What a fun day!  We began by being picked up by Rose in her car and taken to Tarpum Bay, about 20 miles away,  to walk on the beach and look for shells.  We found some nice shells and after about two hours Rose drove us back to her restaurant for lunch. 

Rose’s restaurant, called Northside, has a beautiful view looking down on the ocean.  The room is enclosed by sliding glass doors and there is an outside porch also.  The photo of the ocean at the left was taken from her restaurant. The bar area has a sand floor - what a great idea for a beach restaurant. 

Teddy, her golden lab, seemed to like sleeping in the bar.   He is about 100 pounds and we think we know why.  After our lunch, Teddy got the leftovers from our plates in his dish.

Rose runs the restaurant by herself.  We had a delicious meal of jerk chicken, fresh cole slaw, and peas and rice.  JoAnne had fish which was also excellent.  We loved that Rose joined us at the table for lunch.  After she cleaned up the kitchen, Rose took us back to town and then asked if we wanted to see a little more of Eleuthera.  We said we’d enjoy a tour, so off we went.  We saw a number of other settlements on the island and listened to Rose’s stories of the people who live here. 

We drove around the Island School area and unfortunately it was too late for a tour.  However, we learned that students come from all over North America to spend a semester here.  Tuition is $15,000.  They study celestial navigation, marine biology, hydroponics, solar and wind power systems, scuba diving, etc.  Solar panels and a wind generator provide electricity for lights and hot water.  They even power their cars and boats with vegetable oil from local restaurants and cruise ships.  We saw pigs, ducks and goats which provide them with meat, eggs,  and milk.  They make furniture for their dorms and classrooms using trees they cut down.  We saw one building with car tires for the foundation and they use other recycled materials.  They collect rainwater from their roofs.  Next time we come here we’ll be sure to go on the tour, but we learned a lot by just driving around the school grounds.   Click here for the Island School’s website.  We stopped at another beach near the school and found beautiful colored shells.  The sand was thick with them, so it was easy to fill our pails.