29 July 2011

Something to look forward to


In a bit more than six weeks, I'm going to board this airplane.


Two-and-a-half hours later, I'll be walking here; in my blue heaven.


This guy and I (and a couple of other friends) are going to turn it all off and tune it all in. Quiet! Isolation! Primitive conditions! Hammocks strapped to coconut palms!


I haven't set foot on my beloved Cat Island in nearly two years and I am positively aching for the place. The Out Islands of the Bahamas are a magical place and I've written reams about them. So much so that The Bahamas has its own tag on my blog.

If you've been to Nassau or taken a cruise, I'm sorry to inform you that you really haven't been to The Bahamas. The Bahamas is its Out Islands, the places off the beaten path. Islands where the Obeah Man still lives and where mer-men and mermaids still swim in blue holes.

So for a week in early September, some great friends and I are going to forgo internet access, telephones, TVs and many of the modern trappings it's easy to think make life possible. Man I can't wait to turn off my phone and just sink my toes in the sand for a week.

Late addition: I just found this video on YouTube from the Bahamian recording artist Stileet. The music of the Out Islands is something called Rake and Scrape. Steel drums are for tourists in all-inclusive resorts elsewhere. Rake and Scrape is infectious to say the least. I'll be watching this video on a non-stop loop for the next six weeks!






7 comments:

  1. Wow, Paul we may never hear from you again! I'm jealous :)

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  2. It's painful, but I always manage to come back. How've you been Gloria?

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  3. How wonderful. Have a marvelous time!

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  4. You’re really starting to get on my nerves, buddy! LOL!!! I envy you the ability to be able to live that way. I spent the bulk of yesterday pulling apart some backyard benches I need to re-build, laboriously extracting rusty screws in such a way that the damned things didn’t break!

    I enjoy your blogs on Florida, though. It really does sound like a bit of enchantment. Whenever I read what you have to say on Cat Island, I think about Sidney Poitier’s recent book on his life.

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  5. When then you know that's his home island. His sister still lives in Arthur's Town and has a vegetable market. What's the name of his bio? I'd love to read it.

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  6. The water is so clean. It sounds and looks like you will have a wonderful time.

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  7. Sounds blissfully magical and restful. Kudos for taking time to truly relax and "forgo internet access, telephones, and TVs"! These are the moments that allow you to re-charge the soul.

    Give my best to any mer-men you encounter.

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