Not many people get to spend time living beachfront, with nothing out the back door except the sand, surf and Europe thousands of mile across the Atlantic Ocean. I’m a lucky bastard if I must say so myself, even though the living conditins are little “primitive!” We’ve started tallying our kills on the rats and we are at least up to a dozen! I’ve got dirty sheets and sand on my pillow…….
I have lost track of days and dates here in the island…….Ya mon, life is good when you live by the sunrises and sunsets! I’ve been living with four other guys in a Hurricane Dorian damaged house. Oh, what an experience it’s been. Working from sun up to sun down 5 1/2 days a week with some local Bahamian and Hatian guys who have been enlisted to help with the work. What a cool cultural experience it is to actually do battle on a construction site with men from different cultures bonded through hard physical labor….. At night it’s just the five of us boys from the states hanging out, shooting the sh*t, and cooking some dinner with the cool Tradewinds blowing thru the sliding glass doors and open windows. There were many missing when we showed up, but we have torn out and replaced them all. So now there’s a semblance of “normalcy” if you could call it that……. We finally got a small window unit A/C in one bedroom and all of us are crammed in the one room sleeping like ten pounds of sh*t in a five pound bag!I must say that the noises and smells that come out of five grown ass men at night is truly terrifying! Last night I layed in bed laughing hysterically with the guys at the noises coming from my newfound life long friend and co worker Jason……. I honestly thought he had sh*t the damn bed!
I have met a lot of great locals here and formed close bonds with my co-workers. And also it being such a small world there are folks from the island ( St. Simons Island GA where I’m from) who have houses here being repaired also!
Mr. And Mrs. Fairman are kind and gracious folks. I didn’t know it but they already knew I was here before I ever met them…….Small world. We are having them over to “Cheers”( the name of the home I’m working on) tomorrow night. There are no real addresses on Elbow Cay and everyone knows each others house by a name! Exactly how I want to live my life!
The surfing community here is tight knit and small…… The waves here are pretty good although there seems to always be an onshore breeze , but I saw a couple of pretty big days and one day was a solid double overhead! I SWEAR! The locals have the breaks wired and are ripping it!
The local surf culture here has been kind and a plethora of info on all the breaks. No localism here! Sharks , sea urchins and the sharp coral reefs are the only things you need to be wary of ! What a difference from in the states where your jockeying for waves with 40 or 50 guys at any given spot on any decent day!
The work has been steadily progressing with the window install and yesterday we received the shipping container from the states full of siding and all the other wood for the carpentry portion on the job….. This is where I’ll shine seeing I spent thirty years of my life banging nails! Right up my alley!
The truck and the truck driver reminded me of a scene from “Mad Max!” That crazy bastard was running into sh*t, running over sh*t, almost getting stuck several times while spinning his wheels and revving his engine……I surmised by the condition of the rig he was driving he didn’t give a f*ck about anything except getting his load where the customer wanted it! After about 15 minutes of pure MAYHEM of trying like hell we finally had him drop it in the driveway,.,…… Today the customs officer came and inspected the load while we sweated under the carribean sun unloading it!
So I stated earlier living condition were a little primitive, we are cooking on a grill with a side burner, running water only when the generator is on 120v and A/C only when it’s on 240v……Lanterns for light and the breeze through the open doors and windows to keep you cool at night after a cold shower! Life is good mon!
I was at The Abaco Inn a few nights back and I looked across the bar and there sat Bob Marley’s doppelgänger! We talked about Black Lives Matter, legal weed in Colorado, and the Bahamian Flag. He proceeded to explain it in a deep Bahamian accent……”The black is for the people of my nation, the yellow is for the sun, and the blue is for the beautiful blue water mon!”
People are kind here. Even the no trespassing signs say “No Tresspassing Please!”
It’s better in the Abaco’s ………. And Bahama Strong is no bulls*t! My life definitely does nt suck today! And tomorrow is my day off and I’m going deep sea fishing!
livin' before dyin' 