Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2016 | Page 46
Seeking a secluded getaway for our family summer vacation I booked tickets from Miami and the four of us road tripped from our home in the mountains of North Carolina down the Florida coast. A short hop of a flight delivered us to the tourist bustle of Nassau and we taxied to the ferry docks to board for the trip to Eleuthera. The luxurious, air conditioned fast ferry from Nassau to Eleuthera has a tiny bar and lunch counter so we enjoyed snacks and icy Kalik beers on the three hour trip across azure water, before landing in Current on the north section of the 100 mile long strip of island. Right off of the ferry dock we splashed into the sea from a tiny ring of beach next to the little shop that greets visitors from the ferry. Known as one of the “family islands” Eleuthera is ranked as the “Best Secret Island on Earth” by Travel and Leisure but retains its sleepy out island feel with friendly people, local owned guesthouses and virtually vacant beaches. The island has the benefit of two completely different coastlines with the crashing Atlantic on the northeast and the still, clear Caribbean Sea on its southwest. At Glass Window Bridge, the narrowest place on earth, you can stand in the middle of the road and see both bodies of water, distinctly different within a few feet of each other. The astronaut John Glenn declared Eleuthera one of the most beautiful sites on earth from outer space. Puritans from Bermuda seeking religious freedom founded Eleuthera in 1648 and the little island of Harbour Island just off the coast is still populated by white descendants who live in tiny cottages and drive