2017 Life Logs, Day 115: The Ocean Hole and A Gift
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Weather: Beautiful Day with Winds W 10 knots
Location: At Anchor in Rock Sound, Eleuthera
Plans to tour the island by rental car were changed when we arrived at the gas station/car rental and found they are no longer are in the car rental business. They tried to help us find a car by calling various people in town, but a rental was not in the picture for today. Since we had our snorkel gear with us for the island tour, we simple changed plans and walked to a place called The Ocean Hole.
This is a somewhat salty deep water hole (sink hole) right in the middle of town. There’s not a huge variety of fish, but near the ladder where you get into the water, there are lots of fish waiting to be fed by tourists.
DCIM100GOPRO
It was only 9:30 am when we left the ‘hole’, so Sam and Dawn followed up a lead on a rental car we got from another couple who came to snorkel and feed the fish at The Ocean Hole. They said to go to the supermarket and talk to the manager. Since we had backpacks and snorkel gear, I volunteered to wait with all of our things at the dock and let Sam and Dawn do the car rental hunt. I sat on the dock being a sun worshiper and took the opportunity to call my sister to check on my brother-in-law’s progress. He is still in the rehab center and doing so much better than he was this time last week. He has been in a rehab center for the past week, but the doctor is going to release him to go home on Wednesday. He is being released from the rehab center because he has made such good progress. Let’s hope that progress is enough to make the transition to home go smoothly. Hang in there, Joe. You’ll soon have that knee working like new.
Now back to the car rental hunt . . . it was unsuccessful. There was a car available for tomorrow, but nothing for today. We discussed just how to amend our plans and finally decided that we would stay here for another day and tour the island from this location tomorrow instead of traveling north to Hatchet Bay. Dawn called Hatchet Bay car rental possibilities looking for something to rent there on Thursday, but she could not get anyone to commit to a set reservation. So we’ll stay here for tomorrow, probably sail to Hatchet Bay on Thursday, and then do the overnight crossing to the Abacos on Friday into Saturday morning. But there is huge ridge of high pressure that might cause the returning trade winds to be a little stronger than Sam would like. If that scenario plays out, we will skip Hatchet Bay and go straight from here to the Abacos.
Sam was successful in uploading the new updates for the autopilot when we arrived here and he took advantage of our down time today to get those installed. After lunch Dawn and I went into town so I could upload a few photos to the website, but it was so slow that I didn’t make much progress. I was using free wifi at a local craft store called The Blue Seahorse, so while I uploaded photos, Dawn took the opportunity to talk to the owners of the shop about the things they make and sell and about some of the places we hope to visit on the island. When we returned to Windbird, we took her out to do the sea trials with the auto pilot. The conditions were good—not much wind, near slack tide, and calm seas—and the system said all were successful. We’ll find out when we sail out of here on Thursday if it works as well with wind and sails up, but both Sam and Dawn are encouraged. This is the auto pilot that was installed after lightning struck Windbird during the first week they owned the boat. It is a top of the line Garmin but has never worked just right for them. I sure hope the updated software and today’s trials set things right.
And now about the gift. It all started this afternoon when Dawn and I were walking down the street to go to The Blue Seahorse. On the way we met Marcus, a sailor from San Francisco they had met in Georgetown. We talked for a bit and Marcus mentioned that a restaurant on the ocean side of the town had been highly recommended to him. He wanted to go there for dinner and asked if we would like to go as well. He called the place Rose’s and after he tried to call and I tried to call, we gave up the idea of going there. But just before 5 pm, Rose called back. She said she would pick us up on the dock at 6:30 pm. I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect, but Rose and her little restaurant were the ‘gift’ I mention in the title of this log. Rose is a Bahamian woman of many stories.
First, her restaurant and Northside cottages she rents out are at the end of the world. It is only a couple of miles from town, but it is remote.
Rose and her husband purchased the property and moved here from Freeport on Grand Bahama Island seventeen years ago to build their dream house on the ocean. Just after moving, Rose’s husband died leaving her with six children. Rose was raised by her grandparents when her mother died when she was very young. The grandparents made sure she got a college education and Rose did the same for her children. Rose has lived alone since her husband’s death and has built a beautiful life. Her college educated children now live all over the world. One is in Canada, one in Switzerland, one in Australia, a grandson in England, and on and on. So tonight, she not only prepared and served a wonderful dinner for us, she shared her family photo album and all the stories that go with it. She has visited South Africa and has a picture of herself shaking Nelson Mandela’s hand and pictures of herself in cities around the globe. Meeting her was a true gift. Before we left, she sang a little song to us. “Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away; love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.” The second verse was about sharing your wealth, and the moral of the story is that if you don’t, you are the loser. Her stories, her songs, her jokes and laughter, and her positive outlook on life are an inspiration and gift to each of us. Thank you, Rose.
Now to bed. We leave here at 7:15 am to go get our rental car to see more of this island that becomes more interesting the longer you are here.
