.  Plane’s delayed 40 minutes.  I find I’m surprisingly at peace with this……mostly…

Anxious much?

Krista and I are both sitting here, the night before our flight. We're packed, we're ready, the alarm goes off in 4 1/2 hours, and she's reading on the couch, and I'm watching the simulcast of the Radiohead show at Bonnarroo.  We should be in bed. We're in the air tomorrow, whether we're ready for it or not.....

Post from Sky Beach bar tomorrow night if all goes well.   Bombs away!

Closer...closer....

....packing has begun.... Maybe if I finish packing tonight, I can just take a three day nap.....

One new development is that we've booked an excursion with Kristel and Donald at Eleuthera Tours. http://www.eleutheratours.com   The tentative plan is for "Lighthouse Beach by boat," though Krista had designs on the Schooner Cays trip for reasons I can't fathom....

You know, more than half of the people who hear about this blog seem to say something like "NO!  Get off the grid! Don't blog while you're there!"   Well, we may not always post regularly, but I am going to keep a written (and hopefully visual) record of things. Firstly, it'll be a way of letting the kids see what we did on a regular basis, but more importantly, writing has always been deeply therapeutic for me, and I fear that everything will be a jumbled blur for me if I don't write it down. I journalled dutifully while I lived in England, and some of those memories are as crisp today as they were 20 years ago. That said, I don't remember much of what I did last week, or month. No journal for that. Hell, I can't even remember much of what I said in arguments I had with Krista hours before she brings me up again for cross examination. Puts me at a distinct advantage. (nothing like having as your best comeback, "I have a vague recollection of being irked at you for something you said. As a result, I may have said something antagonistic myself, but I don't exactly recall what.")

Point being, I'm going to blog before I go to bed. I just might not be as religious in putting it on line.  Maybe I'll just keep any interested parties guessing.

Oh yeah, and this:

It's the final countdown......

Now that you have that song stuck in your head....

We're getting SOOOO close!  Luckily, we're so ridiculously busy with work that we don't have time to worry, stress, or fret about the fact that we're leaving in a week.  But the lists have begun, we've scheduled a date night/trip planning session for tomorrow evening, and we've even begun packing. Apparently all we need on the island is cash (few places take credit), water, sunblock, bug spray, a good hat, and, in case someone else shows up on the beach you're on that day, swim suits. 

That said, I do feel better that Krista and I will have a good type-A pow wow tomorrow night to over-plan. That makes both of us feel better.

Adventures in Airfare

I've come to some rather opinionated positions on the byzantine process of purchasing airline tickets. Mind you, I'm not a seasoned pro, but I've had the opportunity to engage in two protracted battles in the last few months. Therefore, when it comes to buying plane tickets....

Forget search engines. Kayak, Orbitz, etc? Forget 'em

Really.

Well, not entirely.

You use search engines as a starting point, to find out ballpark figures and which airlines fly to your destination, and what times are available. It's a useful research tool, but not a reliable buying vehicle. All the websites - Kayak, orbitz, expedia, travelocity, hotwire - will have the exact same prices. They do a good job of showing lowest fares first, etc. However, as I learned through my experience and through some airfare advice websites, the prices are often estimates based on averages, and are always subject to fine tuning on the part of the airline. Airlines do not like these sites - not that they lose money because of them so much as that they're notoriously inaccurate. I tried to buy Eleuthera tickets through them one time last fall, only to find out that the flight quoted to me did not actually exist, and was based on last years' schedule for that date. I found this out through the airline, later. Luckily, expedia did not let me finalize my purchase, but told me that "we cannot guarantee that price at this time. Try again later."

You buy through the airline directly, and on-line. First of all, you pay $15 per ticket extra if you speak with a human on the phone. Plus, if the flight is posted on the airline website, it actually exists. More importantly, though, I never saw a price on one of the search vehicles that was less than the airline website. Often, the airline was less expensive than Kayak - sometimes significantly. Kayak, etc., only updates their prices a couple times a day - hence the averaging of prices. (By the way, Kayak only sends out alerts once a day. Prices change dozens of times a day.)

The airline website prices can fluxuate profoundly. There are the usual prices, which roughly match with Kayak, then they'll spike up during prime times. Sometimes outrageously, and you'll panic, thinking that you've lost the lower price forever. If you can, give it a few days. Relax.

But sometimes the airlines will have an unannounced sale through their website only. These are rare, and only last for a few hours. A day at most. So you do your homework, knowing how the rates fluctuate (over a period of weeks, if you can), and learn what the usual price is. There will be a usual price. Then, you lurk on the airline sites, obsessively (or at least I do), and be patient. If you happen to check during one of these surprise sales, and you get a surprise price, you're ready and armed with information. You hit it like a topwater buzzbait on a Tennessee farm pond. BLAM!

For me, There were only two airlines that could get us from here to Nassau in time to catch the last puddle jumper to Eleuthera: USAIR and Air Tran. Both had a couple of viable choices for flights, but each had only one ideal flight to-from combination. Air Tran's was the better, as it was 7$ more per on average, but allowed us to leave Dayton an hour later in the morning than USAir. If you have to drive an hour to the airport, an 8 am flight is substantially better than a 7am flight.

Trouble is, this cuts things close. If that flight sells out, you're screwed. Good luck getting to Eleuthera in one day. Now you figure in an overnight layover somewhere. So. how long to wait before you suck it up and pay the "regular" low price for a little certainty and peace of mind? I almost did this.

Wait. Check the website again. And again.

Not only were the Air Tran flight times slightly better, but I'd been watching Air tran's website literally since January '11, I hate to admit, and I knew how low their prices could potentially go for this flight. I hadn't seen those prices for our specific dates, unfortunately - not within $150, in fact. On the website, you see the to and from prices and times a la carte. There were some good one way prices, but never for the combination of dates and times we needed. Wait. Check. Wait. Check. Multiple times a day. Waste VAST amounts of time and speed up the aging process. Be patient. keep your passport numbers in your wallet, as you'll need them to buy your tickets. Wait. Check again.

Checked Air Tran late one January night. Something funny was going on. The home page said something about a "warm weather sale" in the upper corner. I ran a search. Instead of the normal a la carte prices, the website showed much higher prices. Odd. I ran an itinerary, and when it got to the total cost, it was the usual price. Somehow, they changed their website to show the a la carte prices with taxes and fees. Odd, that, too. Checked again first thing in the morning. Same deal. However, checked later in the morning, around 10:15 - big drop in price. Numbers I hadn't seen before. Did they just go back to pre-tax numbers? Run itinerary. Nope. Those WERE the numbers with tax. and cheap. The game's afoot.

Total cost - $144 less than the price I was almost resigned to paying two days earlier. Pounce. Fast. BLAM. And you do so with confidence because you've been doing your homework for a long time. Probably too long.

Based on my research, I'd expected $1500 to get us to Eleuthera and back. Thanks to my obsessive efforts, it will cost us $1146, including puddle jumping. That's still a hell of a lot of money, but I feel pretty triumphant.

This is, by the way, exactly how I saved $120 on my March Dallas flight. Radiohead was awesome.

Wow. I wrote way too much.

Why Eleuthera?

Excellent question, and how we made that decision is interesting...to me, at least.

First of all, despite my obsessive research into this trip, I'm convinced that we could have chosen a dozen different tropical places that would have been magnificent for what we want. Probably.

Our first decision, once we decided to plan a 15th anniversary trip (Krista's excellent idea, BTW)was "old world cultural," or tropical beach. Krista's a beach lover, and though she really wants to get to Paris someday, it sounds like more work than relaxation...and Krista needs relaxation more than most people who don't wear a sidearm or scrubs to work on a daily basis. For me, I've lived abroad, I've been to Paris, and I went to Jamaica on two different occasions - one to work with church when I was 15, and one to play when I was 22. In other words, I could go either way.

Beach it is, then. But where? Time to prioritize:

Priority one: A place of our own, or at least with a kitchen. We love to cook, and Krista's issues with wheat / gluten make any buffet line like Russian Roulette. It's not a vacation if you're worried about getting sick every time you eat, or, perhaps worse, having to ask the chef about every item for every meal. Gluten is an insidious bugger. That kind of cancels out all but the most exclusive resorts, or villas / condos. I mean, a place like Caneel Bay looks fabulous, but is out of our budget. Besides...

Priority two: Quiet. We're not looking to make lots of new friends and hang with a bunch of strangers. We like people (well, Krista does, at least), and we'll likely meet some delightful folks on our trip, but partying is not a priority. We're going away to be together. We don't need night clubs or casinos or neon or noise. Just give us miles of beach to walk by ourselves, and we're cool.

Priority three: Be within a one-day trip. This cancels out the South Pacific, essentially, and keeps us in the Caribbean.

Priority four: Stay ON the beach, with loooong beach walking potential. This is also a HUGE narrowing variable. Most islands will have some properties right on the beach, and most places they're really frikkin expensive. On many islands, the affordable places are up in the hills, or in town. We found some that were on the beach, but the beaches were small and / or isolated from other beaches. I was surprised how quickly the list narrowed. Because we wanted quiet, we needed to discover a secret gem or two

I spent a lot of time cruising VRBO.com, and found a number of viable candidates in our price range, such as this one in the Caymans, or this one in the Turks and Caicos , or this one in Belize . These were fairly reasonably priced, had lots of beautiful beach and water, and were mostly away from the crowds. I'm still convinced that any of those would have been fine.

I don't know how I found Eleuthera. It was early in my search. And I found myself returning to this beautiful out island that had numerous beachfront rentals in our "price range." It didn't have the Rainforest / mountainous tropical aesthetic of Belize or the Virgin Islands , and it was a pain in the butt to get to, but it fit all of our criteria beautifully. The island is 110 miles long, with beaches lining the length of the island on one side and half the other, is two miles wide, has no major resorts (since Hurricane Hugo Etch-a-Sketched Club Med Eleuthera off the face of the earth, and never rebuilt. You can still visit the ruins on arguably the best beach on the island), and, therefore, no gaggles of tourists. Go to any Eleuthera discussion of beaches, and the common denominator is, "we had this gorgeous beach to ourselves."

But as much as anything, the beauty and serenity of this place won me over:

Thanks, Doug M for your awesome photos!

That, and the almost cult-like affection that people have for this place. Read the message boards, or the reviews on VRBO or Tripadvisor. It reminds me of the reverence and sanctity that people exude when they discuss the Adirondacks, or the Outer Banks, or the Upper Peninsula, or Big Sky country, or Joshua Tree. Like the place is magical, and sacred.

One last thing. Almost everyone you read says that once you arrive on Eleuthera, before you even get to your villa, you feel the stress, anxiety, and neurosis of the real world melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.

We both could really use that right about now.

Countdown to Eleuthera

Welcome to the blog for our 15th anniversary trip to Eleuthera! We've been saving for five years to take a vacation, just the two of us, and it's almost here. Well, as I post this, it's still over a month away, but given the amount of time I've spent researching and, frankly, obsessing over this trip, it seems like it's right around the corner. Anyhow, I imagine that many of you haven't heard of Eleuthera, so I encourage you to visit the links on the right hand side to find out everything you ever wanted to know about this quiet "Out Island" in the Bahamas. Here's some photos of the house we're renting:

Our house is the one in the lower right hand corner. See all of the resorts and casinos? Nope, neither do we. See all of the people on the beach? Neither do we. See our children? Nope. For more information, here's a link to the house: Oceanaire So, between the links and pictures, you can get started on discovering Eleuthera, too. And if you're interested in following the run-up to this trip, filled with all sorts of banalities like packing and the trip there, etc., feel free to check back from time to time in the next month. Once we get there, we'll start posting for real.