Tag: Bahamas

Clicking Into High: Arrington McCardy 1947-2011

Clicking Into High: Arrington McCardy 1947-2011

Self-trained, he had unorthodox techniques. On a steep hill, the standard tactic is to shift up two cogs and stand up, adding your body weight to the downstroke, using your arms to wiggle the bike from side to side to help the upstroke. We never saw Arrington stand. Instead he would hunker down in the saddle and simply power his way over the hill. And he always left us in the dust. I was hoping to watch this technique in the White Mountains when he and Hazel were to visit us in New Hampshire.

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Long Island, Bahamas by Bicycle: A Trip to Remember

Long Island, Bahamas by Bicycle: A Trip to Remember

Lying 100 miles southeast of Eleuthera, Long Island is 80 miles long and has roughly the same area. But it is flatter and relatively empty. There are only twelve people per square mile compared to Eleuthera's year-round seventy. The inhabitants are welcoming, but a team of cyclists tackling their 73-mile-long Queen’s Highway is not something they see every day.

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Escape from Paradise: One Couple’s Experience, Bahamas, March 2020

Escape from Paradise: One Couple’s Experience, Bahamas, March 2020

Eleuthera, Bahamas, March 20th

Friends said, “If you expect to leave The Bahamas, do it now.” We thought it best. (I failed at retire­ment and need­ed my library in New Hamp­shire in my work for Hills­dale Col­lege in Michi­gan.) Accord­ing­ly, we changed our flights to Nas­sau and Boston from our usu­al April depar­ture to March 25th.

Jet Blue was in chaos. In my first online chat ses­sion they said the change would cost $472. It’s always a good idea to dis­con­nect and try anoth­er chat link. The sec­ond time it was “no charge”! We always use “Even More Space” (pre­mi­um econ­o­my, ear­ly board­ing), and those seats were wide open.…

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Recognizing Cuba

Recognizing Cuba

“I was, I think, the first in this House to sug­gest, in Novem­ber 1949, recog­ni­tion of the Chi­nese Communists….I thought that it would be a good thing to have diplo­mat­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion. But if you recog­nise any­one it does not nec­es­sar­i­ly mean that you like him. We all, for instance, recog­nise the Rt Hon Gen­tle­man, the Mem­ber for Ebbw Vale.”*  —Win­ston S. Churchill, 1 July 1952.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Pres­i­dent Obama’s Decem­ber 17th announce­ment restor­ing diplo­mat­ic rela­tions with Cuba, a col­league writes: “Final­ly we’ll have access to tru­ly great healthcare.”

Fun­ny. Actu­al­ly top tier Cuban health­care is main­ly for par­ty mem­bers. There is a tiered sys­tem.…

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Exuma: Jewels in the Sea (2)

Exuma: Jewels in the Sea (2)

Con­tin­ued from Part 1…

Once reached, the gem­stone islets of Exu­ma invite you to mean­der at a delib­er­ate pace in placid, gin-clear waters. There were sail­boats and cruis­ing lots galore along the islets, and you can see why. Sail­ing from one to anoth­er, drop­ping anchor by whim or fan­cy, is an expe­ri­ence that will wash the world away.

Every islet is dif­fer­ent and has its own attrac­tions. At Ward­er­ick Wells Cay is the Exu­ma Cays Nation­al Land and Sea Park—a good first stop after cross­ing over from Eleuthera. A marine fish­ery and native plant pre­serve, it occu­pies 176 acres.…

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Bahamas Fishing Haul, Spanish Wells

Bahamas Fishing Haul, Spanish Wells

My friend Bruno Under­wood called March 18th to ask if we were up to fish—his only oppor­tu­ni­ty to take us out since he’s work­ing round the clock. We have been enjoy­ing fish­ing char­ters with Bruno for five years. On March 19th he and his dad, Baron, met us at Gene’s Bay, north Eleuthera, at 9 and off we went to their favorite spots, plot­ted by GPS. We were in from 12 to 25 feet with 25 lb.-test spin­ning tack­le and cut bait (gog­gle-eyes).

For the first half hour, only nib­bles; Baron said these were yel­low­tail steal­ing our bait, but ”they’ll soon be full and will move on for the big boys.”…

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Eleuthera Byways: The Queen’s Baths

Eleuthera Byways: The Queen’s Baths

PoOn the Queen’s High­way a few miles north of Gre­go­ry Town, about 300 yards before the Glass Win­dow bridge, pull off the road across from  a sandy track lead­ing up the hill toward the Atlantic on your right. You can’t miss it: the Min­istry of Tourism has recent­ly erect­ed a mark­er. You’ve arrived at the Queen’s Baths.

Walk up toward the Atlantic as the bush thins out and the sand takes over. Soon the sand thins and you’re walk­ing on bare coral. Watch your step to avoid the uneven sur­face and pock­marked holes. As you approach the ocean, work your way to the left (north), keep­ing Har­bour Island on the hori­zon ahead of you.…

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Eleuthera Byways: Edwin’s Fishlake

Eleuthera Byways: Edwin’s Fishlake

First pub­lished in The Eleuther­an, Sep­tem­ber 2008; Edwin’s Tur­tle Lake Marine Pre­serve, with a fine new dock and the bot­tle shack restored in Decem­ber 2014.

Edwin’s of old

Three miles south of Governor’s Har­bour, on the right side at the S-bends as the road plunges toward Pal­met­to Point, is a large salt­wa­ter lake. Passers­by who stop to inves­ti­gate will find the remains of a curi­ous shed built of mor­tar and beer bot­tles, the amber, green and clear glass sort­ed by colour, bot­toms fac­ing out. A few yards away, obscured by bush and weath­ered by the years, was a wood­en sign whose words were just legible:

Edwin’s Fish­ing Lake

Estab­lished March 10th 1954

The First Fish­lake of the Bahamas

Over 20,000 fish of 32 vari­eties have

been placed in this lake.…

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