The Bahamas island of Eleuthera, pronounced ee-loo-thera, was everything we could have wanted in a beach vacation. Big house, oceanside pool, private beach, college friends including a champion flyswatter, and prepared dinners made the vacation totally awesome.
There were actually 2 infinity pools, one shallow one for the little kids
And one deeper one for the better swimmers
Apparently July is low season on Eleuthera and even though there was a public beach down the way, we had the entire bay to ourselves
There was a pool shack and beach where Tessie and Alec spent much time.
View from the pool to the house. Not as lush as other Caribbean islands, much of Eleuthera seemed starved for water. For the house we had to periodically resupply 5 gallon jugs for drinking because the tap water was slightly brackish.
Paddleboards, kayaks, and
a water trampoline round out the beach amenities. The temperatures were hot - high 80s with full humidity - and even the sunloving kids couldn't spend the entire day in the water. We ended up making excursions in the mornings and then spending the afternoons in our swim trunks.
Chloe and Ansel were the most intrepid wildlife hunters. Those crystal clear waters are a sign of limited sea life, but we did find a few sea stars, sea slugs, and small schools of fish.
The great thing about the kids at this age was that Caroline, Erin, Chloe, Corinne, and Jon could all swim well in the pools
Even boat-fearing Erin made it out on the water
This cool banyan tree made a great hideout
Bocce tournament after dinner
Chloe, Caroline, Erin, and Corinne became fast friends and enjoyed time away from their siblings
Bonding over the iPad
Tessie and Alec are at the age where they play near each other, but not with each other
Quiet time
The only blemish on the house were the house flies that swarmed inside every evening. Fortunately, Jon descends from a long line of insect killers and took special pride in eliminating them. One tactic was to offer the kids 10 cents a dead fly, and would you believe that in 30 minutes one night all 5 of the older kids maxed out with a 2-dollar payday.
Jon and Jerry, reunited in the kitchen at last, prepped a couple huge bacon and pancake breakfasts for the crew
Jon kept the brain cells active with lunchtime math quizzes
By far the best indoor entertainment was provided by Chloe and her giant bag of twistable balloons. She taught the girls how to make hats, dogs, mochilas, and more.
We splurged on the in-house chef Tracey who took the stress out of dinnertime by prepping a kid dinner at 6:30 and then adult dinner at 7:30. We carried in about 50 pounds of meat that supplied most of the meals. Here is the ceviche Tracey made with lobster and conch from our fishing outing.
For our outings to the ocean we suited up in life vests
Our first outing to Surfer's Beach coincided with high tide, meaning that shelling was impossible. As the name implies the surf was too much for our crew.
It was kind of a death march back and forth to the beach in stifling heat, but Jon's popsicle delivery saved the day
Next day we headed out to the bay where turtles could be found
Turtles proved a difficult quarry for the kids (Jerry and Heather H allegedly saw a couple), but there was other sea life to find
Preacher's Cave proved a hit to explore
The kids loved the rock crabs
Caroline and Ansel caught the majority of the fish. A couple of barracuda starting stealing the fish off our lines and Cap'n James took care of them.
Sunset photo shoot
The Lewandowskis
3/4th of team Heerssen-Trinidad
there's Ansel
Caroline put it best. We've been on a lot of vacations. We are not kidding. Seriously. And this was one of the best.
