Eleuthera, Harbour Island & Nassau, Bahamas

This was a WONDERFULLY RELAXING vacation. We spent 9 nights on Eleuthera, took a day trip to Harbour Island, and ended our vacation with 3 nights in Nassau in August 2007. We LOVED Eleuthera.

GETTING THERE: We flew from Newark to Nassau on a non-stop Continental flight. We had a 2-hour layover before getting on a non-stop Bahamas Air flight to Governor's Harbour on Eleuthera. We were surprised to see that on a Saturday the airports in Newark and Nassau weren't packed. It all went quite smoothly.

~~ ELEUTHERA ~~

THE BEACHES: Before our trip, I purchased "The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera" book. You should get it if you head to the island and plan to check out lots of beaches. It helped us find beaches we would have never been able to find otherwise.

We did have some issues with the book. The directions to one beach (Papaw Beach) were wrong and we disagreed with their top ten list of beaches. The one statement we really couldn't get over was the one saying that Jack's Bay rivaled Lighthouse beach in terms of beauty. What?! I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but goodness, those two don't even come close... Also, my dear husband kept obsessing over the fact that there wasn't a map in the book even though I had printed maps of the island.

We usually had the beaches to ourselves. LOVED that! Our FAVORITE beaches were Lighthouse, French Leave, the one in front of the Singing Sands Resort in North Palmetto Point and one we "discovered" by accident not far from our resort. Those BEAUTIFUL beaches were clean, had beautiful soft sand and a gentle entry into the clear and calm water. We unfortunately found trash on some of the other beaches like Papaw Beach and Jack's Bay. ADVICE: Take a portable soft cooler bag for sandwiches and drinks for those far away beaches.

Lighthouse Beach

Lighthouse Beach

Lighthouse Beach

French Leave

Beach at North Palmetto Point

Found this one by accident

Double Bay

 

SNORKELING: We didn't have a lot of luck with snorkeling. The days we visited the places where snorkeling is reportedly good, the water was a bit choppy and the currents were strong. The "best" snorkeling we found was in front of the Singing Sands Resort in North Palmetto Point. The reefs we saw were in pretty sad shape though.

RENTAL VEHICLE: We rented a car for our entire stay but if we were to do it again, we'd get a 4x4. Some of the access roads to the beaches were quite awful. We rented a '98 Chevy Lumina with Mr. Naaman Rolle for $60/day. Everything worked out well. We would recommend him. I don't know that he has 4x4s. He is reachable via email at banro2@batelnet.bs or via cell phone at 242-359-7166. He only takes cash or traveler's checks. Gas at the Shell station near our place was $4.87/gallon.

WHERE WE STAYED: Pineapple Fields. This is a new property (timeshare/rental). Construction has ended. However, some cosmetic work is still being done on some of the units as well as some of the landscaping. The property is located across the street from the beach.

We stayed in a spacious upper level one bedroom apartment (#722). The decoration is light and airy. Everything looks very new and very pretty. There's a living room, bedroom, small kitchen (with all the cooking appliances and dinnerware), bathroom, and 2 decks (front and back). The unit has a.c., ceiling fans, washer/dryer, a safe, tv/dvd player in bedroom and living room, tape/cd player in living room. There is daily maid service. A nice pool is located in the middle of the property (deepest depth 4.5 feet). Definitely a home away from home. We loved it.

Some negatives:

--The landscaping around our building wasn't done, so the immediate surrounding area wasn't very pretty to look at. Most importantly, there were holes in the ground that weren't covered properly. Not a good thing if you have kids running around.

--The water pressure in our shower wasn't good.

~ TIPPY'S: This restaurant is part of Pineapple Fields. It's located right on the beach, across from the resort. They only serve lunch and dinner, and are closed on Mondays. You can ask them to charge the bill to your room. We loved the look of the place, but the food and the service were a mixed bag. One particular waitress seriously needs to think about changing jobs since she seemed so unhappy to work there. Anyhoo, we had dinner at Tippy's 4 times. On our first night we had the lasagna ($15/each) which was EXCELLENT. On our second night, I had the cajun grouper ($25) which was JUST OKAY. My husband had the blackened tuna with mango salsa ($28) which he said was NOT GOOD (not cooked enough). For our third dinner, we had the NY steak with herbs and mustard butter ($25/each) which was OKAY. Our son had the cheese pizza ($13.50) which we tasted and thought it was GOOD. For our fourth dinner, my husband went back to the lasagna and I tried the chicken fajitas ($23) which were VERY GOOD. With desserts and drinks, dinner would usually come to a little over $100.

~ DELI: There's a deli where the Pineapple Fields office is. We ordered sandwiches on our last day and wished we had done so sooner. They were VERY GOOD. Cost is about $9. The deli closes at 3pm.

OTHER RESTAURANTS/FOOD: Bring LOTS OF CASH as many places will only take that. All the places we ate at had a 15% gratuity included in the bill. We found that places that will accept credit cards will charge you a fee for paying that way (for example, Dolcevita will charge a 5% fee for paying with a cc). You can find a list of restaurants at www.discover-eleuthera-bahamas.com

~ DOLCEVITA: This restaurant is owned by a lovely couple: Paolo who is from Sicily and Manon, his French Canadian wife. It's in a house on RunAway Bay Marina. We sat on the outside deck with a view of the water. I had the filet mignon ($36), my husband had the pork loin ($24), and our son had the pasta with marinara sauce. We had the chocolate tarte for dessert ($9/each). With dessert amd drinks, dinner came to $125. We thought our food was VERY GOOD.

Filet mignon

Pork loin

 

~ JOE'S BAR & GRILL: This is located on a beautiful stretch of beach at the very colorful Singing Sands Resort in North Palmetto Point (which, by the way, looks like it would be a very cool place to stay at). The menu is very limited (maybe 5-6 items on it). We had lunch there twice and had their VERY GOOD cheeseburgers with fries ($11/each). Lunch for 3 people came to about $45.

~ BERTHA'S GO GO RIBS: This local place is located in Tarpum Bay. We stopped there on our way back from a beach trip. We were hoping it'd be one of those non-descript local places that serves unbelievable food. The food was disappointing, unfortunately.

~ CIGATOO RESORT: We had breakfast there once because our son wanted some scrambled eggs. We sat at a table only to find dozens of ants all over it. We moved to another table where at least there were just a few ants. The scrambled eggs with toast and back ($9/each) were OKAY. Nothing to write home about. Breakfast for three came to about $40.

~ GROCERY SHOPPING: We shopped at Eleuthera Supply in Governor's Harbour where we bought water, milk, juices, bread, etc... We thought it was pretty well stocked.

~ BAKERY: There's a bakery in Governor's Harbour which makes wonderful bread, croissants, glazed donuts and cinnamon rolls. Stop by to get a few of those DELICIOUS things.

~~AROUND ELEUTHERA ~~

Ocean Hole Park

Glass Window Bridge

Government Building

Haynes Library

Fire Station

Police Station

Home in Tarpum Bay

Feeding the birds

Castle MacMillan

Church in Rock Sound

~~ HARBOUR ISLAND ~~

The water taxi to and from Harbour Island is $5/person. We were surprised by how developed and crowded the island was. We thought it took away some of its quaintness and charm. We rented a golf cart for $40 (our son just LOVED riding in it). We were so glad we did as it was a HOT day! We drove around to see some of its cute homes and lovely churches, but spent most of the day enjoying its famous pink sand beach. We used the public beach access between the Pink Sands and Coral Sands hotels. There's a guy there who rents 2 beach chairs and an umbrella for $10. The water had a bit of wave action which our son thoroughly enjoyed. We had lunch at Ma Ruby's and I'm sorry to say we weren't crazy about the cheeseburgers. We stopped at Arthur's Bakery but it had closed for the day. I bought a cute straw bag from Ms. Sarah who has a stall near the dock. We very much enjoyed our day trip but we were happy to be staying on much quieter Eleuthera.

~~ NASSAU ~~

COMPASS POINT: I was so excited when I learned that this resort reopened. It looked SO FUNKY and it was away from the touristy area of Nassau. I just knew it would be a great place for us. We stayed in a one bedroom elevated seafront hut (#115). It was so CUTE and COLORFUL with a GREAT little balcony and a FANTASTIC view. The octagonal room is small, fine for a couple but a bit cramped if you have a little one. The bathroom is tiny.

The resort is near the airport (taxi cost is $13 one way) so you can hear the airplanes flying in and out. We only heard them during the day though, and not during the night. They didn't bother us but I can see how it could annoy some. 

There's a pool that is divided in two. The smaller one is 3.5 ft deep. The bigger one goes as deep as 6 ft. We would have enjoyed the pool a lot more if it weren't for a large group made up of several Italian families whose 10 kids or so took over the pool. The kids were loud and rowdy. There's also a hot tub near the beach area. After spending so much time on Eleuthera, our beach standard was pretty high so the beach at Compass Point didn't rate very well. There are 2 small coves on each side of a pier. It was just okay.

THE FOOD: We were pleasantly surprised by the extensive menu as well as the kids menu. However, we found the food to be average. No complaints but no raves either. You can find the menu with prices on the resort's web site.

 

THE STAFF: Friendly. Great attitude. Really great. Each one of them.
THE SPA: I had the 60-minute full body massage and the masseuse was really good. The only negative is that it's in a hut so the sound is not blocked off. Despite the soothing music, you can still hear people walking by, cars driving by, and of course, the planes. So much for total relaxation.

THE BAD: The really really bad... PALMETTO BUGS (aka cockroaches)! Yes! In our bathroom! I walk into our bathroom on our 2nd night, and there IT is... at least 2 inches long, scurrying across the vanity. I run out, all skived out, to let my fearless husband save theThe huge thing disappears but smaller ones appear. By that time, my son and I are on the bed. My husband kills 5 of them (yes, FIVE). Thank goodness I brought a can of Raid on this trip - It was for flying insects but using half of the can seemed to do the job. By the way, I called the front desk asking for a can of Raid for cockroaches. I was told they would check with the food and beverage manager. I couldn't help thinking "I don't want to hear that your FOOD and beverage manager may have something to kill cockroaches! Eewwwwww!" Anyway, they ended up bringing us a can of OFF. Huh? The next morning, I went to the front desk  and they sent someone right away to do whatever needed to be done. Well, we saw one more later that day and my husband killed it. We didn't see anymore the rest of that day or the next morning. I haven't seen any reviews complaining about this problem, so maybe it was an anomaly. Still, this really put a damper on our original excitement.

OH AND THE OTHER BAD: Finding out that the booking company we used, VHR WORLDWIDE, did NOT give Compass Point our payment (which was made in full, by the way). VHR was listed on the OLD Compass Point web site as the booking agent, that's how I ended up using them. Apparently, there are some "issues" between Island Outposts (the company that owns Compass Point) and VHR. According to the Compass Point managers, Island Outposts suggested that we be charged again. Um, I don't think so. Thank goodness, the managers didn't think so either, so it did not get ugly. But it galls me that Island Outposts thought it was okay to even suggest that. We'll never stay at any of their properties because of that. Bottom line, if you want to stay there, book directly with the resort. (Update: the booking company ended up paying the resort.)

ATLANTIS & ITS AQUARIUM: Atlantis itself has ZERO appeal to us. We only went there because we wanted our fish-loving son to see the aquarium. I had read that if you go after 7:30pm, no one is guarding the entrance and you can view it all for free instead of the $20 something per person. That turned out to be true. We headed to the aquarium our first night in Nassau. Unfortunately, it was a public holiday so the traffic was pretty bad. What a wake up call from Eleuthera! It took us about 45 minutes to get to Atlantis (taxi cost $35 one way). Walking around Atlantis... Wow... And I don't mean that in a good way. No offense to those who love it. Anyway, it was all worth it just to see the excitement on our son's face during the aquarium tour.

SIGHTSEEING: That didn't happen. We had planned to see some historial sights like Fort Charlotte but changed our minds. We chose to continue vegging out at Compass Point. Yes, just call us lazy bums.

~~ OTHER STUFF ~~

MOSQUITOES/NO-SEE-UMS: I need to learn to coat myself with repellent BEFORE I get off the plane. You'd think I would have learned by now. I got bitten pretty badly the first day we got to Eleuthera. I was very vigilant the rest of the trip and avoived more bites. My son only got 1 or 2 bites, thank goodness. My husband walked on the beach after dusk. The next day, he had lots of "lovely" red marks all over the lower part of his legs, courtesy of the no-see-ums. It was his first time ever being bitten that way.

WEATHER/WATER TEMP: We lucked out with mostly great weather. On Eleuthera, it rained twice at night and twice in the morning (cleared up by midday). In Nassau, it rained once in the afternoon. The weather was fantastic the rest of the time. It was HOT, mainly in the 90s. The water temp was PERFECT.

LEAVING NASSAU: Make sure you get to the airport a MINIMUM OF 2 HOURS before your flight since you'll go through U.S. Customs and Immigration there. The line is slow and they won't let you jump it if you're late for your flight. We witnessed quite a few people who learned that the hard away. The departure tax ($15/person) and security fee ($7/person) have to be paid in CASH at the airport.