Plants, beaches, and crab crossings
March 20 brought us better weather and a great day to drive around Eleuthera and explore. We had rented a car a couple of times on Eleuthera back in December, and we were looking forward to more adventures on the road.
We drove north from Rock Sound, and spotted a bakery as we drove through Tarpum Bay. We decided to stop for breakfast! The Kupcake Lady was lovely and we sure did enjoy her coffee and breakfast treats. (How long has it been since we’ve had delicious breakfast sandwiches?!) We got some cookies and a coconut tart for the road, and those were great, too.
Further up the road was Island Farm, which we’d visited several times back in December. We were happy to pick up more of their fresh produce, granola, meats, and sauces.
After those stops, we headed off to find our main purpose for the drive — a visit to the Leon Levy Plant Preserve, near Governor’s Harbor. This 30-acre botanical garden is managed by the Bahamas National Trust, was founded in 2003, and opened up to the public in 2011. It highlights food, medicinal, and hardwood plants that have been part of Bahamian culture and history. Propagation and conservation of native species is a key aspect of the Preserve’s mission as well.
The Epiphyte trail was pretty cool, with tons of, well, epiphytes, growing on trees. Air plants, moss, and orchids, amongst others.
This spider wanted to be our friend. We looked it up later, as it was so distinctive, and found it to be a Golden Silk Orb-Weaver, also known as a Banana Spider.
One of the hikes led to a tower you could climb up for a gorgeous view.
We fed the turtles some treats (sold to us by the preserve) before we left the preserve. Then it was time to find our own treats, for lunch!
We wound up at a food truck, Queen of Tarts, set up in the side yard of a house on the main road. Candy whipped up some delicious burgers and fries for us, and the cold Kaliks were also much appreciated. After lunch, we stopped at the grocery store nearby. The slogan on the door cracked me up: “Where shopping is as good as any, and better than many.”
Now what? Well, might as well drive south. We decided to head all the way down to the tip of the island, where they are building a new cruise ship port for Disney at Lighthouse Point.
On our way down there, we saw a road sign that said “slow down, go around” and had drawings of crabs on it. And sure enough, there were crabs crossing the road! Crazy, but true.
We couldn’t get all the way down to where Disney was building things, but we did stop at the end of hte road and walk over to the beach.
Heading back north again, we turned off to see if we could get a drink at a place called George’s Bar, and discovered that it was part of a little enclave called Princess Cays where cruise ships dock for brief stays. Lots of gift shops and souvenirs, as well as George’s little outdoor bar where we chatted with the bartender, Deborah. She was lovely to talk to, and during our chat we also found out she’s a cousin of the Rock Sound laundromat owner, Showboat. Small world. 🙂
Back to Rock Sound we went, to drop our car off, and watch the sun set on another day of adventures.
