The Eleuthera Attraction

During the month of February 2018, Pierre and Trish Brunet, a couple hailing from Quebec, Canada and Connecticut, U.S.A., relaxed with The Eleutheran Magazine on the verandah of their rented vacation villa in Central Eleuthera and talked about their connection with the island, and the pull that continues to bring them back each year.

Eleuthera has a storied history as the very first inhabited island in the modern history of the Bahamas, with links and ties to numerous places around the world. So everyone who makes their way to its shores has a different story of how they came to discover this isle of freedom.

“It’s been five years for us. Initially I heard from friends in Montreal, who had come here. They said it’s really nice if you want to tune out. If you want nightlife or want to party, don’t go there. But if you want something that’s simple, and pleasant, come here - and we did, and we loved it. In fact, we did find some nightlife. We love Tippy’s Restaurant with Elliot. We spend our Saturday evenings there, singing along with him, and we rent our car from him.”

77 year old Pierre and 66 year old Trish, who were married in 2016 have actually been coming to Eleuthera together since they first met five years ago, so the island is very much a part of them and their experience together as a couple. Seven months of each year they spend in Maine, U.S.A, from April to October, and the remaining time they spend in Montreal, Canada - with February as their month to escape to Eleuthera.

“We’ve been back each year, except for one, when I had surgery, and we normally stay three weeks. This to me is just so simple, and I’m really into science and discovering. We go to one beach and there are the sand dollars, then we go to the next beach and there are the sea urchins. You see so much, and it’s unspoiled… When we get down to the two month period before we get here, that’s when the countdown starts, with 60 days…”

the island things we do...

Eleuthera as a destination is perfect for anyone who is looking to truly relax, who wants to get next to some incredibly unspoiled natural habitats, to explore endless miles of soft, coral hued beaches, and as Trish and Pierre shared, a bit of shopping and great food, are also on the itinerary.

“We’ve been to the Queen’s Baths, and to the Ocean Hole in Rock Sound. We drove down to Princess Cay at the southern tip of the island. We’ve also gone up to the Glass Window bridge, and most of the other tourist highlights… Every day we walk a beach. We’ve been to eleven different beaches so far, and we keep trying to find new ones. A typical day for us while here is we would spend two hours walking on the beach… then have lunch, then go to another beach. Once in a while, we’ll go shopping. We know the gift shops well. We checked out Norma’s Gift Shop, Valerie’s Gift Shop - the seamstress, and also we went to one in

Rock Sound called the Blue Seahorse. There we met one of the young ladies who had been in the magazine, and she autographed it for us. During a typical day, we also visit places like The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, which is really nice - it’s beautiful. We also go to the Island Farm for our fresh greens, bread and cinnamon rolls or skinny rolls - they’re not skinny, but they are good! We’ve also eaten at places like Sammy’s in Rock Sound, Buccaneer, Tippy’s, 1648, and Da Perk in Governor’s Harbour, and Rainbow Inn in Rainbow Bay. After four or five days of that, then we have a relax day.”

The Brunet’s chose three weeks as their time carved out to vacation in Eleuthera, which is a good, long time to really dig in to a location. They shared that even though they are now retired, Pierre from teaching in the doctoral program at Concordia University in Montreal for 37 years, and Trish who also worked in education for more than 40 years, they are still kept quite busy, with five children, fifteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren between them. So we wanted to know why that length of time was chosen and worked for them.

Three, Spot On...

“We are retired, but I still sit on boards and things happen, so we are not retired all the time… We thought a month would probably be too long, because we would miss our kids and our grandchildren. One week is definitely not long enough, but three seems to be spot on. It’s just long enough for us, as we own two homes and there are things to do and we can then get back and get going with business stuff. Because you could stay here two months - Trish has told me that many times. When we leave, and we take that little airplane - as it gets off the ground, Patricia has had tears in her eyes. So we both love it here, and we could spend longer.”

Many vacation home owners and winter residents in Eleuthera attest to when they first got here, and the allure that kept them coming back and ultimately investing in a home or property. Pierre and Trish revealed that there are both pros and cons to investing on island that they are considering.

Island Property...

“Did it come up? Oh, has it ever! We look at every lot that’s for sale down here. There are four houses nearby this vacation property, and we’ve met three of the four people, and actually get together now with a couple there, who happens to be from Connecticut, where Trish is originally from. We keep saying to them, maybe we should buy - I don’t know. The issue is, we would love to have a place here, but we already have two. We have a house in Montreal, and a house on the coast of Maine, and that’s a fair amount of upkeep. The other reason is it’s not easy to get here. In Montreal, if something happens in Maine, in five hours - I’m there. Here, I’ve got to fly from Montreal to Toronto, then Toronto to Nassau and Nassau to here. It’s a day. Those are the downsides. The upsides are, look, look at the weather, and this view. There’s something else I want to tell you that we love about

this island - the culture. It’s unpretentious, uncomplicated, nobody’s got airs, and everyone is so friendly. There are just nice folks. We’ve been to other Caribbean islands, where some people think they are God’s gift to the world, and the culture of the places are just totally different. We see it in restaurants here with the people who serve us, and in another context we could be serving them. So we get that really nice, kind and friendly treatment from them. Also in stores, in gift shops, and where ever we go, the local folks seem to have the culture of being friendly to outsiders like us, and that’s very important to me.”

Before heading to the north side beach close to their villa for a fun photo shoot, the Brunet’s shared their experience of finding a bona fide bottle with a message, during one of their many beach-combing escapades. The note inside, was written in Spanish, by a midshipman aboard a vessel called the ‘Juan Sebastian de Elcano’, plying the waters of the Atlantic, off of Mauritania (West Africa) during March of 2017. He gave the current coordinates of his ship, assuring the reader that the letter was not an emergency, but a curiosity, about where it would finally make landfall - and invited the finder to make contact through email…