Turtle View

Turtle View

In a recent email to our "island family" I asked you guys to share some photos from your "golden moments" in the islands.  Well Dee, started sending me the most amazing photos.... that just had me dreaming about getting on a light aircraft to the Bahamas.  How cute is this!

Dee's email said....

We just returned from an escape to paradise, staying in a private, luxury beachfront home on the island of Great Exuma, in The Bahamas. Just a five-minute ride from the Georgetown Airport and we stepped off the patio onto a three-mile stretch of unspoiled, baby powder, white sand beach; and gazed into the crystal clear turquoise waters of one of the most beautiful  beaches we have ever seen. We kayaked, learned to stand up on the paddle boards ( well, at least some of us did), speared lobster for dinner, swam with the turtle in the reef in front of the house, and even swam with the famous Swimming Pigs. All I can think of now is being back there and having my morning coffee on the patio and watching that glorious sunrise! 

 

 

So as it turns out, Dee's husband's job took them the Bahamas in 1985 before they had children.  Gosh, 1985....they must have a bit of Bahamaian in their blood by now!  While they were living there, they visited all the islands of the Bahamas but they kept coming back to Exuma.  "The color of the water is amazing, as there are so many shades of blue in one area, the sand is powdery soft and white, and the people are lovely and friendly."

Sounds heavenly doesn't it.

So after many years of watching and waiting, they found their dream house.

"At the time, beachfront lots were very expensive, so we kept looking. We found other lots and other homes, but with just a piece of beach or rocky shore, and I knew I wanted to walk out of the house and walk the beach with my coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at night, and Tar Bay Beach is 3 miles long. I was patient, and then we fell upon this house that was built 25 years ago, and the owner was ready to go back home to USA. He was a single man, so the house was run-down & needed a lot of work. It was even dark inside, but we just had a vision!"  

Here is a photo of the house taken from that amazing white sand beach.  Before shows how the house looked when they bought it, and after shows how it looks now.

 

They don't know a lot of history about the house, but the man they bought it from was the original owner.  He had lived in it for 25 years, and rumor on the island is that he always had GREAT PARTIES !!  Now that's a good tradition for Dee to follow.  Can't you just imagine a family party of your own here...

Aren't these before and after photos amazing..... Dee & her husband have obviously worked so hard on this MASSIVE renovation.  And if any of you have ever renovated, you know exactly how hard that is.... well in the real world it is hard.... but in the "island world" it is even harder.  Working in the island heat is not easy, and the frustration of getting materials on the island, or TO the island, and getting island laborers to turn up on time... I can only imagine how hard it must have been.

My husband & I built our own house ourselves when we moved back to Australia.  Well, I don't regret my choices, as I had traveled the world for 16 years, but I was nearly 40 when I moved home, and we didn't have much money.  All of my school friends who had spent the last 20 years working hard, had 2 houses by now... All Justin & I had, was the money from selling our boat.  SO hard work was our only option.  Here I am up the ladder with a NAIL GUN.... in my flip flops with baby Jordy on the way.  Crazy lady.

So after a lot of hard work, these guys have made this island house in the Exumas part of their DREAM life!  Look at the amazing transformation to this house.

I love these types of stories.  When my husband & I were in St.Maarten and had had our baby daughter, we needed a bigger boat, but we definitely couldn't afford a BIG boat.  We somehow just made it happen out of sheer hard work, determination and LUCK I guess.... but I believe I am a lucky person.... so good things always happen to me.

It might be time to think about a dream trip to the Exuma's, its been a while since I had a little bit of this.... 

After Dee was finished with her renovation, they realised that normal life takes over, and they couldn't spend as much time in their house as they would have liked, so they decided to start renting it out for family vacations.  The extra money helps them to pay for their hurricane insurance, property taxes and general maintenance of being so close to the salt water.  So now island friends.... how nice is it that you don't have to stay in a regular resort, you can actually rent a house on the beach like this!

and send your husband out snorkeling to catch dinner like this.....

The best part is that if you are going to spend money on a beach front rental, you first want to make sure that it is a fit for your family, and when you book with an "island friend" like Dee, you get personal help and can get your questions answered before you click BUY.  Dee likes to have email contact with her visitors, and see what they need.  Maybe she can arrange things before they arrive. Recently she arranged an extra "pack and play" for one visitor who had 2 babies…things like that. 

These days when you book through AirBNB and VRBO you don't know anything about the property until after you have made payment.  I myself have found this so frustrating, they wont even give you the property address, so that you can see if it is in the right location.  

So if anyone would like to have a "family-home" style vacation in Exuma, you might want to contact a fellow "island girl" like Dee ...  I know I would much prefer this sort of vacation than an all-inclusive resort.  That's just the sort of girl I am...one who likes my own exclusive pathway to the beach.

Click here to find them on Facebook

Click here to find them on Instagram

Visit their website here https://www.turtleviewexuma.com/

Here is a little info about the island of Exuma....

The island….Exuma was settled in or around 1783 by American loyalists fleeing the Revolutionary war. Great Exuma is 37 miles long and joined to Little Exuma by a tiny one person bridge.It is a quiet island with a lot of natural things to do. Thunderbolt Grotto,The Swimming Pigs, Tropic of Cancer Beach, Moriah Harbour, Coco Plum Beach where the water at low tide is up to your ankles forever and sand dollars lay at your feet, Allens Cay where you can feed the large iguanas,  Swimming with the sharks, Exuma Land and Sea Park--- Many of the unnamed beaches and coves of the islands, including extensive offshore reef areas, are included in the protected Exuma National Land and Sea Park of the Bahamas National Trust.

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