Polished Conch Shells
We dropped anchor in Governor’s Harbour. We had read good things about this location and were not disappointed. High on our list of things to do was find a pink sand beach. We have been to Bermuda that touts pink sand beaches to tourists. Quite frankly their beaches were a serious let down. Yes, the beaches in Bermuda may have pink sand at sunset if you squint your eyes and wear rose colored glasses. Would pink sand beaches of Eleuthera really be pink?
The Library
The Fire Department
The pretty little town Governor’s Harbour is the Capital of Eleuthera. A pleasurable walk through town revealed the old colonial buildings from the town’s heyday. Many of the homes are in the transition stage of being fixed up. This town is gaining interests among people searching for vacation homes or rental properties. It is nice to see the remodeling of the older homes rather than just bulldozing and rebuilding. Because of the step hillside, most homes have spectacular views. We stumbled upon an old church built in 1848. We were fortunate enough to find the caretaker and struck up a conversation. He took the time to point out the treasures of the church and some of the original architectural details. One of the things I truly love about this lifestyle is off the cuff conversations with locals. I learn so much and they seem t enjoy talking about their local treasures. The church has survived two direct hurricane hits in 1928 and 1933. The pipe organ inside is original and is still played today.
St Patricks Angelican Church
Graveyard with a View (Cream Puff in the distance)
School Lane
The Bus Stop
We Didn’t Order Chicken
Buccaneer Club Restaurant and Bar
Garden Gate
After our brief tour of the town, the hunt for pink sand began. We did not have a very good map and couldn’t download one. Due to a recent cell phone meltdown, we do not have internet. We saw on our nautical charts an area on the other side of the island labeled as pink sand. It was a good 2 mile walk as the crow flies from our side of the island, over the hilltop, to the other side, the Atlantic Ocean. We could tell which road left town but beyond this everything else was a guess. Off we went. We walked and walked and walked. We walked a lot more than 2 miles. At one point we realized we must have taken a wrong turn because the road on which we were walking abruptly ended and turned into what can best be described as a cart path. Do we retrace our foot steps back to the last intersection about ½ a mile behind us? Even if we went back, we still did not know which way to go. Or, do we follow the cart part in hope it ends at the ocean? We decided to follow the cart path. We were lost. A nagging voice in my head said perhaps I should have asked for directions before setting off. The other side of my brain responded with, you navigated across an ocean to find this stupid island so how hard can it be to find the beach. We saw a dead snake. We didn’t know there were snakes in the Bahamas. Note to self: Watch out for snakes from now on when traipsing through the bush.
We Are Really Lost
The cart part seemed to be going downhill. We took this as a very good sign since one does not travel uphill to the beach unless one lives in the Netherlands. Our cart path ended. We were now looking at a paved road and needed to make another directional decision: Left or right? Right appeared to be more uphill. Sticking to our logic that we needed to go downhill to reach the ocean, we turned left. After about another half hour of walking, we could hear the ocean. Besides the sound of the ocean all we could hear were birds singing. I complained the ringing in my ears seemed louder than normal. This wasn’t really the case. It was just the fact this island is so darn peaceful. Away from town, we realized there was no sound, except nature. We could hear a car coming miles before it reached us. We came upon a lady sitting on her deck reading. We startled her. Excuse us, do you know the way to the pink sand beach? Amazingly we were not far from it. We walked just a little further and saw a dirt road. We could see at the end of the dirt road was the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of the road, we found a magnificent beach with real honest to God pink sand.
Pink Sand – Yes! It’s Really This Color.
Two Feet
These two feet where throbbing at the end of the day; nothing a glass of wine won’t fix. As I took the photo above, besides being amazed by the stunning surroundings, I was wondering which way it was back to the boat.
