After the thrilling experience of Boxing and New Year's Day Junkanoo in Nassau plus many visits and parties with friends and family, what better way to recover than a trip to the magical island of Eleuthera.
We were staying in the north of the island, at 'The Cove' in Gregory town. We thoroughly enjoyed the peace of the beach, the snorkelling and the good food and wine served by our hospitable host, but we are adventurous visitors and needed to see more.
We went further north to Harbour Island, the Bluff, Current; stopped on the Glass Window to see the turquoise of the Caribbean compared to the deep blue of the Atlantic; a few hours in Spanish Wells driving a golf cart. Then we went south to Hatchet Bay, Alice Town, James Cistern, Governor's Harbour, Palmetto Point. Each spot had its own charm and fun encounters but nothing compared to the day that we drove even further south to Rock Sound.
We were actually looking for Ocean Hole, just near Rock Sound. My partner, Zion, not being English mother tongue and an amateur guitarist, thought that Rock Sound had something to do with music and was getting a little frustrated that we couldn't find any signs of a Rock Festival. Joking aside, Ocean Hole was not very obvious and we carried on down a long bumpy road looking for, at least, the sea and somewhere to lunch. At last we saw a faded sign attached to a telegraph pole promising food. We went into the driveway of a very smart house - it was not the restaurant. The patient owner came out and redirected us further along the ever diminishing track. (We learnt later that he is a famous American glass blower).
Then we glimpsed it, the always unbelievable colour of the sea surrounding the Bahamas islands. As we continued up an unfinished driveway on sand dunes with some manicured gardens we saw a few cute looking, white dwellings and a fairly weathered wooden central building. A very large, cream coloured Labrador came bounding up to our car. He was obviously the welcome committee. There were no other cars, was the restaurant open? Then a white cat sauntered over to greet us. Both animals led us to the door of the wooden construction which was most definitely a bar and restaurant with a terrace overlooking a coastline which most of ushave only seen in James Bond type movies and in our dreams.
We followed the dog through the island style bar with a swept sand floor, into the colourfully decorated restaurant where we were met by Mrs Gibson. She invited us to sit out on the terrace to enjoy our Kaliks. She told us she had some fresh conch and grouper today, if we were interested. As we sipped on our ice cold beers and watched the clearest of waters lapping over the rocks out in the bay, we felt desperately in need of a dip in that cool blue/green water and to discover what fish were lurking under the rocks. We asked Mrs Gibson if it would be O.K. to get our costumes and snorkel equipment from the car and pop down for a dip, maybe have some lunch when we had finished. She immediately ushered us into the back of the restaurant to offer her facilities for us to change.
Needless to say, we had that crack conch and those grouper fingers with peas 'n' rice and coleslaw, all beaten, prepared and cooked by the magic hands of Rose Gibson. She told us something about herself and her family, now quite wide spread around the globe. She showed us photos of her children's graduations and her grandchildren. We even had an accident together. We wanted Rose to show us something on our map. Both of us were sitting on one side of a bleached wooden table with a fixed bench. I invited Rose to sit between us to share the map, as she sat, so the bench, table and the things on the table tipped too. We three were trapped like lobsters in a pot with our legs in the air. All we could do was hoot with laughter until the dog, cat and gardener came to our rescue. No harm done, thank goodness.
We fell in love with this gentle, warm woman and her little paradise, Northside Inn, near Rock Sound. It was one of life's never to be forgotten moments.
If you would like to stay at Northside Inn, she has cottages for rent and a wonderful restaurant both for guests and the more 'adventurous' visitors. Her website is: www.northsideinneleuthera.com
Mary Cooper
