Bahamas, December 20-29, 2001

--writing with Apple laptop--

--Becky writes unless noted by Marilou--

--Marilou takes most of the photos--

Monday, December 24. 2001

Howdy All,

Marilou, her mom Lou, and I flew out of Atlanta airport on American Airlines, Thursday, December 20, to Miami, then on to the island of Grand Bahamas.

This time as we went through the Atlanta airport, 3 months after 9-11, there were more people and somewhat longer lines, yet there was still an air of cooperation and support from the passengers towards one another and to the security systems.

In Miami we boarded an American Eagle prop plane to complete our journey that day. With perfect timing, just before we were to land on the breezy island at Freeport, a flight attendant handed out the immigration forms for us to fill out. Now, in a small plane wind turbulence can play havoc with people's equilibrium, especially while they are trying to read and write. We managed to survive the flight and were glad to get our feet on a non-moving surface.

The weather was balmy with a cool breeze as we walked away from the plane. I always love the airports that have us walk on the tarmac to and from the planes. It just seems more real that way; to see the plane from the ground, and to walk the stairs, rather than entering or leaving through an impersonal tunnel that hides some of the wonder of flying.

Arriving in a new country at night is a tease. Lights, silhouettes, and our imaginations are all there is until the morning comes.

Checking into our hotel, The Bahamia Towers, we noticed a lot of renovation going on. Also, I had begun to notice the people of this island smiling a lot. This was good because we were tired and there had been some confusion with the taxi driver as to which part of the hotel to take us to for check-in. It was late that night when we finally got to our rooms. We only wanted to have some supper and go to bed. Thank goodness the hotel's restaurant was still open. Morning would bring the adventure anew.

The next day, Lou was up before us and knocking on our door, ready to go out to see Freeport and the rest of the Grand Bahamas island. After coffee, we got our rental car and found the restaurant the Avis ladies recommended, Becky's Restaurant. Great name! The food is very good, along with being down-home. My kind of place.

Our plans are to spend a few days on Grand Bahamas then go over to New Providence for an overnighter and then back to Grand Bahamas to stay in the timeshare for which we had traded through our Hilton Grand Vacations Club.

On the way to Becky's we were passed by a funeral procession with a marching band and white suited police strutting, some with leopard skins over their shoulders. The flag draped casket was on a trailer being pulled by a jeep, with more police marching behind. We found out that the honored deceased was a local policeman who had died on duty from a heart attack three days prior.

Here, driving is on the left side of the road, though most of the automobiles have the drivers on the left, which makes it sort of only halfway wrong. Marilou drove us around on Friday. After lunch at Becky's, we drove to the west end of the island.

This island is about 75 miles long and not very wide. Freeport is almost in the middle. There are about 41,000 people living on the island. It's not a coral built land mass as many folks think, we are told. It is a limestone shelf with just a few inches of top soil and freshwater about ten feet down. The sandy beaches are on the south side. Some areas of the north shore are covered with empty conch shells, a by-product of one of the favorite food harvests here.

The Bahamia Towers is one of the tallest buildings on Grand Bahamas That's not saying much though. It is also a casino. That's really not saying much! Compared to a Vegas casino, even a off the strip Vegas casino, this place as far as being a casino, is, well, lacking. Casinos don't really interest us, we don't play, so it didn't matter one way or the other that The Bahamia Towers is tame. Just thought I'd include the observation. The rooms are nice enough.

Saturday morning, after checking out of The Towers, we went back to Becky's for breakfast. The Bahamians have a sweet cornbread fired biscuit they call Johnny Cake. It's eaten with meals -- any meal. Very good.

Our flight to Nassau was at 1:00 that afternoon. When we got to the tiny Freeport airport at 12:20, not expecting many folks to be there, we discovered that our flight had been over-booked and the seats had been filled by folks who knew to start getting their boarding passes early that morning. We found out the hard way that Bahamasair does this often, especially around holidays. The airline is government run ... enough said.

Well, we got boarding passes for the 6:30 flight later that day and went back to town to entertain ourselves for a few more hours. Then we discovered that my ticket had not been included in the boarding passes, so we went back to the airport about an hour and a half before our flight. The ticket counter person said that there wasn't a seat on the 6:30 plane for me. Marilou said a few things to the counter lady and soon she came out to tell us that the airline had added another plane to the slot and we would all be on the same plane. We were not the only ones in this fix. The airline did get us to Nassau that day, though that flight was about 30 minutes late.

When we finally got to the Nassau airport it was getting late in the day. Deciding at the last minute to rent a car, we were lucky to get the last car available from the last car agency open. (Where have I heard that before?) So, we drove into town and checked into the Dillet's B&B where we had reservations for one night. It's an estate house built in 1921 by a then prominent businessman. Descendants of his still live there and run the establishment.

Then we went out for dinner. Then to bed. Then up the next morning for a B&B breakfast with folks from other places.

New Providence has the most people of the Bahamas at around 120,000 and it is one of the smaller land masses. All flights by Bahamasair to any of the islands go through Nassau.

We knew from our previous experience with Bahamasair to check in early to get our boarding passes the next day. So we went early Sunday morning. The check-in lady told us to be back at the airport by 5:00p for our 6:00p flight.

So, we drove around the island of New Providence and Paradise Island to see the sights. We stopped in downtown Nassau which has a lot of old history. In the straw markets on these islands is where one can bargain. While some dollars can be saved, it's more importantly a game and each merchant plays differently. Some play it with a smile, some don't.

We returned to the airport by 5:00 and had been there maybe 10 minutes when they announced that our flight would be leaving early -- 30 minutes early! Amazing. Bahamasair is pretty crazy! One needs to be ready for anything.

Sunday night, back in Freeport again we checked into our timeshare, the Island Seas Resort, for the rest of our stay. Tired from zipping around the other island and flying back and forth, we crashed early.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we shopped for each other's Christmas presents. We had agreed to not bring anything from home, to get stuff here. Just as an aside, the Bahamas don't charge sales tax on many items. Lots of folks come here just to take advantage of that.

In our living room of our condo is an artificial palm, that is now our Christmas tree. There are presents under our tree tonight.

A rain shower just came and went while I've been writing. We are looking forward to Christmas day in the Bahamas.

Love to All,

Becky, Marilou, & Lou

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December 28, 2001

Howdy All,

Christmas day we slept late ... or I should say Marilou and I slept late. Lou was up long before us. After coffee (Lou had tea), we opened the presents that had collected under our makeshift Christmas tree. I think we each did pretty well with our Bahamas style shopping, giving, and getting. For sure our Christmas has been a different one. We also know that Christmas isn't about gifts as much as about love.

Speaking of good feelings, it seems that most of the Bahamians we've encountered are very laid-back and happy people. Who wouldn't be listening to this melodic talk. And I believe I read somewhere that there has never been slavery on the islands.

Later Christmas day we went for a walk on the beach. The sand on the beach is more like a fine talcum powder than the grainy sand of most beaches other places in the world. I'm guessing it's due to the island being a limestone deposit. It's very nice to walk on barefoot.

Then we had dinner at one of the only places open, Ruby Swiss, a very good European style restaurant.

Wednesday was very windy, on the cool side, and overcast. It had rained during the night. That morning Marilou and I signed up for our first scuba lessons to happen on Friday. After breakfast at Becky's the three of us drove out towards the east end of the island.

Most of the land is covered by cultivated pine forest, grown for harvest. It looks much like south Georgia (where I grew up) just with more Palmetto bushes than Mulberry. About 3:00 in the afternoon we found a little cafe out in the middle of nowhere on the south beach. We had coffee and some great conch fritters.

On the way back home there was a beautiful sunset as the clouds began to clear out. We dropped Lou off at home, as she was tried, and Marilou and I went out for supper at a Jamaican restaurant in Port Lucaya. Don't worry, we are staying in a condo with a kitchen and we had gone to the grocery store, so Lou had food at home. She's not starving. --grin--

Thursday morning we had a date with some dolphins. There are some Bottle Nose Dolphins kept in semi captivity near Port Lucaya in another small harbor and we went to wade with them. Their trainers have them come right up for us to pet while we are standing in the water. For a controlled situation it's really pretty neat to see them so close and to touch them. Their skin feels like smooth wet spongy neoprene. We even got kisses. Quite endearing. And of course, they did all the noises, jumps, turns, and flips for which any good dolphin is known.

Thursday was chilly,also. After standing in sea water with the dolphins, getting back to the sun warmed car was so nice.

The weather isn't terrible here by any stretch of the imagination. It's certainly warmer than our home in north Georgia. Though it has been partly cloudy and windy from "cold" fronts passing through in waves. I'm guessing it's been in the 60's during the days, maybe pushing into the 70's when the sun is shining. The nights get just slightly cooler than the days.

Early Friday morning Marilou and I went on our first scuba dive. There were some quick lessons in the pool, this isn't for any kind of certification, and then right out to the coral reefs on a 10 minute boat ride. Our small group dove in only 12 feet of ocean over some fairly nice reefs with lots of fishes. I had trouble with my ears not equalizing due to some congestion, so I was not able to go down more than a few feet. Bummer. Marilou did the rest of the dive without me. I swam around close to the surface for a while then got back in the boat and proceeded to get seasick. Yuk! The instructors were nice and refunded the dive part of my fee. I did learn the beginning basics, though. And our wet suits provided by the dive company were brand new, so we were styling!

This was our last evening here. The 3 of us had dinner at The Fairy House, a nice restaurant at the water's edge in Port Lucaya. At this restaurant we sat outside on the wharf that goes around the building. While waiting for our meal to be served, we began to notice some small sharks (not Great White) collecting in the water below us. Ten, fifteen, twenty-five, in minutes maybe thirty sharks swimming close to the top of the water right below us. We were amazed and wondering what was going on, when one of the owners of the the restaurant came out to a large bell hanging nearby and began to ring it loudly. The sharks became very active, churning the dark water into whitewater. A helper then brought a big tray of fish scrap to the owner and they started tossing the pieces to the expectant sharks. We discovered this happens each hour and the smart sharks know to show up early to get good position.

We've identified several new birds on the islands and learned a lot about this part of the world.

Our flight is too early in the morning.

Love to all,

Becky, Marilou, & Lou