16 December 2017 | Brisbane
04 November 2015 | Brisbane, Australia
30 October 2015 | Isle de Pines, Noumea, New Caledonia
08 October 2015 | Tanna, Vanuatu
01 October 2015 | Viti Levu, Mololo, Fiji
21 September 2015 | Namena, Musket Cove Malolo, Vuda Point Viti Levu, Fiji
12 September 2015 | Vanua Levu and Taveuni, Fiji
02 September 2015 | Tonga
13 August 2015 | Suwarrow, Cook Islands
25 July 2015 | Tahaa, Bora Bora and Maupiti French Polynesia
17 June 2015 | Tahiti & Moorea, French Polynesia
16 June 2015 | Fakarava, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia
06 June 2015 | Tahanea, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia
01 June 2015 | Raiatea, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia
28 May 2015 | Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
12 May 2015 | Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
26 April 2015 | Academy Bay, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Islas Galapagos, Ecuador
13 April 2015 | Panama to Galapagos
07 April 2015 | Balboa, Panama
31 March 2015 | Colon, Panama
Eleuthera Car Trip
14 January 2013 | Eleuthera
Alec Morwood-Portoles
We had decided to go to Eleuthera by water taxi from Spanish Wells and then to rent a car and tour the island for a day. We had arranged with one of the 2 people that worked a water taxi service to pick us up from the boat. He came at around 8 A.M in a small old motor boat that was about 20 feet long with an open space in the stern with benches on both sides and a cabin in the bow of the boat.
After a short 10 minute trip to Eleuthera 3/4 of a mile away we arrived at a concrete dock that was still under construction with nothing around it except some sheds and a liquor store (Spanish Wells being a dry town). We waited for about 20 minutes a person from the rental car service to pick us up and drive us to the rental car place. We were picked picked up in a large van and driven to a small square with some shops and a gas station, we stopped at the gas station and went out to pay for the car and changed to it. After some confusion wether we were a different group taking the van we got a nice old car with comfortable plush seats.
We set out on Queens Highway one of the only roads on the 60 mile long island. Queens Highway is a pretty well maintained road that looks nothing like an American highway because it is only two lanes wide and has no lines what so ever. We went down Queens Highway through an area of bushes and young trees (A lot of the islands in the bahamas used to be covered in forest however due to logging and other manmade causes the forests are now gone) to the first town on queens highway which seemed like a pretty poor town with most of the shops closed. After buying a map from a local gift shop we drove down the island next to some amazing cliffs on the ocean side of the island until we reached the glass window; a bridge across the narrowest part of the island were water washes across a low piece of rock connecting the southern and northern ends of Eleuthera. We stopped the car on the side of the road near the glass bridge and walked back towards it when we saw a blow hole, a blow hole is when there are caves in the coast where waves wash in and spray comes out of holes in the roof of the cave, most of the holes are about 1/2 a foot in diameter. The blow hole we saw was pretty amazing because it was right on top of a cliff. We walked on past the blow hole to the cliffs on the side of the glass window and spent a little while watching the roaring pounding waves crash into and wash over the little spit of land under the bridge with miles of cliffs going on in either direction. We went back to the car and went off to go to the beach, around that time I started reading in the back seat and lost track of things for a while. I am told that we got lost looking for the beach, but I cannot relate that tale. We found the beach and had a nice walk in deep sand and Roan went for a swim.
After the beach we drove and found a restaurant and stopped to have lunch, there was a nice view of the beach from the porch of the restaurant. While we were having lunch outside a small bird flew into one of the windows on the restaurant and fell to the floor seemingly dead. We started talking about what had happened to the bird and had decided that it had broken its neck on impact when it suddenly got up looking dazed and promptly fell over again. It repeated itself a few more times always with one of its legs collapsing then finally stopped trying to get up and just sorted out its rumpled feathers. After another 5-10 minutes it suddenly got up and flew away.
After lunch we went to a nature preserve that focused on plants. We were given a trail map, bird guide, and plant guide at the visitors center. We went on a loop around a small pond and through a grove of mangroves, with signs about the plants and other things about the Bahamas. At the end of the loop there was another loop about medicinal plants and toxic plants, I started along the route with Roan, but we were told to go back and to do another loop instead because we had time for only one trail loop. We went out along another path through the forest and came to a large wooden tower which we climb up, we decided to head back at that point instead of continuing because we were almost out of time. We ran back to the car. I really enjoyed running back to the car through the forest.
It was starting to get late so we drove back to the rental car place stopping by a cave called Preacher's Cave where the first Europeans to colonize Eleuthera stayed after being shipwrecked on the nearby reef called Devils Backbone. We arrived back on the boat at around 5 P.M.
Alec