In my experience, these small prop planes are harbingers of unique experiences. I’ve never been disappointed.
Silver Airways whisked us 220 miles from Ft. Lauderdale to the North Eleuthera International Airport. We landed in the warm, drizzling rain. After clearing immigration and customs in this two room airport, we exited the building and, as instructed, asked for Wallace.
There are no car rental agencies on the island, only a handful of individuals who have cars for rent. Wallace preferred to wait for the rain to stop instead of walking down to the car. Since it was warm rain and not cold snow/sleet/ice we opted to get on with our vacation. He pointed Rob in the direction of the black/purple MD with the keys in it. As Rob went to get the 2008 Suzuki Chevrolet MD, Wallace advised me that my job was to remind Rob to drive on the left and said he’d be by tomorrow or the next day to settle up. And with that, we were off. On the left.
Eleuthera is a long narrow island, mostly less than 1 mile wide. There is one road, the Queen’s highway, that runs the length of it. It is unstriped, unlit, narrow and plagued with potholes.
As far as I can tell, all of the directions are “It’s just off Queen’s highway, past the big gas station,” or, my favorite, “Turn on the sandy road.” The roads that spur of the highway are rarely named or marked. Therefore, we explored a lot by missing turns. On vacation, where there are no schedules or responsibilities, it just adds to the adventure.
The directions, complete with a map, to the Air BnB were to take Queen’s Highway south and turn at the “colorful Oleander Gardens sign.”
The building sits on five acres of gardens. It’s a beautiful lush property with orange and coconut trees and tropical flowers in bloom.
The birding from the patio was as good as it was at the Levy Native Plant Preserve in Governor’s Harbour.
Our resident Mockingbird serenaded us each morning from her bougainvillea.
The familiar sound of a Cuban Pewee’s repetitive call (similar to our Eastern Wood Pewee), “pee-wee”, made this tropical oasis reminiscent of the Wisconsin Northwoods. The company of the plentiful anoles, each so uniquely colored, was a real treat. The branching toes on their hindfeet are something else!
It was the perfect place for easing into our days of snorkeling and exploring.
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