We decided on Friday (Feb 8th), before the winds and storms that will be keeping us on the boat for a couple days start, we would take a dinghy ride to the nearby town called Bullocks Harbor. The weather was perfect with bright Bahamian sunshine and beautiful blue water. Bullocks Harbor is a small town on a small peninsula on Great Harbour Cay. This is our first shore stop where we came specifically to wander around rather than just grab some supplies and get back to the boat.
We remember our Bahama time two years ago very fondly with memories of small in-home shops, friendly people who not only have great senses of humor, but also have a genuine desire to help visitors in any way they can. They want visitors to be as happy to be here as they seem to be.
We passed by a school with lots of kids in neat uniforms, two churches and a couple "grocery stores" that basically only sold some canned goods and a few cleaning products. At the top of our list was to find coconut bread. Bullocks Harbor is a very small town so we were doubtful that we would be successful in finding the bread, but we asked at the dock where we tied up if anyone knew where we could get some. We got “walk up the hill, and knock on the door of the first house on the right past….” - you get the idea. We knocked on the door, were accosted by a very noisy and skittish dog and welcomed by a very nice lady who had just pulled some loaves from her oven. She invited us into her home and we left with a large, warm and wonderful loaf of fresh coconut bread.
Bread Lady’s Home
It seems that in the Bahamas no matter what anyone is working on or busy with they are happy to pause, give you their full attention (often dragging other locals into the conversation) to help you find what you need. They never ask for anything for their help – we’ve concluded that most Bahamians are simply very nice and helpful people!
On our next dinghy trip we headed to an inlet further down the coast. We found a marina with some on-the-water condo development surrounding it. While the condo units once looked the same, over the years each owner has had their way with their unit. Some knew what they were doing, and some not so much. This random development, varied additions and lack of repairs to property is a very Bahamian thing. Perhaps when you are constantly surrounded by natural beauty a little man-made ugly provides a nice contrast.
Another beautiful view
We asked where we could get some lunch and were directed to two options so we started walking. We’d walked about 10 feet when a pickup stopped and offered us a ride. The driver introduced himself as Captain Kenny and recommended a place and off we went. We had a nice lunch, talked to many people there, learned a bit about the island, and got a ride back from the same guy (well, we did buy him lunch).
There are about 500 residents on the island. We noticed that the license plates only have three digits-guess they don’t need very many cars for this number of people!
On the northern tip of the island, Carnival Cruises has an extensive cruise ship port complete with something like 4000 chairs, lots of water sports equipment and dining areas that they use as a day stop for their cruise ships. They are enlarging the port and building a bridge between two islands (which will block a favorite cruising anchorage). There are small power boats carrying lots of people to work at this port that zip by us at anchor every day. They start at 6:30am and the last boat brings them back around sunset. This is very different than the typical Bahamian culture. We asked Captain Kenny what he thought about it. He felt like Carnival was destroying the natural beauty of the island and he was not a fan. He did acknowledge that this provides jobs for many in the community which is a good thing, but he would prefer that the US keep their US ways in their own country.
The culture here is very low-key, which drives me nuts sometimes, but I have to admire it. We of the so called “modern, developed and sophisticated” world could learn a lot from the Bahamian people. They enjoy each other, love their islands, and have avoided the drive to squeeze “just one more thing” into every moment. For most things, they seem to feel like tomorrow is as good as today to get it done. I’m not sure they are wrong.
We had fun with Captain Kenney and his friends at the restaurant and are now savoring our coconut bread. More importantly nearly every interaction with Bahamian people reminds us once again that we USA folks don’t have the best answers for everything. There is more to life than rushing to the next thing. Even after being on the boat for this long, we still feel a bit driven to plot the next course and “get on with it”. What is our problem?!
Is it possible that just being in a place with other people, noticing how they live, how they think, and what they value is enough? More than enough really – it is a treasure to be savored.
Thanks for reading!
David
S/V Regina Maris
Footnote: The “bread lady’s” house is not finished. This is very common in the Bahamas. They seem to plan bigger than they can afford at the current time, get the house livable (this one was very nice inside – great view of the water), and slowly work toward finishing it when they can afford it.