English?

People often ask us why we chose the Bahamas. Most folks know that we have wanted to exit the DC area for some time, but wonder why Nassau? Well there were a few reasons. First of all was the fact that Mark had a job opportunity here (of course that opportunity was supposed to materialize in October but thanks to the traditional Bahaminian pace of life is nowhere on the Horizon!...eek!). We had also lived in the Bahamas for a few months a couple of years ago when Mark had a contract here and had really enjoyed it and felt that it was somewhere that we could make a life. Can you imagine moving somewhere blindly and absolutely hating it?

The Bahamas is close to the US and the Miami airport is a half an hour, away which was important to Mark and I as the ability to travel is key.

Of course the majority of our reasoning centered around Emily. We wanted her to be close to her Dad (well at least a short airplane ride away), we wanted good schools (which we found) and we didn't want her to have to learn a new language so an English speaking country was key.

English? The Bahamians speak their own dialect (I guess you would call it a "patois") which is a mixture of English and Bahamian slang spoken very quickly. It is impossible to understand. It really is like living in a non-English speaking country. At the grocery store, with the contractors, on the street - when Bahamians speak with each other you are mostly clueless until they turn to you and translate. They have to make a serious effort to slow down and cut out the slang so that you can understand what they are saying. We think that most Bahamians are aware that we can't understand them. Lisa thinks that, in particular, the checkout girls are always talking about her right in front of her groceries.

So whether or not the Bahamas is an English speaking country is questionable - but when in Rome... 'dis blog is done, mon!

House Tour

We are getting there! We wanted everything to be done by Monday but now it is Wednesday and we are still unpacking. It has slowed down now of course since Lisa is back to work during the day. Anyway - here is a quick tour of where we are so far.

Morning Has Broken...

The sun rises over Water's Edge. All is right with the world this morning. Boxes are still being unpacked but we have living spaces. Emily is ready for school, with her new earrings in. Lisa is back to work and getting things done. Mark is off to a Rotary Club meeting. The cats are lounging with their full tummies.

This is what we woke up to this morning...nice.

The Bahamian Internet

We can't remember the days when we last opened the Yellow Pages in the US. Whenever we needed information or assistance of any kind, we would pop over to Google and "voila!" just what we needed! Oh how we take technology for granted. Try looking up anything in the Bahamas using Google. Oh you will get plenty of information about hotels, scuba diving and day trips to the Exumas - but, while tempting, none of this information helps you find a plumber, electrician or gas man. Welcome to the Bahamian internet. Just as you probably can't imagine how you lived without Google, we can't imagine how we lived without this golden, shining book. It is the Holy Grail of living in the Bahamas.



P.S. If you thought we were happy about getting our furniture you have never met our fat and lazy cats...



...or at least one of them!

It's Always Christmas in Heaven

Our furniture arrived! Yesterday was a banner day because our container arrived with all of our stuff! We all had a discussion about what we would be most excited to see. Emily's was the obvious choice - her Karaoke Machine, Mark's was the bed (he hasn't slept in a few weeks) and Lisa's was her computer so she can get back to work for real.

We are very busy unpacking and setting up house. We hope to be finished with everything by Monday but that is a pretty lofty goal.

As promised last week here are the Cabbage Beach pictures - and now when you come to visit us there will be a bed to sleep in. Always a bonus!

Oh Happy Day (Reprise)

This is a banner day for the household. We have been in contact with an electrician - a professional one!! - and although it will cost over $1000, he has committed to sorting out all our electrical inadequacies, including organizing our pool circuit board. unfortunately he can't do it until next week so the grand pool opening will have to wait.

More importantly, we were notified that our household goods will be released from customs tomorrow and should (should being the operative word) be in our home tomorrow morning! Oh the joy - no more eating out of 1 pot, no more sleeping on leaky air beds, no more huddling round a 12 inch screen for entertainment, no more drying with the same wet towel that everyone uses,........the list is endless really.

Roll on Wednesday!

And Lisa gets back tonight to boot.

Blue Monday - In every job that must be done there is an element of fun

This was blue Monday – traditionally the most unwelcome day of the year. Well it didn’t start too well with the stock market crashing and a Bahamas storm throttling Nassau. Then there was the water leak, the painting fiasco (the Sistine Chapel was painted quicker than the master bedroom – and took less paint!) and electric uncertainties to deal with. On top of that the matriarch is “still off the island” forcing Mark and Emily to fend for themselves. Well, despite our troubles, with a bit of luck and positive outlook, good things did start to happen – after all it’s a sorry state if you can’t find some kind of fun in this adventure. Our painter finally completed his masterpiece and, despite some mess that Mark will attend to, he did a good job; our plumber showed up again and repaired our leak (hot water shower again – yeah); and Emily had art class after school which she thoroughly enjoyed. And to top off a topsy turvey day, Mark and Emily watched Mary Poppins at night allowing them to drift into mythical London and the Dick Van Dyke’s ridiculous accent.

Blue Monday? Not round here…..….and Lisa comes home tomorrow – phew!

A Tale of Woe?

Lisa has left the family to fend for itself – she is off to the States to continue to commit her citizenship there (she's back in 3 days). But the Bahamas clan rolls on; Emily doesn’t miss a beat (she’s off for lunch with her best friend Andi), the cats are cowering under a bush because there is a workman in the house and Mark is as miserable as ever – no change there. The current workman is Duran the painter. He was given the job of revitalizing Emily’s room and painting the master bedroom to complement the new tiles. After a dodgy start with some messy work he has come through with good work in the master bedroom. It really is "hit and miss" with Bahamian workmen. Most of the time they are extremely honest and trustworthy, but their game talk rarely pans out. The key is to be present throughout the job so as to monitor every move. So far we have had more “hits” than “misses” with Nelson the tile guy and the plumber leading the way – although we do have another major water leak (outside thank goodness) we speak. Next is an electrician – this is a critical one since the current electrics look like they have been patched together over the years by someone with a mechano set. We need someone who will act both as a consultant and worker to get this done – from pool motors and back-up generators to phantom switches and spaghetti wiring. The search is on.

A final comment on the state of Bahaman cars. Every car has a bump and every second car is beaten up fairly badly. The driving is careless and aggressive but no more than other parts of the world so why are the cars all smashed up. There are a couple of possible reasons. One may be that all bashes produce insurance claims and any monies that are passed over are spent on “sky juice” and not repairs. Secondly, the state of the roads in Nassau is a disgrace – there are potholes and debris all over the place (we’ve already changed a tire twice and currently the front tire has a slow leak). Whatever the reason, the watchword is never buy a new car

Saturday Off

A day of semi-rest. We still have a loy of errands and work to do on the house but we also had some rest today. We went to find the famed Cabbage Beach. We have been told that there was public access to this beach and it just happened to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. If anyone has seen the new James Bond this is the beach of the "One and Only Ocean Club" where all of the initial Bahama's scenes take place. For those of you who have asked is we have a beach nearby - this is it! Bring your bucket and pail :-)

Some trouble with Blogger - pictures will be posted later.

Oh Happy Day!

We were informed yesterday that our stuff has arrived in Nassau. Oh happy day! Who knows how long it is going to take to clear customs and get delivered to our house but... at least it is not still in a warehouse in Maryland.

We celebrated last night with dinner at Johnny Canoe's. Here is Emily and her new best friend Andi enjoying her Johnny Canoe favourite, the Hot Fudge Sundae.





We are having great luck with Bahamian contractors, contrary to the warnings and criticisms from most folks we have spoken to. We had a fabulous plumber in who straightened out a bunch of our plumbing problems and we had a tile guys in over the last few days who has done a great job with our tile floor. Picture below. There was no sunbathing or sleeping going on as far as we could tell and the jobs were quality. Although yesterday when they arrived we heard them pull into the driveway. After about 15 minutes when they hadn't come in the house Mark went out to check on them and they were sitting in the car reading the newspaper. Mark said, "Hi Guys" and Mr. Moss responded, "we'll be in in a while, we are just getting the news" (at least we weren't paying them by the hour!) All we need to do now is find a good electrician to fix our appliances and electrical issues. The person recommended to us has promised to show up three times and hasn't and now simply pretends he can't hear Lisa when she calls, "Hello.... hello"

Men at Work

The "after" pictures. Plus the guys are tiling our bedroom.

How does your garden grow?

Well Josie stayed for two days cleaning up and we have about 20 huge bags filled with garden waiting to be picked up by our garbage men - even though we still haven't figured out when they come or even if we have to pay for it. The garden looks a lot better and we can now see through our front windows. Here are some photos of the front garden before. We will take "after" pictures later. It is very important to note that this turned out to be a bigger job than we could have imagined and Mark did at least half of the work. The only mishaps - Mark's machetied (sic) finger and a cut-down tree. Josie followed Mark's directions a little too enthusiastically and the tree in our driveway is nearly gone.

The Haitians are Coming...

It’s a sure sign that we are settling on the Island when we decide to employ a Haitian to get stuck in to the garden. At $50 a day he will soon make short shift of the jungle that has enveloped our house over the last 9 months. Mark will be both his apprentice and supervisor throughout the day and the exchanges should be something to watch out for. The situation is this – most expats are used to having some servants do this type of work (housework, garden, pool – basically any heavy lifting). Bahamians won’t do this work – as they have better things to do – such as lie in the sun and sleep. So that leaves either the poor white interlopers like us or the Haitian refugees to get the job done. Most Haitians are illegal, they hop on a boat and come across in droves. We will find out tomorrow if they work like Scotsman or not.

We are learning the subtleties of the weather through the sights and sounds from our patio, namely the wind and the sea. The wind is either making the door bang, or gently rustling the leaves of our palm trees. The sea is either crashing against our retaining wall with the surf spraying on to our patio floor, or lapping at the bottom step of our sea steps and still and clear as glass.

The fragility of Bahamian living struck home again today when the electricity was off when we returned home. We thought it was something to do with our property since we have had such bad luck but it seems that the fat controller leaned over too far to get his coffee and knocked the switch for Eastern Road. Whatever it was, thankfully light was restored before dusk.

Darkness brought it’s own adventures for Ow. While we were on the patio with our evening glass of wine overlooking the ocean the peace was broken by a frantic scampering and growling sound. It sounded like a dog but looked like a cat (and must have been as it disappeared over a neighbouring wall) chasing Ow across his own patio – the nerve! Although not a serious incident we will need to keep an eye on the situation as this type of threat to our cats should not be taken lightly.

Emmy started after school art class today and will start swimming after-school next month. If she can get out of the swimming lesson classes (by passing all her tests) she can swim 4 days a week after school for one low price per term. Needless to say we are encouraging Emily to pass her tests quickly as the lesson classes are $150 month!

Happy Trails

Just a quick post to let you know how awesome it is here at Water's Edge. Tonight we got home from grocery shopping and walked out to the patio to see an ocean as shallow as a pond and as still as a lake. It was stunning. Our neighbours even took out their kayaks for a quiet paddle. Here's Cindy.

Mark wants to add a P.S. - Sometimes Bahamian inefficiencies can be good. Even though we aren't paying for it, we have HBO, Showtime and every other premium channel you can think of with our cable service. Movie heaven! (for as long as it lasts)

Three Steps Forward, One Step Back

What a great day we had yesterday. All of the promised appointments arrived on time and with goodies! We got a new washing machine, a new couch and chairs for the sunroom, and a lovely exterminator man to take care of our guests. Three steps forward.

This morning we had the water pipe leading to the house burst so Mark had to turn off the water. One step backward.


Our cleaning bucket, an absolutely essential piece of equipment was blown in to the swimming pool and this morning Mark decided he had to go and fetch it. Lisa wished she had the camera ready as the pool has not yet been cleaned and is quite cold at 8:00am after the cloudy week we have had. Let's just say Mark was refreshed.

We had a great night last night on our Friday night visit to Johnny Canoe's (picture of Emmy, burger and Junkanoo below). Unfortunately Johnny Canoe's is scheduled to close on Jan 28 to make way for the huge Baha Mar resort that is coming to take over Cable Beach. We will have to look for another restaurant within our price range (tough I can tell you) for our Friday night out.



Mark took care of the most important utility to make sure he could watch the Arsenal game - the cable sports package was installed yesterday. He includes this photo as his view while watching the game. A little distracting.

Oh Mother where art thou!

Both Mark and Lisa agree that we would really like our Mums right now - both of whom are excellent at getting stuck in and getting things done. The cleaning is quite overwhelming but with Sue and Sundie we could get it over and done with in no time. Oh Mother where art thou? Here is Mark cleaning away in our closet.


We had a request for Emily in her PE outfit which becomes her uniform on Wednesdays and Fridays. Here she is.


We had an excellent day yesterday thanks to some referrals from our lawyer about where to find things. Today we are expecting a new washing machine and some new living room furniture that will be moved in to the sunroom when our stuff arrives. We are also expecting a visit from your friendly neighbourhood exterminator who is coming to evict some of our, not so friendly, crawly neighbours - enough said. Lisa also had a great meal last night with gluten free pasta (score!) and some of Mark's fabulous sugo. Don't forget these were Bahamian commitments to get these things done this morning, and it is 10:00am already, so let's see how the day unfolds. We are getting there!

Back to the Bleach...

Just when we though it was safe to go back in the water! We found out that our missing deluxe washing machine was actually stolen while the house was empty, we had the same tire go flat three times (and changed by an irate Mark) in our new "used" car, the dishwasher and electric stove seem to have computing problems because they don't work and trying to get our US funds transferred to the Bahamas is proving more difficult than landing a man on the moon. That was earlier today. The good news is we now have a brand new tire courtesy of the seller (and several Mark tantrums), we got some contact names to get the appliances fixed (a real step forward I can tell you), a possible work-around to keep us solvent and Emmy had yet another great day at school. So it's back to the bleach as far as we are concerned in trying to scrub this house in to a habitable paradise - no mean feat I can tell you.

One more thing... we are discovering that a problem we were told existed in the Bahamas before we moved, and one that we actually scoffed at, is really true. How can there possibly be traffic on an island that is only 29 miles long? I mean we are from DC, the traffic capital of the world - but trust us, this traffic would put the beltway to shame. At least on the beltway you don't have to deal with two foot deep potholes, stray dogs running in front of you, rasta music blasting out of every 2nd car or people treating the road like one big bumper-car ride. But then again, on the beltway you would never have people letting you in on every turn or lane change with a friendly "beep-beep" either - plus it's not 80 degrees in DC right now :-)

Ode to a Sea Fairy

We have a phone!! We can now be reached on our home phone number when we aren’t using the internet (no wireless router and not likely to buy one for $279!)

In talking to folks today everyone’s worried most of all about Emily (as we were of course). The funny thing is that Emily is the happiest of all of the Three Musketeers. She loves her new school, her new teacher and her new friends. She has already become a member of a club (the BFF club – best friends forever). She comes home from school and changes out of her uniform and runs straight out to the patio to play by the ocean (not out of the gate because she is not allowed without an adult). She has discovered that she can climb on to the roof of the patio bar and it has become her little haven (she told Grandad it was her rock, since Grandad has already claimed the ocean rock). In an ode to our little Sea Fairy we are posting pics from last night and this morning. One of her ready to go to school in her uniform – sans school (Scottish Saltaire) crest on the chest since we don’t have a needle and thread. The other where Lisa was catching her unawares after she got out of her uniform and went out to play. She was talking away and staring out over the ocean. So yes - she is happy and always excited at the next piece of the adventure. Only a nine year-old could be disappointed that the electricity got turned on because she liked the candles better.


We got some very bad news about our shipment today - we have been given a transit time of 5-7 more weeks. Lisa had a mini nervous break-down but was calmed by Mark (what a switch!) We bought a car today (an old Honda Civic) and just need to get back to cleaning this house. Now that we have internet access Lisa is looking forward to getting back to work. All the best to Pete and Di for their travels in South Africa – they are sure to be sleeping in a softer bed than we are.

And on the 7th Day

This house is filthy - and we mean really, really dirty. Now we have hot water and cleaning supplies and have begun the job of cleansing a house that has been closed and empty for 8 months we are realizing how much work we have before us. Lisa has been cleaning the kitchen for two days and is still not done. We are in the final steps of getting a car but it looks as though we are going to go with an old banger just to get us from A to B. We still smart over the high prices at the grocery store but it is all part of living in Paradise.

Emily got her school uniform and we dropped her off in her new classroom this morning. She looked quite scared but excited and Lisa had a few tears after we left her (none from Emily of course). Her uniform is almost complete - we have to sew on the school crest but without sewing supplies that is a challenge :-) We will get a picture of her in her partial uniform posted tomorrow.

Emily wanted us to post her moving to the Bahamas song - to the tune of 12 days of Christmas.

On the 15th day of moving Bahamas gave to me:

15 Flowers
14 Fishies
13 Big Waves
12 Dead Lizards
11 Crawling Crabs
10 Pretty Conch Shells
9 Widing Stairs
8 Spinning Fans
7 Dolphins Swimming
6 Buses Late
5 Palm Trees
4 Hummingbirds
3 Musketeers
2 Fighting Ows and
A Colonel in a Pantry

Let there be light

We have a had a true Bahamian miracle and all it took was a word in the right ear and $40. We were supposed to get electricity on Wednesday or Thursday after paying the massive deposit on Monday. By Thursday afternoon where there was no sign of light we traveled to the Electricity office (BEC) to inquire about progress. They assured us that the lights had been turned on but that a guy was on his way back out there to confirm. Four trips to the BEC offices later and still no progress.

Late Friday afternoon finds Lisa sitting at the BEC office in brilliant fake tears begging for some kind of solution, while Mark and Emily amuse themselves wandering around the mall. Lisa leaves the office with no progress and no sign of electricity in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile Mark and Emily experience divine intervention. Marl wanders in to the BTC phone store and spots a Bahamiam giant he used to work with when he was a consultant. In telling his tale of woe to the giant, an employee interjects that he has a distant relative working in the BEC provisioning department and would we like for him to give him a call. You betcha. One call later and a bucket truck is on it's way to Water's Edge to re-connect the electricity at the pole.

$40 later and Lisa must call Mark a God as she had promised when leaving the BEC office at the mall and Mark asked he, "If I could turn the lights on tonight, would you call me a God?"

We now have lights, hot water and a refrigerator... Heaven! An early lesson in getting stuff done - island style.

Next up - car and internet access. We are making progress.

Emily went to her school yesterday and took all her tests. She starts Year 5 on Monday and is thrilled. We will post pictures.

Meanwhile on the other side of the ocean. We have removed our car from our shipment as it was causing delays and extra expense now that we have to truck our goods down to FL. They should leave this week. More details later.

Baby Steps

We got a rental car and are looking to buy a car today. Still no water or electricity but we are ever hopeful for today. Our new neighbours came over last night and fed an extension cord over their wall so that we could watch Robin Hood on the laptop which was very nice. Today we have to do laundry at the local launderette as the washing machine that was supposed to come with the house wasn’t there when we arrived (although the dryer was… weird). We have to investigate that. We have also replaced our nightly deflating air mattress with one borrowed from our Real Estate Agent who also insisted we take a potato masher (?!)

Emily says that the cats are at 100% happy now. Colonel has discovered the loft and loves to sit up there and Ow is climbing the walls and exploring – they are both back to their normal selves. We will have out internet connection in the house next Tuesday so we will have our phone back on. Yay!

The Good, the bad and the ugly.

This morning we discovered our fresh-water well. So hair-washed and fresh-water rinsed we are feeling invincible. Here are Emmy and Mark taking their morning bath Bahama’s style… not bad eh?








We didn’t make it down to the Junkanoo last night it was windy and raining and although we had spoken to a Taxi we didn’t trust the transportation. Imagine our good luck – we arrived in town this morning at 9:30am and the Junkanoo was still in full swing. They started late due to rain (probably around 2:00am) and were still dancing and playing like they just started. Here are some photo’s and as soon as Emmy and I figure out how to post video (when we have our own cable connection) we will do that too.





We met our new neighbours yesterday as they were moving in. They are a lovely young couple with a very cute dog named Lupa (a Chiuwawa). Not sure what we are doing today except eating at the Cricket Club and looking for a car. There are no rental cars available on the island - but we are speaking to some folks about getting a private rentals.