“Briland?” Did you know that this is how the name of a tiny Bahamian island – Harbour Island – sounds when a local person says it in an abbreviated, faster way? Or maybe it’s an abridged slower version? I’ve never quite figured out exactly how these words change when I am there. But it’s magical.
I am not usually a routine kind of person. I love to fly by the seat of my pants. But for some reason, Harbour Island is not like that for me. I have an absolute “must-do” list:
- take Silver Airways out of Ft. Lauderdale to N. Eluethra,
- quickly clear through customs,
- hop into a land taxi to the water taxi with a drop off directly at the Romora Bay Resort and Marina.
It’s a lot of the hustle and bustle with all the people helping you get from point A to point B. Then I smell what’s familiar from past trips, and I realize its time to breathe deeper, to release the tension, to look at all that’s beautiful and different than what I see at home. I smell, and I can see what is special to me.
It’s actually after check-in at the hotel when it gets fun. I jump into a gasoline-powered golf cart to Queen Conch for the freshest conch salad on the island. While waiting for this mixture of conch, citrus and vegetables made freshly per each order, I head to the liquor store across the street for plenty of Kalik beer to reside in an ice-filled cooler on the hotel patio for easy access.
Patience is imperative since I am on a tiny island in the Bahamas. A mantra I recite continuously whenever I am on a 3-day trip, since I am anything but patient.
photo credit: Bahamian Air Tours
The conch is shucked directly from a pink-hued shell behind a wooden, somewhat ramshackle and paint-faded, open-aired stand with a patio. This little treasure sits steps away from the bayside of the ocean where all of the homes from the 1800’s still stand loud and proud.
Now begins the eating, drinking, eventually local shopping, and most importantly, the relaxing part. The sound of a rooster crowing next to the parked golf cart completes all my senses. I have tasted, I can hear most of the sounds of the island. My mind eventually slows its pace even if it is never still.
It is just enough.
Love and Live Who You Are,
– Courtney