Fresh Inkling: Travel

Note: This blog post is the last of four about a visit to Grand Bahamas Island in January 2016.

I wanted to get out of bed for the last sunrise of our stay on the island. I let Corey sleep since his leg and back had been bothering him, especially when walking on the sand. We hadn’t really had much time to walk the beach our resort was on, something I really enjoyed doing every day, sometimes twice a day, the last time I visited.

I walked east, since I knew the beach was longer that way, and found myself collecting shells even though I already packed my bags for our flight later in the day. Some shells were just too pretty to pass up. There were plenty of people out walking the beach, but most didn’t make it too far past the resort. I went all the way to the end, a couple of miles I would guess. I was able to capture some beautiful shots of the vivid sunlight meeting the waves and a sailboat passing through at just the right moment. It was serene.

The sunrise on the day we left was absolutely worth the early-morning wake-up.

Of course, the calm was washed away when I realized how long I had been out walking and how long it would likely take me to get back to the resort, putting me (actually us) way behind schedule. Corey was barely awake when I got back, so I didn’t feel too bad about my lengthy solo adventure.

We still had the car for a few hours, so we made the most of our time and drove to Garden of the Groves. It was probably the best $16 we had spent on the trip. I’d recommend everyone to make this top, even if for an hour or two. Those who like to stop and take lots of pictures should plan for more like two or three hours… We had two hours and took a few hundred photos. The place is like a rain forest tucked away on a run-down island. It was a breath of fresh air, a well-maintained tropical paradise. They had waterfalls, flowers, lizards, birds and so much to see and take in.

Garden of the Groves

Such a wide variety of flowers at Garden of the Groves.

Garden of the Groves

Wildlife at Garden of the Groves

I had been to the island before, although a lot had changed in the four years I’d been away. Maybe the newbie traveler in me had rose-colored glasses on the duration of that inaugural trip, or maybe the condition of the island has just gone downhill quite a bit in that time. It wasn’t quite how I remembered it, although it was still pretty magical.

I thoroughly enjoyed beach combing and having plenty to take pictures of. The forest and wooded areas on the island must have been damaged in a storm because they were pretty sparse. The snorkeling wasn’t as entertaining as I remembered it, having less to look at closer to the resort. Most of the homes were run down and needing work, some even needing doors and windows. It just seemed like very few of the citizens of the island took pride in their property or their possessions. We thought for sure we’d want to relocate to the tropical paradise, but five days was enough to open our eyes to how good we really have it back home.