To the North we went!

Pink Sands (if you squint you can see a tinge)

This past week we traveled up to northern Eleuthera in order to make it easier for us to survey settlements and not have to worry about traveling back and forth the hour and a half it usually takes. We lucked out and got to stay on Harbour Island in a fantastic beachfront house. Harbour Island is a small island off the coast, about a 5 minute water taxi ride from the mainland. It's an adorable tourist town where many a wealthy vacationer (and apparently some celebrities) like to park their yachts while indulging in some pink sand beaches. There are few cars on the island, as most get around via golf cart, and compared to the rest of the island, most of the buildings are kept up (probably to look good for the tourists). We had a lot of fun going to the beach everyday and visiting the local bars at night; though nothing could top our first night there, when we got to hang out on the owner of Walgreen's private yacht.

Be still my interior design-loving heart

can I bring you back to Atlanta

Yes, as we were leaving the marina bar we came across a group of college guys, one of whom hopped onto the back of our golf cart. He introduced himself, saying he was from Texas, at which point one of the girls in my group exclaimed "I'm from Texas!" Lo and behold she had actually gone to grade school with some of the guys so we had the chance to see how the other half lives. The owner, one of the guy's dads, had married into the Walgreens family and lets just say they are doing well. It was very hard to leave, though nice to return to our friendly neighborhood of Tarpum Bay.

We did do some work while up north, visiting the various settlements. The most notable had to be Spanish Wells, where the people look like they are from West Virginia, have accents that sound Scottish, live in what looks like the Florida version of pleasantville, and make up perhaps the largest percentage of white Bahamians on the island. They're descendants of the puritans who came looking for religious freedom and the Tories who left following the American Revolution. Over half of the island has the last name Pinder that, along with the weird looks of the locals, indicate that the rumors of inbreeding aren't just rumors.

Don't let this deceptive facade fool you...

Top off our strange visit by seeing a tricked out golf cart that looked like an old 1950's pick up full of Amish people (and their million kids) who looked like they belonged in the coal mines of West Virginia and we were ready to get the hell out of dodge. Currently wrapping up the last of the settlements that still need to be surveyed and we will begin putting together a preliminary report of findings that our stakeholders can have before we leave (yes, we do work while we are here).