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    Island Living

    Doing time on Eleuthera, Bahamas: Swimming with dolphins, eating "alien" lobsterand looking for Mariah Carey

    Tarra Gaines
    Sep 11, 2011 | 5:30 pm
    • Another beautiful sunset
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • A hummingbird in flight
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • A dance contest at the Governor's Harbour Fish Fry
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • Watching a storm come in
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • This large house in the distance could possibly be Mariah Carey's Bahamagetaway.
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • The boardwalk trail at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve takes visitorsthrough a mangrove forest.
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • The Glass Window Bridge crosses the narrowest point on the island. About 30 feetof rocky shore separates the Atlantic from the Bight of Eleuthera.
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • Eleuthera has miles of empty beaches.
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • J.J, who is known as the Conch Ninja
      Photo by Tarra Gaines
    • A rusted building with the roof caved in is one of the abandoned structures onthe decommissioned U.S. Naval Facility.
      Photo by Tarra Gaines

    What is it about a small body of land surrounded by the bluest of ocean that seems to change the nature of time? We tend to live our days and nights in chopped up, numbered increments, counting down to nothing in particular. But spend a few days on an island, and the concept of hours, minutes and seconds begins to feel vague and elusive, like some long ago memory we’d rather forget.

    I buried my useless watch deep in my suitcase recently during a trip to Eleuthera, Bahamas, a 110-mile long, 2-mile wide strip of lush forests, ancient black rock and pristine white and pink beaches. I’m not sure if I would have experienced the same sense of time on a trip to thriving Nassau or Grand Bahama, but Eleuthera, with a population of less than 10,000 and a lack of large resorts, allows travelers to easily melt into days governed only by sunrises and sunsets.

    I was traveling with family to visit my cousin, Al Curry, and his wife, Janice. Both are Houstonians who, on vacation five years ago, fell in love with Eleuthera and later bought a house to spend their semi-retirement balancing months of Houston bustle with months of island life. Semi-retirement didn’t take for very long though, and a year ago Al bought a diving and sport-fishing business, Ocean Fox Cotton Bay, and now spends his days showing tourists some of the most beautiful spots of Eleuthera — those places under the waves.

    Within a few hours of landing at Governor’s Harbour Airport, I realized that though it’s metaphorically easy to get lost in Eleuthera, it’s quite difficult to get actually lost on Eleuthera. The only major thoroughfare, the two-lane paved Queen’s Highway, runs the length of the whole island. Take pretty much any road, paved or gravel, off the Queen’s Highway and sooner or later drivers will hit water. Chances are, they’ll also find a beautiful, deserted beach they can claim as their own for the day.

    Renting a car can be an expensive, but it’s worth it if visitors really want to explore the island. The best guide to the beaches is simply to ask a Bahaman or ex-pat for their favorite or rely on Google Earth and a sense of adventure. The only real challenge would be to look for an ugly or populous beach.

    With Janice and Al as our guides, we averaged about two new beaches a day. Some of the beaches we visited had official names, but others we named ourselves in honor of whatever we found there — sea fan beach, conch shells beach and sea glass beach, to name a few.

    One of my instant favorite beaches, which the Currys call Jurassic Park beach, lies on abandoned U.S Naval Facility land. Rusting structures remain on the base, which was decommissioned more than 30 years ago, but they now house invading trees and flowering plants instead of officers and enlisted men. We didn’t find an dinosaurs lurking in the bushes, but we did find dolphins having lunch in the water. After they finished their meal, the dolphins stayed to play, zig zagging close and then away, swimming less than ten feet away as they made circles around us.

    On most beach excursions we brought snorkel equipment as the island is ringed by coral reefs, and while the most spectacular ones are reached by boat, smaller but beautiful reefs can be seen with a short swim from the beach. The reefs are also good places to try spear fishing for Bahaman lobster. They hide under rocks and in coral crevices, but look less like a Maine lobster and more like the Aliens’ Facehugger stage of development. Who knew that aliens were such good eatin’?

    Taking a beach break one morning, I visited one of the newest attractions on the island, the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, which contains 25 acres dedicated to the island’s indigenous plant species. A short hike on the boardwalk trail brings walkers deep into a mangrove forest and a longer, but pleasant, trail takes visitors up a hill to a two-story tower. Climb the tower for a view of the island not found anywhere else but from a plane window.

    An older, more popular tourist spot — which means I ran into a huge crowd of three people while there — is the Glass Window Bridge, a one-lane bridge on the Queen’s Highway. Though the narrowest point on Eleuthera, it’s easy to park nearby for a stunning view of the deep blue Atlantic Ocean on one side and the turquoise waters of the Bight of Eleuthera on the other, separated only by only 30 feet of rocky shore underneath the bridge.

    While days on a Eleuthera can be filled with swimming, beach combing, fishing and fish shopping for the freshest of seafood dinners, there is a little night life for evening fun. Some of the bars on the island have live music nights. Lenny Kravitz, who built his own studio on the island, is said to occasionally stop by Elvinas to jam with local musicians. Mariah Carey, who also has a house on the island, is not rumored to jam anywhere but has been spotted eating out.

    On Friday nights the largest township, Governor’s Harbour, hosts a rockin' charity fish fry. Locals and tourists alike come out for the fish, barbecue chicken and conch salads. A D.J spins the night away, and sometimes an informal dance contest is haphazardly organized. The night I was there, the dancing took on a bit of a drunken, patriotic fervor. Fueled by Rum Bubbas, the Texas, Florida, Canadian, Kansas, Dutch, Italian and Bahaman contestants boogied down to '80s mixes for the honor of their countries.

    The fish fry was also the place to watch JJ, the island’s famed conch ninja, in action as he shucked and chopped conch, then mixed them into heaping bowls of delicious raw salad, a kind of conch ceviche. The show and the meal are well worth the price.

    The only unpleasant part of the evening was when Al pointed out the airport security official who would be X-raying my luggage the next day. I waved at him a little sadly as he wandered by, a living reminder that it was almost time to dig out my watch and fly back to a place of hours, minutes, and seconds ticking away.

    unspecified
    news/travel

    top camping destinations

    Galveston RV resort charms on new list of best campgrounds in America

    Amber Heckler
    Jun 18, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Stella Mare RV Resort in Galveston
    Photo courtesy of The Dyrt
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    Two charming Texas campsites – Galveston's Stella Mare RV Resort and Neches Bluff Overlook Campgroundin Davy Crockett National Forest – were just ranked among the best campgrounds in America in 2025.

    Campground review platform The Dyrt combed through the most highly rated and favorably reviewed campgrounds across its website for the "2025 Best Places to Camp Regional Awards." Campgrounds were sorted into six regions: Central, Midwest, Mountain, Northeast, Pacific, and Southeast.

    Stella Mare RV Resort ranked No. 6 on the The Dyrt's ranking of the best campgrounds in the Central region. The resort offers 195 different RV sites just steps away from the beach and is pet friendly, making it an ideal summer vacation destination for Houston-area families that don't want to travel too far from home. Campsite rates range between $39-$598 per night.

    Other amenities provided by the resort include high-speed Wi-Fi, 30-50-amp service, two dog parks, barbecue grills, a heated outdoor pool, splash pad, hot tub, and a 3,000-square-foot observation deck. Stella Mare also hosts weekly events such as craft activities, bingo, and more.

    In one review, a returning guest praised the resort's cleanliness and the attentive staff.

    "We have visited Stella Mare every December for 4 years now. This last winter we stayed for 2 months and really enjoyed Galveston," the reviewer said. "The campground is well maintained. The staff is super friendly. They have events for all ages multiple times a week including kid and adult only crafts, candy bar bingo, wine night, s'mores, and golf cart parades for holidays."

    Thrifty campers will enjoy staying at Neches Bluff Overlook Campground, which ranked as the No. 8 best campground in the Central Region. Neches Bluff Overlook is a free campground located in the Davy Crockett National Forest, which is about 150 miles north of Houston.

    Neches Bluff is a primitive campground that only offers "minimal amenities," according to The Dyrt, which means campers will have to rely on their own preparedness if they want to spend several nights in the East Texas forest. The campground operates on a first-come, first-serve basis, and guests are welcome to pick their own site and "create [their] own adventure."

    Neches Bluff OverlookNeches Bluff Overlook is a very scenic place to pitch a tent and enjoy nature.fs.usda.gov/

    One of the most stunning features of Neches Bluff is the panoramic views of the forest from the overlook, according to reviewer Rachel H.

    “There was a creek nearby that we hiked up and down, even found what appeared to be a natural spring feeding the creek," wrote Rachel. "We used the creek as our water supply, and the water was delicious. Lots of cool rocks, and even found a couple snail shells. 10/10 would definitely go again and explore more. The overlook is so pretty, and honestly, this place gave us the perfect camping experience."

    The top 10 best places to camp in the Central Region, according to The Dyrt, are:

    • No. 1 – The Wall, South Dakota
    • No. 2 – Scoria Pit, North Dakota
    • No. 3 – Buffalo Gap, South Dakota
    • No. 4 – Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park Campground, North Dakota
    • No. 5 – Big Pine Campground, South Dakota
    • No. 6 – Stella Mare RV Resort, Texas
    • No. 7 – Hackberry Hollow Campground - Indian Cave State Park, Nebraska
    • No. 8 – Neches Bluff Overlook Campground - Davy Crockett National Forest, Texas
    • No. 9 – Territory Route 66 RV Park and Campgrounds, Oklahoma
    • No. 10 – Wilson State Park Campground, Kansas
    travelgalvestoncampingvacationssummer vacationrankingscampgrounds
    news/travel

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