Blog #8 The Girls Come for a Visit!!!

The Big White Bird landed and then it took forever to get the stairs in place and unload the passengers. All the guys on the ground had specific jobs to do and no one hurried. I was getting ready to climb the fence and give them a hand!!!



There they are, The Girls, just coming off the stairs!!! I was so excited. Yelling, waving, laughing , crying, you get the picture. Generally making a scene!!! Good thing there was no one around!!!



Don't The Girls looked relaxed??? Not quite. This is Natia who had had three meetings with me organizing and making lists for the dinner which was to be served at 6:30 on the night of The Girls arrival. Well, dinner didn't arrive until almost an hour later!!! We were all starving. When we finally got to eat the peas and rice, baked chicken, coleslaw and cabbage and carrots, we were all very happy!!!



Here I am at Paradise Beach, Deadman's Reef, practising snorkeling!!! Even though I practised for quite awhile, it didn't go well when I got into the water. I think I'm a dry land snorkeler!!!

The Girls on an island playing in the sand.

Sand and Kids just go together.

The day we went to Junkanoo Beach Club for free kayaking and paddle boating it was really windy and the sea was very rough so The Girls had fun playing under dock. I tried to take out a kayak with the Older Girl as she is an experienced kayaker but her wise Mother came out and said, "Mom this is not one of your better ideas." and as I tried valiantly to hold on to the bucking bronko of a kayak, I had to agree!!!

This is the end result. Now let's look at the process.

One night after work, Jerrisma and Paulette came over and Paulette braided The Girls hair. You can see, this is a very serious business. Not all woman know how to braid but Paulette is an expert!!!

Thanks so much Paulette for making The Girls look like Bahamian Girls. They love their new doos!!!

The Girls are exporing one of the caves at Lucayan National Park. They were really interesting and spooky!!! We were disappointed to learn that there are no bats until the summer!!!

We took bread to feed the fish and then were suddenly surrounded by raccoons. "Ok, you guys start running and I'll explain we are all out of bread!!!"

There are many up turned trees with their roots showing to climb on and The Girls enjoyed this perch. They had a great time and we didn't need any bandaids or ice!!!

Here Mom is enjoying some quiet time to sit and read in the wonderful warm water. Well, almost quiet time.......

Nice Artsy Shot by Ray.

This is one of Ray's what I call, "Where is Waldo?" pics. Can you find the lizard without a tail?

Saturday we were invited to the West End for a "grill" at Jerrisma's. Here her son, Charles on the left and another expert chef, cook up some corn, chicken and a big pan of seafood like conch, crawfish, potatoes, peppers and plantain. Wow, what a feast. It was wonderful!!!

This island is full of black women with gorgeous hair and I always wondered how they got such amazing styles and colours in their hair. Well, Jerrisma's daughter, the one with the beauty salon in Freeport, was doing a weave on someone and I got to watch. Absolutely fasinating!!! You go to a hair store and buy the colour, length and texture that you want. It comes in a big long strand. It is then sewn onto a fully braided head of hair. Incredible!!! Maybe I'd like..........

We were all loaded into the car when Jerrisma suddenly remembered that she had coconuts for us. The Youngest Girl had been asking for a coconut all week and we had promised her one on Saturday. We had forgotten about the promise and would have had a huge melt down on the way home if it had of been remembered but Jerrisma to the rescue. Here she is attacking the coconut with a saw as the Youngest Girl looks on.

"Mmmm this is so good!!!"

We had a very busy week. It was so much fun to be with The Three Girls and to be able to share out winter home with them. Thank you so much for coming and we will see you soon back home!!!

Blog #8 College, sharks and blues.....band that is!!!

We had driven by this sign a number of times and naturally wanted to see the campus. Once more we lucked out as Jerrisma works here and organized a tour for us!!! She is such an amazing woman!!!

We noticed on arriving on the island all of the pastel colours of the buildings. In one blog I will show you many more hues and tones. Gorgeous. This is phase one of the college. The building above was completed approximately a year ago. It is very fresh and clean inside and out. It is about 30 minutes east of Freeport and thankfully there are buses to bring the students out from town.

This is one of many computer labs. These guys were all chatting it up and having fun until we arrived and then they became very studious and got right back to work!!! Sound familiar?

The rectangular building has an inner court yard for students to use.

We found this happy camper in a language lab. It takes 4 years to get a BA here. You could start some courses here but have to go to Nassau to complete them, like nursing. They also offer degrees in business, education, culinary and hospitality management. There are scholarships and finacial aid available to those who qualify.

Modern classrooms are equiped with white boards and hook ups for computers with their power point presentations. We saw a great science lab with all of the hook ups for water and gas that I remember so fondly!!!

Thank you Jerrisma for helping us see just one more great location on Grand Bahama Island!!!

It isn't often that I bad mouth a location but the After Deck in Port Lacaya needs some truths to be told about it. It is crowed, too many tables in a tiny space. Over priced. I had fish bites which to me meant bits of fish about the size of half of my thumb. When they arrived they were almost the size of the palm of my hand. I'd like to see the mouth they are fitting into in one bite or maybe not!!! The staff were pushy to get you to sit at a table they gave you, get your order and get you out. Problem there being the kitchen staff were far too slow for the servers. None of the servers were smiling and happy. Ray ordered a club sandwich and they had removed all of the crusts so one piece of sandwich looked like it could have fit into the regular mouth. The man has his teeth, give him the crusts, does he look like he eats dainty little sandwiches!!!!!! Sorry but if you are coming to Port Lacaya and want a good meal with Bahamian hospitality, avoid the After Deck!!!

Ray captured this sunset the other night. We can't see sunsets from our house. We get the lovely sunrises so he had to hunt it out!!!

Saturday night we went out to dinner with our friend Gabriele. We went to Pier 1. They have a sushi restaurant but we opted out this time and had regular food from upstairs. The exciting thing about having dinner here is that every night at 7, 8 and 9 they ring a bell and sharks come to be fed. I know this is a lousy picture but use your imagination. These are two sharks about 8-10 feet circling around waiting for the next big fish head to be thrown to them. I'm glad I know where the sharks are now. I will feel much better swimming at Xanadu Beach......Hmmmm let me think about that!!!!!

After dinner, we headed over to Roosters by the harbour. Nice facility. The band we went to see are called the Producers and they are from Bournmouth, England. Excellent group. The nicest thing about Roosters is that the venue is actually outside and they have rows of couches facing the stage. We got to sit just behind the couches on big high chairs at a big high table. It was a great night. I know the pic is dark. It was a dark night! The truth is that when I set my camera on night I have to stop my pulse to take a pic as the slightest movement causes a blur as the appature is kept open for so long.

Big day today. Going to the airport now to pick up Mel and the girls!!!!! Hope I have enough energy left to write the blog after they leave next Monday!!!

Blog #7 Lobster, the Dump and a Baby Shower - What a week!!!

How I love these signs that we have posted around Bahamia, sort of a southern suburb of Freeport, where we are living. I would love to put one on Deer Lake Rd. somewhere along our ditch. Bet it would be shot up withing 24 hours. That also says something about the folks who litter our ditch and the property of others!!!! I would need one that said, "Losers Litter and Shoot Up Signs"!!!!!

I'm not sure you can see it well but Ray has a tan of the cut out at the back of his baseball cap on his head!!!! It is so funny. I just had to share it!!!

Wednesday afternoon Jerrisma and Paulette came over after they had finished work so that Jerrisama could demonstrate how to fry lobster. I forgot to take a pic but wanted to pass on the info and show you the ingredients. We had a great feast after the demo. Oh, so yummy!!!

There was an article in the Freeport newspaper last week warning people about not buying and/or eating under sized lobster. It is against the law so therefore, these lobsters are way too big to be under sized!!!

Being a fanatical environmentalist, when we arrived on the island I immediately had questions about the infrastructure. What did they do for fresh water? How did they handle sewage? Where was the dump and what was it like? I make up a list of questions for our ambassador, Jerrisma, before I ever met her and after spending some delightful times with her, I had not gotten to the list. After we ate lobster on Wednesday night, I brought out the list.

Jerrisma is such an amazing woman. She just makes things happen for us. By Friday we had an appointment to tour the dump with an Environmental official on Grand Bahams. Before we left the office to go to the site we had the oportunity to chat with an other Environmental Official. These two people ware so knowledgeabel about the einvironment and it is always a thrill to spend time with others who share your passion. Well, we learnt the most amazing things.

The big one for me was the deep well disposal that many of the industries do here. On site, the industry puts down a well for a minimum of 150 feet but could be as far as 600 feet in depth with a bore of from 6 to 14 inches. in diamerter, fourteen being the best. The industrial liquid waste is first processed to make it environmentally acceptable and then it is pumped down into the deep well, well below the aquifer. A number of test wells, also known as monitoring wells, are drilled around the main disposal well and samples are regularly tested to make sure that nothing harmful is being disposed of. It is a brilliant idea!!!!

Here you can see the numerous leache pipes coming out of the hill where samples are taken and tested. The leache is then pumped into a settling pond.

The dump, referrred to on island as the landfull because of the technology being utilized, itself would make a great ski hill like the one used in Brampton, Ontario. Only problem being.........

From the pic above you can see the plastic membrane that has been used to line this huge area. A cell has been dug then lined and the garbage has been dumped and covered. This dump has about another forty years to go. Grand Bahama Island has a lot of land to the north that could potentially be used for future sites. They are working on recycling and hopefully composting in the futrue. The Environmental Office is working in schools and putting amazing signs around like the one at the beginning of this blog to educate the public. It was a great outing and probably one not too many tourists enjoy!!! We are looking forward to going to the water plant and sewerage plant in the near future. I want to see and experience it all!!!!

How adorable is this? It is one of the properties we are considering for next year. It is right across the road from the beach. You know the kind, white sand, tourquoise water.......

I was so delighted to attend a baby shower for Jerrisma's daughter-in-law and son on Saturday night. No one was paying much attention to me taking pics except for my buddy Tristan. He is so cute!!!!!

This is my diaper team and the Mom to be Mindy. We won!!!! Mindy was the judge of this contest. There were many during the night. All producing gales of laughter. At one point we were guessing at the names of baby animals. Tristan was sitting beside me and I was asking him to help. When he got stuck, he announced that one of the baby animals was known as, "Honey child."

The food of course was fabulous. It started with a crab salad and went on to chicken in a really tasty sauce, conch fritters and mac and cheese. I had my cake on Sunday and it was excellent. I didn't even share!!!! It was a great night with lots of laughs. I was so please I went. At home, I hate to admit, I would have found an excuse not to attend!!!!

Tristan took this shot of his cousins. Don't they look angelic? Don't be fooled!!!! Great shot Tristan!!!!

Blog #6 A Day Trip to the East End

I am so blessed!!! Jerrisma makes bags. When I visited her place last week, she gave me the one above. I just love it. A group of similarly talented women are trying to open a straw market in West End. I am sure they would do well if they can figure out all of the logistics. I have been displaying my bag on a chair for the last week for all of our visitors to see. I should use it but what if......... It is a piece of art!!!

Last week we went on a day trip to the east end of the island. This pic is of a small motel type place called Bishops. One room. I loved it but Ray is not as enthused!!! It is at the end of High Rock Beach.

It seems like this is the only lighthouse we have seen thus far. It is being maintained but I don't think it is operable.

A coconut stand at Bob's Love Shack at Pelican Point. Bob was trying to get us to indulge with our lunch but I have been there before and the watery milk and gooey jelly stuff has no appeal. I settled for a Bahama Mama. Yum!!! Yes, save the emails, I know coconut milk and goo are good for me but I will pass thanks!!! It was a great place to have lunch. The staff were friendly, good food, gorgeous beach.......

A canoe? Yes, a canoe. Not my idea of a water craft in the waves but hey.... It is sometimes hard to get the colour of the water right in pics but this is a good indicator. The beaches here are gorgeous. The water is a fantastic colour BUT the middle is pretty dull. We drove for about an hour and a half to the east end and it was all pretty much the same. Tall gangly trees with shrub bush underneath and it is SOOOOoooo flat!!! There aren't any houses or anything along the road. Kind of like driving through our praries or parts of Texas, Arizona or even California. It just makes me miss the Almaquin Hills of home!!!

Ray is standing at the door of the Love Shack. It continues to amaze me how few tourists there are here. We have heard from a couple of people that it will get busy in the middle of February. We will see. There are quite a few cruise ships that dock here.

Pelican Point Beach. Another day, another beach. What can I say???

Now don't forget, Westjet flies direct from Toronto to Freeport on Fridays and Mondays and from Florida the best way to get to us is from Fort Lauderdale via Bahama Air. We'd love to see you!!!