July 9, 2004 - More Fun On The Sand

At some point in these futile exercises, I also found out I couldn't get the key out of the ignition which I assumed was stuck because there was sand in there … D'oh! Okay, one crisis at a time.

Leia asked the age old question: "What are we going to do?" Our options: I could walk back to the Queen's Highway to flag down a car or truck to help us or I could use our cell phone to call Stanton Cooper. The latter choice was least appealing, of course, but in any case, I didn't want to look stupid in front of these islanders.

As we contemplated our fate (with Lee saying at one point "I don't want to move here" as though Eleuthera was responsible for our predicament), a truck piled down the access road toward us. Two guys came out, observing (quite obviously) that we were stuck.

One of the men was a black man who called himself Wesley Johnson and the other guy was an old, grizzled Caucasian fellow who only known as Junior. They both agree we were in a bit of a predicament.

Lee asked them if there was anyone around who could give us a tow, but Wesley just chuckled and shook his head, replying they knew no one around who could tow us. He said they just happened to be driving the Queen's Highway and looked down the short road to the shore and gathered we were stuck.

At this point, I'm thinking to myself that this was where we're going to be beaten, our money stolen and maybe worse.

Wesley walked over to the car and listened to Leia explain how we ended up driving down a non-existent road. Wesley jut looked at her and quipped that this is why Eleutherans don't drive on beaches!

As Wesley started to survey this situation, Leia pointed out that this was a rental car. Wesley gave her a curious look and said it won't be a rental car much longer once the high tide came in. In spite of my embarrassment, I added it would then be a rental boat, which he repeated to all of us, causing us to laugh hysterically.

Wesley then went back to the wooded area near his truck and conveniently found a couple of pieces of plywood to put under the tires. I pointed out that it was the undercarriage that was the problem we all proceeded to dig out as much sand as we could.

Then, with Leia behind the wheel, the three of us men pushed and lifted the front bumper while she gave it the gas. After a lot of grunting and sweat, we finally got the car out of the berm!

The next matter was to figure out what we were going to do to get the car back on the road. I told them my idea about driving to what appeared to be a more solid patch of sand, then driving back. However, neither Wesley nor Junior were crazy about that idea.

Instead, Wesley suggested that I back it up on the rocks by the shore, and then drive forward. He and Junior disagreed about exactly which direction to aim for, but I finally just got in to make the move.

Before I started, Wesley advised me to not go too fast and dig back in the sand (while Junior encouraged me to gun it). I could see the wisdom in both suggestions, but I deferred to Wesley's idea as he was able to get us this far.

I drove forward, but not fast enough and felt the tires start to dig a bit. I back up further and stopped for a second. Wesley asked if he could get in to give it a try and I agreed. He then proceeded to gun it forward as Junior had suggested and voila, we were out!

Leia was so grateful that she asked me if it was okay to give them $20 each (instead of the $20 for both of them, as I suggested), but I was so happy to not have to call Stanton Cooper, I agreed.

I handed Wesley and Junior the cash and thanked them profusely for their help. Wesley paused and asked if it was only about money. I replied it was the only way we could show our appreciation and if he didn't want the money, he could give it to the church.

He finally took the offering, but asked if we wanted some fresh fish they just caught in exchange for the $40. We demurred on that offer, as we wouldn't be able to keep it cold while we were out and about. After saying our good-byes, we got back in the car, an hour lost due to "stupid tourist tricks."

Snorkeling, Caribbean-style

I had a headache from the heat, plus I was both hungry and thirsty, but I was determined to snorkel on the Caribbean side. Leia checked her book for other nearby spots and found one that was further north, so we drove ten miles up the Queen's Highway. We found that access road and with some trepidation, we took it to the shoreline.

Instead of driving on an imaginary beach this time, we parked in the designated parking area. Two other cars were also there. A tire swing hung from a tall tree … quite an idyllic spot. From the shore I could see some people floating on rafts on the very tranquil Caribbean. Leia and I made our way up the beach to set up "camp," stripped down to our bathing suits, put on our gear and went in.

The water was warm as bathwater and "gin clear," as they say around these parts. We had a blast snorkeling around, looking at all the various sea creatures - little crabs scuttling along the sea floor, spiny mollusks bedecked with clam shells, schools of tiny, almost translucent, minnow-like fish darting to and fro.

I had particular fun swing with one of these schools - at first, they tried to get away from me, then just accepted me as a big, goofy cousin and let me swim above them with them darting around.

Meanwhile, Leia was in the shallows where the shells where and I joined here. This was more interesting - yellow and black angel fish were swimming behind shells and in between some small coral formations.

For about an hour, we alternated between snorkeling and just floating on our backs like we were in a huge sensory deprivation tank that God/nature made for humankind. It was quite relaxing, as you can imagine.

Next Time

Our first visit to Poponi beach … and the return of Terry Sands.

July 8-9, 2004 - Sand Escapades

White American Suspicion

When we parked to go into the ice cream place, I led Leia behind the building instead of past a group of Bahamian teems just sitting on a car across the street from the parking lot. I could tell she preferred to walk past them, but I'm for discretion being the better part of valor. It wasn't ALL because they were black, but a bunch of young men hanging out no what where or what color are potential trouble, especially when it comes to women.

I never want anything bad to happen to my Leia, so I chose the safer route. On the way back to the car, though, she HAD to walk by them. She explained that she had to not feel afraid here and did not look up when we walked by the car where they still were. Thank God the kids weren't any trouble.

Radio Ga-Ga

After the ice cream shop, we went back to the bungalow to settle in for the night and write postcards, my journal, etc., taking note of the bounty of stars once again. Thank God for Eleuthera!

Dialing down the AM band on the radio, we listened to the Bahamas station for a while, but it kept going from stronger to weaker and back again. It was kind of annoying, so we turned to a country music station of all things! Is this what it has come down to?

Snorkeling, Atlantic Style

We woke up late-ish and had a leisurely breakfast on the porch. The day was already warm and promised to become more so later.

Good old Quentin stopped by to check things out and I was able to get a lot of good pictues of him which will be fun to post on our website.

Leia wanted to see if she could a hold of Sandee, who was only going to be on the island one more day. At the same time, she wanted to go swimming and as for me, I wanted to go snorkeling. I really had never been snorkeling - what little I did, it was when I was a kid - but I was determined to at least try it again. What's more, I was able to convince Lee to try it with me. After all, we bought snorkeling masks for the occasion.

We got down to the Atlantic side around noon and started testing out our new equipment. What a rush! We had so much fun exploring around the coral reef beds just in front of our beach. All kinds of fish and other creatures could be seen - and without my contacts, just the snorkeling mask, which was amazing!

After about an hour of fighting the Atlantic waves and undertow, we decided to find a place on the Caribbean side to explore.

Leia consulter her Eleuthera guide and we settled on a place in Tarpum Bay. After a brief pit stop, we packed our gear and hit the road.

A Dumb Tourist Maneuver (Part 1)

We drove to down to (illegible) on the Queens Highway as instructed, then came back north about 2.8 miles to find the dirt road to take us back to the shoreline. When we got there, I could see it had been a place where people came to hang out … lots of beer bottles, an old pair of men's thongs, etc. littered the joint. I concluded this wasn't exactly what we were looking for.

In Leia's everlasting quest to please me, she found what she thought was a road along the shoreline. Now our rental car seemed quite capable and I was game (if not a little hesitant), so I drove down to what I hoped could be the next access road.

I could feel the ground was soft - all sand - as I drove out, but our front wheel drive rental seemed to take it well. However, we were fast running out of "road", so I managed to turn the car around with the intention of going back the way we came.

Unfortunately, the place where I chose to turn was probably the worst place of all. I gave the car the gas, but it was just enough to get us over the berm. The undercarriage got enough up in the sand pile that got quickly built up by our spinning tires. We were stuck trying to drive on the freakin' beach! How stupid of me to risk this, I thought to myself.

First, I tried rocking the car, but only succeed in turning up more sand and digging us further into the bank. We piled out and each took turns pushing while the other one drive, but no luck even budging the thing!

We then put the car in neutral and both tried to push, but the car wouldn't move at all. What were we going to do?

I pulled out all my Boy Scout / Webelos weather lore (which amounted to squat, really) and found a found a couple of boards to put under the tires to add a little traction. However, the front tires just turned uselessly and I only succeeded in burning more rubber.

Leia and I stock of our situation. She finally figured out that our undercarriage was successfully keeping the tires from getting the purchase they needed. The rear tires were fine if it had been a rear- or four-wheel drive car. Then we would've be out of there in a second. "If" is a useless word, unfortunately.

We used our former makeshift platform wood pieces to dig out the tires and as much of the sand blocking the undercarriage that we could. Again, we tried pushing while the other one drove, but had absolutely no luck.

Needless to say, the weather was hot and humid and we were sweating unrelentingly. We tried more digging and more pushing, but to no avail.

Next Time

More on our sand driving snafu ... and we actually do go snorkeling on the Caribbean side.