No, we didn't fall off the earth just back in time…
Imagine a place where strangers wave at each other, where random greetings of hello turn into dinner plans. A traffic jam means waiting for the golf cart coming in the other direction to circumnavigate a pot hole in the road.
In a paranoid frenzy, upon arrival, I frantically tried to find the locks on the doors of the beach villa we now call home. There are none! But there is a safe with a key, not quite sure if the sticky tape is for extra security or holding the thing together?
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." Henri Cartier-Bresson
I quite simply love it here. Greg has taken more pictures than I ever knew he had in him. I think he's reminiscing about some swim wear catalogue shoot. Excuse my cellulite!
The kids waver between hating the home schooling (and that witch that keeps making them do it) and screams of ecstasy as they find another hermit crab or dive under another perfect blue wave.
The surf spot is viewed from the front stoop and the lagoon and mainland from the back. Our bungalow sits astride a narrow neck of land with water on either side. The Atlantic surf has been pounding the front shore and the gentle Bahamian breezes blow in through the back door. Our geographical location is no random fortunate accident, it took weeks of hubby dearest pouring over nautical maps and obsessing over wind direction and swell. I feel like I know the place so well already, its as if Google Earth just sucked me right through the apple mac window, and courtesy of Steve Jobs here I am. Now I'm relishing it all in 3D, it just adds to the pleasure.
"For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps." Christopher Columbus.
For our voyage I simply followed the luggage which was herded along with the kids. Our raggle taggle group was led across the tarmac by Greg, my job was merely to bring up the rear. And of course, I have plenty of that to bring up. From a cold, bleak corner in Fort Lauderdale airport we were ushered towards a twin propellor plane which seemed a little too shonky for my liking. With only one other passenger we were able to choose our own seat, which I find is never a good sign. When some of the luggage was strapped into seats alongside us I took a deep breath and started chewing on the inside of my cheek. As the engines started up so did the nagging voices in my head. Why was this the only plane that would take surf boards? Why was it so empty? Why had the check in agent weighed me along with the bags? The props whirred and shook and thankfully rattled out the worrisome thoughts from my head. I turned my attention out of the window, I noticed the check-in agent was now parking his baggage truck and jumping out to direct the plane.
Then I saw it, sat in the middle of the double glazing, a cockroach. Frowning intently at the ramifications of my discovery, I frantically began sifting through my knowledge of pressurized cabins and cruising altitudes. Surreptitiously I tried out some of my EMT training, was it breathing? Was it poisoned? Was the plane infested or had the window depressurized since last time the plane landed (probably somewhere around 1945)? Would I get sucked out of the window at elevation? I was just convincing myself I could stop up the window with my beer gut and save the family when the kids piped up that they too had roaches in the window! Too late we were creaking along for take off. The noise was so deafening I couldn't hear what the lone air hostess was saying let alone the captain's anonymous voice, although I think the guy that carried my bag up the stairs had actually been the pilot. It was time to get casual and put myself over to the experience right?
"Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before." Erich Fromm
Hopefully my spirit would ascend if my physical being plummeted into the Gulf Stream below. It seemed incredibly windy but what would I know? Were the wings supposed to move up and down like that? Peering past the roach, the straight line of the Fort Lauderdale coast diminished into the distance as we spiraled and shook over the deep blue of the waters below. I think I spotted the mail ship somewhere down under the clouds, bouncing around on the white caps. I inwardly smiled between pursed lips, grateful I was up here with the cockroach, not journeying down below with seasick kids and husband who would be blaming me for coming up with the idea to take the surfboards by boat if no one could fly us.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
Trade winds my foot, this was a full blown cold front. Imagine my surprise at hearing Marsh Harbor was having one of the coldest days on record! This news did nothing to ease the desolation of the airport below. Either I or the roach had fogged up the window so it was hard to see if the runway was merely a pale concrete color or actual sand? The skinny forest of sparse tuffla trees was a puny first impression of tropical. Fighting the cross winds the wings tilted and dipped until we touched down. Skidding past a large, water logged section, we came to a noisy standstill on the other side of the wire mesh fence from a crowd of folks waiting to leave. Something seemed amiss! Why was I always arriving when everyone else was leaving en masse? But there was no time to ruminate now! I had to unfetter the luggage and descend the narrow staircase and catch up with my family who were already opening the door onto the one desk, customs corner of the tiny airport building. The baggage hall seemed even smaller as the washing machine, who had apparently flown in with us, was rushed through to the awaiting truck for delivery. Seemed someone had an emergency backlog of laundry on their hands. A couple of arrival cards later and we were spat out into the awaiting arms of a taxi driver. It seemed the amount of luggage we were wheeling around with was causing a lot of curiosity or was it those darn suspicious surf boards that were turning heads?
"Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!" Bob Marley
It was cold and windy and even with nothing to compare it to, I could definately attest that this was indeed the coldest day of the year. As we bumped along the potholes towards the big smoke of Marsh Harbor we learnt our minivan taxi driver Lenard was born and bred on the island. It seemed natural that his British-style brogue wound out past uneven teeth. I wondered about his heritage and where his ancestors' slave ship had originated from. He, however, was far more interested in the future and earning a crust for his 6 children, which made him more than happy to trundle around the narrow coral roads while we bought food and cellphone sim cards and the necessary alcohol. After two cell phone shops, a supermarket and a booze store we had clocked two hours of circuiting Marsh Harbor. To complete our triathlon of wacky vehicles, we were finally ready to head over to Aubrey's Ferry. I think Aubrey and his decedents have a pretty strong grip on the Island heritage as there is a disproportionate amount of signs advertising tradesmen and services with the Aubrey surname.
"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean." Christopher Reeve
Greg stepped out of the taxi and the surfboards strapped on top seemed ready to take flight, maybe we could turn into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? I could be Truly Scrumptious and with Jeremy and Jemima in the back we were all set for a Disney classic! The young man approaching us was yelling something but his words were blown out onto the white capped lagoon.
"NO MORE CHARTERS TODAY" ah maybe it was better not to hear? Owning a dolphin and whale watching business in Africa has taught me a thing or too about those words. To a customer they mean an inconvenient rearrangement of travel plans, to the proprietor it means the damn weather stole today's profits. When the guy who stands to lose money tells you its too rough to go, believe him.
Watching from the warmth of the buffeted taxi, I watched Greg and said boat driver have a quick confab. To my instant consternation they both waved the waiting porters to bring our herd of suitcases forward and Lenard started to wrestle the boards off the roof. It was time to face my demons in a locally made hull in 30 knots and 3ft wind waves. I consoled myself with the fact at least I could grip onto the surf boards as flotsam if we sank.
Life's pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all. " Johnny Depp
Schwinging and schwaying we rolled our way across the lagoon; the kids hung on for dear life and I hung onto the dear kids. Greg however, was lit up by a huge grin and chatted amiably with the captain. It was as if the salt hit his nostrils and roused his sense of adventure, grinning and carousing with his shipmate perhaps he was reconnecting with pirates past? More likely he was just glad it was nearly journey's end and he could finally get a moments peace away from the ball and chain?
"The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground." Buddha
Stepping onto the dock my feet were indescribably happy to feel solid ground, well creaky wood. Nicola, wrapped tight in a huge jacket, pulled the kids and I onto the wooden board walk and invited us to come sign the register in the warm office. I didn't even look back, although I did pass one guy from the hotel, shaking his head in disbelief at the amount of stuff we had hauled with us. From the inner sanctum of the warm office, with a strong cocktail warming me from the inside, I realized how cold it really was. Did I mention the wind chill factor? Continuing my theme of abandoning the bags and husband I followed Nicola over to the villa. Two bedrooms, kitchenette, bathroom and views, views, views. Oh and the air-con reversed into heating, wooo hoooo, let the good times roll.
“I’ll bet what motivated the British to colonize so much of the world is that they were just looking for a decent meal.” Martha Harrison.
The Bahamas is a cocktail of all my favorite nationalities, a familiar blend of American, English and African. The local brogue is like butter spread on the delicious Island bread. Talking of food, our first dinner here was fabulous, the Inn restaurant has a great chef, even if the waitress was wearing a ski jacket during our first meal! At least Josh's complaints that the mac and cheese was "too spicy" were drowned out by the draughts whistling in through the single pane, badly fitted windows. Sleeping aboard a plane that first night meant an early bedtime. Due to Greg's incessant need for 86 degree heat, he cranked up the heater to sweaty brow levels and we slept sweet dreams of tropical paradise while the wind howled outside.
The next day dawned marginally warmer, using dumb blonde, positive spin, the cold front meant the prospect hunkering down for day one of home schooling didn't seem like such a bad idea. Uncertain of which was the warmest clothing I had brought with, I just put on everything with long sleeves and added a sarong for a scarf on top. The kids of course in t-shirts and shorts were "not cold". Greg wore the grimace of a howler monkey lost within the arctic circle. To avert his mind from the chill and to give him legitimacy to not have to sit in the restaurant suffering the pain of homeschool, he pulled out the camera and popped off hundreds of big wave shots from the balcony.
"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers" Edgar Watson Howe
As the weather promises to warm up I am trying to figure out what our plans are?
"This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last." Oscar Wilde
Welcome home! I am going to borrow a pirate quote from you. We are admidst a lovely wind storm right now. I am thinking of you over there in your new paradisie. May the waves be gentle and the winds warm.. all our love
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