Kathryn’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Location: Harbour Island, Northeastern tip of Eleuthera Island, Bahamas
Coordinates: 25° 29.671′ N 76° 38.295′ W

3 miles of the softest, pale pink beach you’ll ever dig your toes into, coupled with excellent restaurants, and brightly colored cottages spilling their bougainvilleas onto the streets, makes Harbour Island one of the premier Bahamian resort destinations. What’s interesting, is it still retains plenty of local Bahamian feel with roosters cruising the streets, local woman weaving straw baskets, fisherman cleaning their evenings dinner near the town dock, and plenty of buildings in need of paint and repairs.

We anchored in the harbor, between the two main marinas, for a week and were the only boat anchored there except for one night. The marinas had only about 6 to 10 boats in them (~10% of their capacity). The U.S. economic melt down is a having a profound effect on the Bahamas primary revenue source, tourism. However, for us, it was an incredibly peaceful and beautiful spot with excellent exploring and services. (A small side note: I could

hear birds singing from shore. This is unusual because many of the cays/islands here have no birds or very few. It was a treat to hear their song each day.)

I also had my most unnerving moment here. We found the Exumas, our primary cruising grounds, to be incredibly safe. Never once have we felt uncomfortable or anxious about our surroundings. Everyone is helpful, friendly and welcoming of visitors. Because of this, I have let my “travel guard” down a bit – I feel at home walking the streets, going for a run on my own, or taking care of errands in town. I had just walked out of a plumbing store (where I was buying a new sink strainer for the one we dropped over board, oops) and was organizing my back pack when out of the corner of my eye I see two men running toward me. Voices were raised, but that is not unusual here as conversations are often spirited. I looked up just in time to see the second man wielding a 2 x 4 over his head, and swinging it towards the man in front who was about 2 feet away from me at this point. I ducked and darted forward, just as the board came down on the man next to me. I then took off running as fast as I could. People poured into the streets, and there was an all out brawl between four guys. It is important to understand that I was not the target of the violence, I was only standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the one man was trying to use me as cover. Needless to say, it was an important reminder to always have your wits about you when you are out and about (of course, that’s just as true in the U.S. as abroad).

Other than that one adrenaline pumping experience the rest of our time on Harbour island was very relaxed. The food is similar to what you might find in Boulder (fewer fried items and more fresh produce) but with a Bahamian flair. Here are a couple of our favorites in case you should be visiting:

Arthur’s Bakery: Wonderful cinnamon bread and coconut danishes. I was there about 15 minutes before they opened, and no other customers where around, so I decided to walk to the beach. When I came back at 8:05 (5 minutes after opening) there must have been 15 people in line ahead of me. So go early and wait, enjoying all the fabulous aromas coming from the bakery. You can practically eat the air, it smells so good.

Dunmore Deli: They serve breakfast and lunch. The ingredients are super fresh, very high quality and

prepared to order. The menu was diverse and the food excellent. They also have a small shop where you can purchase fresh produce, an excellent selection of cheeses, and organic dairy products.

Blue Bar at the Pink Sands Hotel: We enjoyed a wonderful lunch here with a spectacular view of the pink sand beach. The hotel is lovely, quaint, and I have no doubt very expensive, but if you are looking for a special get away this could be your place.