One of the joys of getting settled here in the Bahamas is trying to get a handle on the language of this culture. There are a ton of sayings that don't make much sense to me but are part of the very fabric of this life here. My favorite way to learn some slang is to listen to the most popular radio station, Jamz 100.3. They play Junkanoo, soca, hip hop and other caribbean of this moment hits.
By far my favorite phrase sprinkled liberally through the rush hour drive is 'love yourself', said in a slow drawl that somehow half splits the your and self. This phrase applies to anytime you are doing what you want. Heading to the bar - love yourself. Having a nice meal - love yourself. Going on vacation - love yourself. Its the weekend - love yourself.
I write this on the ferry from a love yourself kind of weekend. I took the ferry after work to the island that most interested me in the Bahamas, Eleuthera. I was drawn to it for its beauty, the number of sports i could hopefully try and the idea of seeing a bit more than the 80 square miles of New Providence and Nassau.
Eleuthera has delivered.
Beyond fun trail runs in the bush and yoga on an outdoor patio, three sports have been spectacular these last couple of days.
- Snorkeling: have been trying to get out and snorkel at least once a weekend, and have found a spot i really like back west of Nassau. I knew that the coral and fish life would be orders of magnitude better. I went both days - one on the Atlantic side about half way down the island and the other on the exuma bay much farther north on my way back up to catch the ferry home.
Both were much better than New Providence, my guess is that i saw 30 types of fish at the first spot for example. And i saw a couple of fish that had me thinking - 'what exactly do you do if that big guy starts heading my direction?' I also had the thought, that fish looks pretty tasty! A few of them looked to be more than thirty pounds and were clearly the boss of this little section of the Ocean. The second spot had fewer fish but more schools and i loved swimming amongst them and being enveloped. Also saw a fish with a huge chunk taken out of its back, which was a bit disconcerting. It did not seem to be bothered in the slightest.
- Climbing: snorkeling is kind of a new pursuit for me, while climbing has been a passion for over a decade. Coming to The Bahamas, i was excited to learn that the islands are made out of limestone, my favorite type of rock to climb on globally. However, the rock that i have found on my weekly forays to cliff bands around my house have been disappointing. Not firm enough to really crank on and crumbling most of the time. It is a whole new type of climbing for me, one that places a premium on control and precison.
Eleuthera is made out of firmer rock, and genrally hillier, so there are some intriguing options. There are a bunch of sea cliff bands that look pretty good and i found two different areas that can be climbing spots for our future. One is more of a bouldering location, and was fun to check out. I topped out one problem maybe 20 or 25 feet feet off the deck and realized that i should probably hold off doing that until I have partners/spotters. Then today i found the most promising spot i have found thus far, two big boulders off the break so it can be climbed all the time. Jackpot!
- Surfing: the waves were garbage on Saturday during the day, chopped up and unrideable. So it was a pleasure to see regular sets with some heft and kick as i ran on Surfer's Beach, which juts out in to the Atlantic. I would get to surf after all! Picked out a board and walked back down to the break, feeling the nervous energy that i get before surfing. I think this comes from my mediocre ability on the waves and the fact that i sometimes get into spots out there that i am not comfortable.
Today I paddled out through the break and got used to the rental board. Then i started trying to figure out how the wave worked, trying and failing to catch several rides. Finally i worked up to catching waves and getting little pops on the board. This wave was taking a bit longer than usual to break and gave nice long rides. After finally getting some good rides, I was kind of tired and called it today - content in the knowledge that we will be back soon.
Asside from the joys of discovery and pushing it, there has been another unintended pleasure from the weekend. Being in this place as felt like a microcosm of our Dream. It reminds me why we quit our jobs, why we traveled widely, why we wanted to join the Foreign Service. I have fallen back on the tricks we developed through that experience, to great positive impact. The preferences we had during that travel are the same, so the results are the same.
One example of this comes from last night, while i read a book and loved myself some rum on the veranda overlooking the Atlantic. On the horizon a storm rolled through, lighting up its host cloud many miles out to sea. It reminded me of another magical night in north Malawi, when the same thing happen with a storm on massive, sea-like Lake Malawi. The lighting was captivating, a delight when it explodes in energy and then instantly followed by a burning desire to see the next flash. Where will it come? Will there be a next one?
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