Eleuthera...the island of Freedom.
You can see from the satellite image how long and skinny Eleuthera is. And to me, it's the most beautiful place ever. Beautiful beaches, beautiful people and beautiful in many other ways. It has my heart.
As many of you know my dream of owning a cottage in Eleuthera has finally come true. I was forewarned many years ago that buying and owning a place on the island would be a challenge. And a challenge it has been.
First of all, it took a lot of haggling and 5 months to get the sale to go through. Was it worth it? To me, yes!
My little slice of heaven is much less than most people are interested in buying nowadays. But it was love at first sight and at a price I could finally afford. And it was far from perfect.
Rotting porch, unlevel floors, windows and doors that had to be replaced and a world of work to be done to make it mine. The commodes are so short you can count the hairs on your knees while sitting on them. Water damage to the floors and ceilings. Lattice work that had flown away in the wind over previous years. Our work was cut out for us. Most homes are bought there completely furnished. Mine was completely empty. There are no furniture stores on the island or anywhere decent to buy home goods.
We've had to buy and ship all of it over on sea freight which is quite expensive and can be a nightmare. If you have followed our Facebook page you can read up on our journey get the house furnished - https://www.facebook.com/mimosa.cottage.eleuthera
This story is going to be about my third trip over trying getting her set up.
First of all, I had to go all alone. Zack was unable to go with me and the work had to be done. It was the loneliest trip I've ever made to the island and I've been going for many years.
Things don't happen in a timely fashion on the island. You've heard the expression "Island Time".
I arrived expecting all of the work to be done that I had contracted before leaving on my last trip. No....it had hardly been started. I DO know how to chill and I had to call on the chill gods to put me there.
We have an excellent contractor but I found out that not much gets done if you're not there to crack the whip.
It was my plan to get all of the rooms set up and decorated to be ready for a rental that I had taken on starting December 31. By mid-week (and remember I only had a week booked with the airlines) it was quite evident that my plans were not going to be even close to completed by week's end. I changed my flight to add another week. Most of my first week was spent sitting in the bedroom while, slowly, work was being completed. The kitchen flooring that I most needed to be present for had not arrived so I could do nothing about getting the kitchen set up. Piles of housewares were just sitting around crying for me to find them a home.
First half of the second week I worked at setting up the bedrooms, bathrooms and living room. The blinds that I ordered to be shipped in had been damaged and many of them could not be used and needed to be returned for replacement. So I was still exposed to the world from inside the house.
On Wednesday of the second week a major storm blew in...and blow it did. Lost power, internet and phone died. Needless to say nothing else got done in the cottage as I sat hearing nothing but the wind blow (50 to 70 mph gusts) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And that also meant no work being done and the kitchen flooring was somewhere on the island, but not with me. When darkness fell it was darker than I've ever experienced. I'd take an occasional break from sitting or lying in the darkness to venture out onto the porch for a smoke. Most of you know I smoke those darned electronic cigarettes. Shame on me. But I had run out of my cartridges by Tuesday of the second week...so...I had to buy a pack of the real things at $17 a pack. Anyhoo...sitting in the dark on the porch, with winds and rain gusting all around, the world was pitch black but if I looked up through the rain I could see the milky way. And if I looked out beyond the yard to the the brush there were thousands of fireflies blinking off and on. It took a lot of stress off just watching God's wonders.
Due to lack of internet and power I couldn't change my flight or check to see if the bridge would be open due to the storm. I kinda figured it would be closed. IF the airlines were still flying in or out of the island airports I had no idea. Here's where my story gets positive.
I had already made plans with the wonderful Lachadra Cadet to have me picked up Saturday morning early by a young gentleman who I've known for a few years that works for the Cadet's Car Rental company. He takes cars to the different airports to be ready for visitors to pick up when they arrive. His name is Jeremy Gierszewski. That's a lotta name for a young man born and raised on the island. Seems his grandfather was Polish. He's been instrumental in helping with my local fishing attempts and filling me in on the island's goings ons. I've always liked Jeremy a lot.
At this point I didn't know if he would pick me up or not. If the bridge was closed or the airports were closed he would have no need to deliver a car. I got my suitcases ready and did the best I could with getting the house in order with what could be done and he showed up about 8:45. My flight was leaving at 1:02 and it's normally about an hour's drive to the North Eleuthera Airport.
Now, my cottage is right beside the Governor's Harbour airport (GHB). Why, you might ask did I have to go an hour away to North Eleuthera airport (ELH)? During Covid GHB was shut down and they are slowly allowing smaller airlines to land and depart. I fly American because I can leave from MYR thru Charlotte with a nonstop to Eleuthera bypassing Nassau (which is an absolute nightmare). At this time I'm having to fly into ELH due to a lot of reasons, most of them being stupid and political.
Governor's Harbour Airport
North Eleuthera Airport
Anyhoo...in between me and ELH is an area known for the Glass Window Bridge. If you'll look back up at the satellite image this bridge is located at the teeniest, tiniest, skinniest part of the island. The Caribbean waters (called the Bight) and the Atlantic Ocean meet under this bridge merging water to water. When the weather is extremely windy the Atlantic side "rages" and flies up over the bridge. It's been known to wash people and autos over, therefore they have to shut it down. When this happens no one can drive from my part of the island into the northern part of the island, which is where ELH is located. Bahamian ingenuity has come up with locals having boats picking people and their luggage up from one side of the bridge, running them through the Bight waters to the other side of the bridge, then you have to take a taxi to the airport. (this is reversed if you're arriving at ELH and need to get to where you'll be staying past the bridge)
Check Out This Video Of The "Rage" On The Bridge
Jeremy made a call and found out the bridge was closed but the airport was open. He and I head out to the boat landing to catch the ride to the other side of the bridge. When we get there we see one boat leaving the dock with no one on it. What the heck? Usually there are a lot of boats there to load up. We looked across the way and saw folks loading their luggage into taxis and they seemed happy. Jeremy gets on the phone again. He finds out they're getting ready to open the bridge! Yay! So we hightail it back onto the highway (which is a very narrow two lane road with trees and brush growing all the way to the pavement) and head for the bridge. As we get close there are cars, vans and trucks lined up on both sides with a narrow opening in between that would barely fit a car going down. We stop at the back of the line. Jeremy gets out and talks to a few of the local guys and it seems there are are trees fallen on the road at both ends of the bridge and we're waiting for them to clear the way. We watch quite a few crazy people get out of their cars, unload their baggage and head out on foot to get to the bridge and cross it on foot. Man, that's a LONG walk. Jeremy makes one more phone call, looks at me and cranks the Jeep. We pull out and go down the narrow path of autos, and we're second in line to cross when they get the go ahead to take the road block down and let cars go thru. Jeremy looks at me and says "if you'll drive this car we've got several rentals that have been abandoned on this side and I need to drive one of those to the airport". Heck, yeah! Just get me there! We passed the "walkers" on our way over..lol.
Long story short....we made it to the airport...I made it in time for my flight...and I am home! Stay tuned to see if I find out the work was finished and she's ready for the rental family coming in.
My hero...Jeremy Gierszewski
It's time to shut down and save some of the good stories for later.
Put the music on Miss Bay Bay...it's time to dance! Miss Bay Bay passed away a few months ago....but she'll still be puttin' the music on for me and Mr. Brady from the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
Before you go, won't you please leave a comment below?
