Day Nine- Out With The Old, In With The New

Time to move again. We will leave Wine Down Beach in St. Helene for the last leg of this journey to be spent at Turtle Beach Resort in the touristy West Bay. We are tired and muscle-sore so we feel pretty happy at the moment that we chose this venue to close out our trip. But before we leave:

Following sunrise and our breakfast of yogurt with bananas and pineapple, and home-baked muffins, we decided we just had to have one more look at "The Property" (called Harper's Place herein). So, another mile and a half roundtrip + 93 steps up and 93 steps down, we were met by Lorenzo, the watchie. I was impressed with Mike's and Lorzeno's ability to communicate with each other, even though one is a solid English speaker and the other, Spanish.

We dreamed out loud of how we'd gut the inside of the tiny house and set it up. We talked about the outdoor kitchen and bathroom we'd build. The guys discussed the feasibility of building a pulley system to haul groceries and drinking water up the hill (and in about twenty years, me!).

A few photos I took on the walk to Harper's Place

Probably the main detractor for us is the abundance of trash. Everywhere. There is nowhere for the islanders to put their trash and so they've never been taught any differently. On our first day in St. Helene, I felt horribly discouraged looking at all the trash. Today, as I've gained more understanding and hopefully more compassion, I do not feel so defeated. This is Bentley Bay. Harper's Place is just beyond the bend.

The Channel Bar & Grille is the next pier to the left of Harper's Place. It has been closed for a long time but now in the process of being fixed up for a re-open. Nice to have a restaurant right at the foot of the property! We could have all the privacy we want up on the mountain, and yet an easy walk down for some socialization. I like knowing there would be less of a feeling of isolation than I originally thought.

Harper's Place Revisited

NOTE: It is a Most Terrible Internet Connection Day so I will probably have to end this before getting all the Harper's Place pictures uploaded! They'll keep.

We made the trip back to Wine Down Beach just in time for our farewell lunch of shrimp and pasta. We packed up and loaded All That Luggage back on the boat for a 30-minute ride to BJ's where our SUV was parked ($8 for parking. And the keys were right on the bar where Mike had left them four days earlier!) Our hosts were meeting up with other Ex-pats at BJ's as they do most Friday afternoons.

This goodbye was hard. We spent a lot of time getting to know Candy and Robert during our stay at Wine Down and in just a few days they were old friends. They shared their stories of leaving Chicago two years ago for the tiny island of St. Helene. When I asked, “Regrets?” Both immediately shook their heads and answered, “None.” Two more lifelong friendships were made.

We trusted that old SUV once again to the Roatán roads and, after huge hills pitted with deep potholes, we found our last temporary home of this trip- Turtle Beach Resort in West Bay. Mike stuck the GoPro to the windshield and will post a YouTube link in case you are interested in see just how kidney-crushing driving these roads can be!

After quickly unloading All That Luggage, we took a walk down this beautiful beach and had dinner at the Ibagari Restaurant.

 Good Night from Turtle Beach Resort