“A Day in the life at Canuck Palms” Sunday September 6, 2015

“A Day in the life at Canuck Palms” Sunday September 6, 2015

Today is Sunday and unfortunately it marks the end of an amazing two weeks in Exuma.  It was nice to enjoy each day and not do very much work at the house.  Chase has me up early again to go fish down at the beach.  Heather starts packing as we head down.  The good thing about being only 5 minutes from the airport is that it gives us more time before we have to go!

Chase spots two needlenose fish in the water about 20 feet from shore.  All of a sudden they start skimming across the top of the water in a huge circle chasing each other!  It was amazing to watch.  I cast out into the middle of them and BAM!  The fish puts up a huge fight jumping out of the water as I bring him in.

was fun to catch this needlenose fish this morning

We let him go and he heads out towards the reef.  Chase heads down the beach and before I know it he is yelling “Dad I got a big needlenose!”  I meet him halfway down the beach as he fights with the big fish.  It jumps from the water several times and Chase finally gets it to the beach.  He is so excited and cant wait for a picture to show mom.

Chase lands a big needlenose fish!

Chase doing a great job as the fish breaks the surface

We head back to the house and show Heather the pictures.  We tidy the house and make some breakfast.  I take a few last minute pictures of the house for the website before we go.

beautiful queen conch shell found by one of our guests

this trips sea urchins found at the beach

living room and Chase’s favorite place to sleep

Our Air Canada flight leaves at 2, and we normally don’t have to be at the airport any earlier than 1230.  We say goodbye to Max and Herode and leave for the airport at 1240 and arrive at 1245.  The airport is busy today with a US flight leaving at the same time.  I drop off the rental car at Airport Car Rental, and we check in and head through security.  Normally we would head across the street to Kermit’s Lounge for a beer but its now after 1 o’clock.  We sit in the waiting area while Chase goes to the gift shop like he always does.  He picks out a ring with a big shell on top and asks us to buy it.  About 20 minutes later we are boarding our plane and heading for home.

view of the back deck

always love the view from the plane look at that water!

Again we love the short flight, its hard to believe we leave at 2 o’clock and shortly after 5 we are going through customs in Toronto.  We grab our bags and call valet Park and Fly to let them know we will be arriving soon.  Then I run into my parents who are at the airport picking up my uncle Paul who has arrived from BC for a visit.  Chase tells everyone about the trip and all the fish he caught.   We make it home about an hour later, already missing Exuma.  It was an amazing two weeks and I’m sure we will start planning our return to the island very soon.  We are set to be back to the house for Christmas which will be a lot of fun.  Be sure to find Canuck Palms on twitter, facebook, instagram, and google plus, or our website http://www.canuckpalms.ca for more articles, news, and stories about the beautiful island of Great Exuma!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Saturday September 5, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Saturday September 5, 2015

Chase wakes me up at about 630 am to go fishing.  I was looking forward to sleeping in a little and didn’t think that he would wake up so early!  We get all of our gear and head down to the beach.  We see lots of little fish when we arrive.  Chase and I  fish for a while between the rock point and the reef at the east end of the beach.  What a great spot!  We catch 3 bonefish each, and Chase gets a nice size one that puts up a great fight.  I had heard how much the bonefish fight, and i couldn’t believe it.  Two US submarines were named after bonefish, and now I know why!

Chase’s first bonefish ever caught …..look at the water!

happy to catch my first bonefish

Chase ends the morning with another….check out that smile!

great fishing so close to the house!

Heather comes down to the beach and Chase and her head down the beach for a swim.  I continue to fish for an hour or so and then we all head up for breakfast.  We enjoy a coffee and get our things ready for the beach.  We decide to stay at our place today and enjoy the water and beach here.  The water is flat, calm, and clear.   We set up the beach tent, SUP board, and Chase heads out to snorkel.

the water is calm this morning around the small cay

view of the reef and the cay this morning

It starts to cloud over a little just after we get the tent set up.  It starts to rain about an hour later and we sit inside the beach tent and enjoy.  The rain is perfect for the grass and the new coconut trees we planted at the house.  Not too often does it rain for more than and hour or two on Exuma.  As we sit and enjoy the view a beautiful stingray drifts by heading towards Grand Isle.  The rain lets up and the sun starts to poke through the clouds.  We head in for a swim again and Heather enjoys the SUP board.  We stay until dinner time and head back up to the house.  Tonight will be our last dinner here before we head home.  We think about going to the Fish fry for dinner near Georgetown, but decide to enjoy our last night at the house.  We make some pasta and salad for dinner and enjoy a glass of wine.  We watch a movie on tv and head to bed.  Another early morning tomorrow as Chase wants to get up early again to fish before we head to the airport!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Friday September 4, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Friday September 4, 2015

Today is Friday and i cant believe we are only a few days away from going home.  We head to the beach and are happy to see that it is calm again so we can spend the day there.  We go for our walk with our coffee down the beach and back, and cool off in the water for an hour.  We then head back up to the house and have a small breakfast.

After breakfast i make arrangements to drive up the road to Sandals Emerald Bay to meet golf pro Rich Gibson.  I head up around 1030 and meet Rich at the Golf Pro Shop.  We discuss golf prices for our guests and I look forward to working with Rich in the future.  The golf course is amazing and beautiful and hopefully we can get some of our guests out on the course to enjoy golf in Exuma!

I get back to the house and we pack for the beach.  We take down the beach tent, snorkel gear, spearfish equipment, and a cooler of drinks.  The water is like glass.

nothing like a cold kalik at the beach

Go Leafs!

Chase spends at least an hour running around the beach catching crabs.  Today is hot and we spend a lot of time hanging out in the water.  Heather explores the large reefs on the SUP board.

the beach tent provides great shelter

a view up the beach today

I head out for a snorkel around the two large reefs.  I see hundreds of fish, including snappers, grunts, a huge Nassau grouper, and a starfish.

another starfish on the ocean floor

beautiful afternoon

tour boat speeds past heading towards Exuma Palms

At around 5 o’clock Heather heads up to start getting ready for company.  Tonight our friends Herode and Max are coming over for dinner and drinks.  Chase and i enjoy the beach for another hour and head up to get ready as well.  Herode and Max drop in just after 7 and we have some drinks on the back deck and watch the sunset.  We enjoy dinner sitting at the breakfast bar, fresh pizza and salad.  It was great to spend time with Max and Herode as the have helped us out so much this past year.  They share several amazing stories during the evening, and they still can’t believe the stories we tell them about the snow and winters in Ontario!

Chase and Herode enjoying dinner together

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Thursday 3 September, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Thursday 3 September, 2015

We wake up early as usual and go for a walk on the beach.  We have a quick swim and a snorkel around the reef.  There is the biggest angel fish i have ever seen following us while we snorkel.

the water is calm again this morning

Colorful fish at the reef today

We get back and the charger for the iphone and Chase’s Ipod isn’t working.  Normally it wouldn’t be a huge deal, but without the phone we could be missing rental inquiries for the house.  We decide to try our luck in Georgetown.  We try BTC first and they only sell chargers with new phones.  We try Top 2 Bottom and Dough Boys with no luck either.  We finally get sent to Bal Sounds Electronics across from the laundromat.  I pop in and we are in luck, only one left!

We leave town and plan to eat at Augusta Bay, but we get there a little too late.  We stop at the deli and buy fresh bread, ham, salami, and milk and head home to eat an early lunch there.  After lunch I hang the new clothes line beside the outdoor shower.

We have dinner reservations at the Palapa Grill at Grand Isle at 630 to celebrate Chase’s birthday.  We drop in early so Chase can see his buddy Emmerson.  He is so excited, he is gone helping Emmerson set up for the bonefire and the band for the next hour!  Tonight is the island bbq, i have the beef and rice and Heather has the pizza.  We enjoy a glass off wine and a Goombay Smash and enjoy the view.

Chase at Grand Isle for his birthday dinner

Around 8 o’clock we hear the drums and head down to the bonfire on the beach.  We arrive to see Chase wearing all the colorful costumes including the headdress.  He has one of the drums and is right in the middle of the band playing.  All the people watching are snapping his picture…..hes loving it!  We stay for almost two hours, Emmerson puts on an amazing show playing amazing Bahamian Junkanoo music.  We meet a couple that is staying at the Emerald Bay Marina on their boat and enjoy a couple drinks.

Chase in the Junkanoo band

We are happy that we made it to the bonfire, we haven’t missed any since we have been coming to the island years ago.  We will hopefully see Emmerson next time we are home to Exuma.  Thanks for a great night Emmerson!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Wednesday 2 September, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Wednesday 2 September, 2015

Happy 10th Birthday to Chase!  Today is Chase’s special day, so we let him choose what he wants to do.  He says he wants to fish all day!  We compromise, and say we will hit Tropic of Cancer beach for a while this afternoon, and finish with a couple hours of fishing at the Little Exuma bridge.  He opens up some gifts from us before we head down to the beach for a swim before breakfast.  The water is very calm this morning.

the water is calm over the reefs today

water looks inviting for a swim this morning

Herode gets to the house and starts on the palms trees.  We pack up the car and head to Georgetown.  I visit the RBC bank and grab my new debit card.  We slip into the market, and the birthday boy asks us to to buy squid and other bait for fishing tonight.  We then drop in up the road at “Top 2 Bottom” and buy some stainless steel fishing hooks.  Chase buys a small fish net with his birthday money.  We make a final stop at the “Sandpiper” store where Chase buys two more fish cards with the rest of his money

Just after lunch we arrive at Tropic of Cancer beach on Little Exuma, about 20 minutes east of Georgetown.  Sometimes it can be difficult to find if you aren’t familiar with the area.  Today we turn left onto a road called “Percy Road” which takes us to the beach.  The next road also has a sign for Tropic of Cancer Beach.  We set up the tent right away, we are the only ones here.

beach tent is up and SUP board is next

Chase heads out to snorkel, and before we know it he catches an interesting fish in his net.  Its one of the fish off the movie Finding Nemo, the flat fish with the eyes on top of its body.  I had to look it up, its a flounder, and Mr Johansen was the flounder in finding Nemo, who got mad when the kids kicked up sand in his yard.

the flounder from Finding Nemo

We SUP board for a few hours, the water is amazing.  Tropic of Cancer Beach gets its name because its located right on the Tropic of Cancer.  Its a must see when traveling to the island, I’m glad we spend the afternoon here.

Heather enjoying the SUP board

We pack up just before 5 and find our way out to the main road.  We drive east to Williams Town to check out the famous Santanas but its closed because its just after 5.  Santanas is where Johnny Depp and his film crew hung out while they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean.  If you go there you will see photo albums with Johnny Depp having dinner.  He fell in love with the island and bought his own Cay after filming.

We fish the Little Exuma bridge for a couple hours.  The barracuda are back again but don’t like our squid tonight.  We arrive home at 730 to see Herode still working at the house.  The new palm trees look amazing, my favorite is the new Coco nut tree!

Our new Coco Nut tree

Another new Coco Nut tree planted beside the front walkway

We rinse off again in the outdoor shower and throw on the robes.  We are exhausted from another great day at the beach! Chase enjoyed his birthday and was happy to celebrate it here in Exuma.

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Tuesday September 1, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Tuesday September 1, 2015

Today Herode and his cousin are coming over to do some gardening.  We have to get some of the weeds pulled, trim the palm trees and the shrubs.  Herode planted 25 flowers and shrubs in the flower beds a couple of months ago that he grew on his farm, they are doing really well.   We are also transplanting three big palm trees from the back yard this week, and putting two near the outdoor shower and one beside the driveway.  Herode is also bringing in two large coconut palm trees, one for the back yard and one for beside the driveway.  These get really tall and we hope to plant more in the future.

flowers blooming in the gardens at the house

The man cutting the grass at our neighbor’s house brings over a huge crab for Chase to keep.  Its so big, and Chase puts it in a bucket and gets a carrot to feed it.

Chase’s new pet crab

Today is really hot, hotter than usual.  Chase keeps bringing Herode and his cousin glasses of water and freezies  every hour or so.  We slip down to Darvilles to return a bathtub tap that didn’t fit.  We grab a can opener at AID, as well as a clothes line that I plan to hang outside near the shower.  On the way back we stop at the beach at Moss Town near the airport.  We set up the beach chairs and just sit and look at the beautiful turquoise waters for an hour.

The beach at Moss Town

Enjoying the view

In the Mid afternoon we hit Flamingo Beach again, because yesterday we couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.   We SUP board and just relax for the rest of the afternoon.

When we get back to the house the yard looks great and all the palm trees are pruned.  We are looking forward to the new palm trees tomorrow.  I put up the new clothes line while Heather makes dinner and Chase watches some tv.  After dinner our friend Max stops in to say hi.  Max helped us so much when we first got the house, he is an amazing painter and worked so hard the first week when I came down to renovate the house.  It was nice to see him.

We head to bed, and look forward to a full day of fishing, as that’s what Chase has requested for his birthday tomorrow!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Monday 31 August, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Monday August 31, 2015

After breakfast i call home depot in Florida to check on the window order.  I find out that the order may not make the boat because one of the windows came to the store damaged.  We pack up the car and decide to head just west of our house to Flamingo Beach.  We arrive just before noon, and again we are on another beach without a soul in sight.

Flamingo Beach in Harts

We get out the SUP board for Heather, and Chase and i snorkel the reef all the way around to a secluded beach.   We see lots of cool fish and collect sea urchins, conch shells and fan coral.  Heather meets us with the SUP board and helps us bring all the treasures back to the beach.

Heather’s Red Paddle SUP board

I grab the SUP board and float around for a while having a kalik.  I can get used to this SUP boarding thing!

trying out the new SUP board with a kalik

Chase goes for a ride on the SUP board while we cool off in the water for a while.  He is really getting the hang of it, its not as easy as it looks.

Chase enjoying the calm water

We snap a couple of pictures of Paradise Bay Resort just beside us.  They have a great restaurant “La Fourchette” that our friend Angelo manages.  We like to stop for lunch sometimes when we are here.

the colorful Paradise Bay Resort

Our rental car at the entrance to Flamingo Beach

Around 330 we pack up and head to town as we have promised Chase some fishing in Little Exuma.  We stop by the Sandpiper gift shop across from Peace and Plenty first.  I grab a pair of Panama Jack flip flops, some swim shorts, and a Guy Harvey fishing top.  Chase buys a Bahamas Fishing guide that shows all the different fish that you can find here.  We head off to Little Exuma just before 5.

We go where our new friend David from the Shoreline Restaurant tells us to try, in the Town of Ferry, just past the bridge to Little Exuma.  We start to fish and sure enough Heather spots a shark from up top on the bridge.  It hangs around for a while, close to our bait, but not interested.  Chase gets a big fish on….but it takes his bait under the bridge and snags it around the pillar.  We spend the next hour trying to catch two massive barracuda that hang out.

Chase with all his new fishing gear

We get back to the house at 730, rinse off in the outdoor shower and have a bite to eat.  Herode is coming by early tomorrow morning to do some work around the house.  It will be a full day tomorrow for sure.

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Sunday 30 August, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Sunday 30 August, 2015

Today is Sunday so most of the stores on the island are closed.  Heather and I grab a coffee and sit on the back deck while Chase sleeps in.  Our island bird ‘Batman” is back, standing on the fence no more than 10 feet away.  I slip in and do some quick computer work for the business while Heather and Chase head down and check the beach.  Chase later has a taste of the watermelon that Herode gave Heather for her birthday.

watermelon from Herode’s farm

After lunch we decide to check out the west end and head to Rolleville.  We drive past the option for Cocoplum Beach and continue to Rolleville about 5 minutes down the road.  The town is beautiful, the churches are spectacular and well kept.  We stop and take some pictures, and can hear people inside the churches for Sunday church service.

the beautiful Church in Rolleville

We drop into the “Shoreline” restaurant, one that we have never been to.  We have been to nearby “Exuma Point” Restaurant a few years ago with a friend of ours.  We plan to stay for a quick kalik….but our visit turns into a couple hours.  We chat with owners Violet and Kevin for a while, wonderful people.  We also have a few kalik with a gentleman by the name of David from Las Vegas.  David first arrived on the island 26 years ago, and had several interesting stories and facts about the island.  I’m really glad we ended up at Shoreline, one of my favorite things to do down here is have a beer at the local bar and listen to stories.

Shoreline Restaurant in Rolleville …what a view!

Cocoplum Beach is just about 5 minutes away so we have to stop, can never drive by here and not check it out.  Before I can get the beach chairs set up Chase and Heather are off again in search of sand dollars.

on the sandbar hunting for sand dollars.

I decide to grab my fishing gear and walk the sand bar out to the tiny cay about 600 feet from shore.  I’ve always wanted to check out the little cay that is in so many of our pictures.  The reef around the cay is amazing.

The tiny cay i finally walked out to

We stay a couple of hours and head back towards home.  We stop in Steventon and visit the site of the famous Pompey, a slave who fought to end slavery on the island.  Its quite the story and the site is a must see.  Only a few minutes from the house and its out first time here, glad we stopped!  There is a charity run next month on the island called “Run for Pompey”.

one of the ruins at the Pompey site

Pompey and the ruins in the background

We get home just in time for the sunset in the back yard.  Heather makes rice and stuffing and I bbq hamburgers that Heather made with ground beef from Prime Island Meats.  We are so tired after a long day in the sun.  We hang out on the big sofa sleeper and watch a movie and go to bed.  Tomorrow is already Monday, our vacation is officially half over!!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Saturday August 29, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Saturday August 29, 2015

Well today we are supposed to be greeted by tropical storm Erika.  We keep hearing that the island will see a lot of rain.  The water at the beach is rough today, and the wind is stronger than we have seen this past week.  And although it seems early in the day……our power just went out at the house!

high winds and rough water in the morning

Our first priority after breakfast is to go “top up” the cell phone, or “bubbler” as they call a cell phone here.  We stop at Smitty’s store to put 40 dollars on the phone, grab candles and another flashlight, and head into Georgetown.  Normally i wouldn’t need that many minutes, but calling long distance to Home Depot in Florida about our window order lately has been using a lot.

After we get home I slip to the airport only 5 minutes away and swap the corolla for a Toyota Rav 4 for our second week.  Airport Car rental kindly upgraded us for the second week because we rent from them so often!  This will help if it rains like crazy today. I drive past the house to Farmers Hill and get fresh baked bread and rum cake from “Frankie’s Bakery” beside the gas station.  We didn’t even know this place existed!  Its so close and so handy!

We head up past our house to the west end and stop in for lunch at Grand Isle Resort on Emerald Bay.  We try to drop by every time we are home on the island.  We have stayed there 4 times over the years prior to buying our home here last year, and have become close with a lot of the staff.  Our good friend Emmerson works here, who has treated Chase so nice over the years.  He was also a huge help when we bought our home, and helped me out a lot that first crazy week when i was down working on the house.  Chase runs ahead and goes to see Roger at the activity hut.  Heather and I grab a table and have a fantastic lunch, always great food at Palapa Grill!  I have a hamburger and Heather has a grilled tuna melt.  The winds are picking up, I’ve never seen the waves so high at Emerald Bay.  Thankfully the restaurant has great wind blinds that work perfect on those windy days.  We will have to wait and see Emmerson thursday night as he isn’t working today, we make reservations for dinner and will catch the bonefire on the beach for Chase’s 10th birthday!

We stop at the beach in Steventon, and i get out and run into the water.  Before we can even get set up the rain starts…..here comes tropical storm Erika.  The rain comes down in buckets, and we head straight home.  We walk in, and not surprised the power is still off.  A short time later the rain had stopped, and the sun was coming out.  We were unsure if we had just seen the storm, or if it was going to hit later in the day.  We decide to take advantage of the break and head across to the south side of the island and fish.  We head to our spot between Forest and Richmond Hill.  The south side is usually very calm and no wind, but today is quite different.  I fish about a hundred feet off shore while Chase and Heather explore.  I manage to catch five crabs….for some reason they always love the squid!  Leaving our fishing spot i have a great idea, lets take another way home and follow the map to Richmond Hill!  Its a great idea, we will eventually pop out at Steventon just west of our place!  Note to self…..the map is terrible….we get lost, the sun is falling, there is still a tropical storm warning, and i have no idea where we are!!   We backtrack all the way about an hour….”OMG dad you are lost, OMG dad you just wasted our whole night!”  We finally make it home, light some candles and i cook steak, sausage and potatoes on the BBQ. I’m still surprised that we didn’t see much from tropical storm Erika, she even leaves us with a great sunset that we watch from the deck.

view of the sunset of the back deck

Tonight is now clear, and the most beautiful full moon looks down on us from above the coconut trees.

amazing full moon tonight

Around 9 pm i look out to see a BEC truck driving around frantically shinning lights up at all the hydro poles.  This is a good sign!  About 10 minutes later the power comes on….we will have air conditioning to sleep tonight!

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms” Friday August 28, 2015

“A Day in the Life at Canuck Palms”  Friday August 28, 2015

We wake up early again and head down to the beach for a walk and a swim.  The water has been a little more rough, and because of the time of year some of the sand banks have collapsed.  We make our way down and enjoy a stroll to the end of the beach and back.  Earlier in the week I found a wicker chair stuck on the reef straight off the beach, and as it looks like our neighbors at Calypso House we take it up to their house and leave it on the patio.  We get back to the house and prep for the storm, which has now thankfully been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm.  We make sure nothing around the house can be picked up by the wind and thrown around.

We have an early lunch since we skipped breakfast…..fresh salad from the market.  After lunch Chase heads outside to hunt for geckos again.  We pack up the car and head west towards Emerald Bay.  We arrive at Cocoplum Beach a short drive later around 1230.  Cocoplum is close to the house, around a 10 minute drive, and is famous for all of the sand dollars that are found there.

A little cay in the middle of Cocoplum sandbar

I crack a kalik and sit in our beach chair and watch Chase and Heather walk out about 400 feet on the shallow sandbar in search of shells.  Chase comes running back with the smallest sea urchin I have ever seen!

smallest sea urchin we have ever found

Words can’t describe Cocoplum beach, and pictures don’t do it justice.  Kite boarders love to come to this beach because of its shallow waters and never ending sandbars.

today we are the only footprints on the beach

We pack up just before dinner, but before we leave we run back in to cool off one more time.  We arrive home just before 6 and Heather makes fresh pizza with the pizza shells we got from “Prime Island Meats.”  Our internet is still out.  Usually we wouldn’t care, but we have been busy with the business and corresponding with guest inquiries.  We settle in for the night, watching the weather channel trying to get updates on the storm.  Tonight they say that they storm is trailing off to the south of us, and then will turn up towards Miami.   We will see what happens tomorrow, as the storm will be here sometime in the afternoon.