Tag: Eleuthera

The Final Days of Our Grand Adventure

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 19 ~ Day #193
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19300
$31.47
$16915.10
$87.64
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
16064.8
12056.7
7662
196
35979.5
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 20 ~ Day #194
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19400
$48.67
$16963.77
$87.44
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
16064.8
12056.7
7662
196
35979.5
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 21 ~ Day #195
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19500
$31.47
$16995.24
$87.16
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
16064.8
12056.7
7662
196
35979.5
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 22 ~ Day #196
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19600
$31.47
$17026.71
$86.87
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
16064.8
12056.7
7662
196
35979.5
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 23 ~ Day #197
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$19700
$15.00
$17041.71
$86.51
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
16064.8+19.8=16084.6
12056.7
7662
196
35999.3

Current Location: Heading Home to Eleuthera, Bahamas

Combining Days

We have decided to combine our last few days into one post because we are really now just marking time until we head home to Eleuthera.

We will not be including our flight back to Eleuthera in our costs as we began our trip in Fort Lauderdale on May 11th and we will end it in Fort Lauderdale on November 23rd.

We will be including all the costs right up to our flight home, including the cost to get to the airport.

Each day’s expenses are itemized below and, of course, in the grids above that we have been including in each post.

Day 193, Friday, November 19, 2010

Accommodation: $31.47 (Camping)

Day 194, Saturday, November 20, 2010

Accommodations: $31.47 (Camping)
Food: $17.20 (Groceries)
Total: $48.67

We are trying to keep our grocery buying down to a minimum as we don’t want anything fresh left over on the day we leave.

Day 195, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Accommodations: $31.47 (Camping)

Day 196, Monday, November 22, 2010

Accommodations: $31.47 (Camping)

Day 197, Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Transportation: $18.00 consisting of:
Cab to TriRail – $15.00
TriRail to Airport $3.00

Mileage: 19.8

The Adventure Ends

It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of our almost seven month long adventure. And yet, it’s going to be good to get home.

One hundred and ninety-seven days is a long time to be traveling and living out of a suitcase or, in our case, backpacks.

We have had a terrific time and certainly enjoyed the journey. We will now enjoy the familiarity of our home in Eleuthera.

It will good to see old friends again and reconnect. Our very dear friends, V and B, will be picking us up at the airport when we arrive back in Eleuthera. It will be wonderful to see them again.

Recap Tomorrow

Stay tuned for the recap of our adventure in our post tomorrow.

Sailing Past Eleuthera

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Nov 07 ~ Day #181
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$18100
$102.34
$16261.92
$89.84
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15551
8185.5
7662
168
31566.5

Current Location: On Board Celebrity Century En Route to Miami

Today’s Total Expenses: $102.34 (cruise cost includes transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment)

Miles Traveled Today:
We will record the miles for the Atlantic Crossing on November 8th when we arrive in Miami

Sailing Between Eleuthera and the Abacos

Early in the cruise we checked the chart in the main foyer that shows the course the ship will be taking.

To our delight, it showed that we would be sailing through the Eleuthera Channel which is between Eleuthera and the Abacos.

We had asked the staff to find out for us the estimated time that we would be passing Eleuthera. We didn’t want to miss getting a glimpse of our island as we sailed by.

The staff member we asked for the information actually called the Bridge to get the information for us! And, it seemed we would be passing Eleuthera somewhere between noon and 2:00pm at our current course and speed.

We were determined to be on deck when that happened. Although the weather looked like it might not co-operate. It was still a bit overcast with the odd bit of rain every now and then.

Passing Eleuthera

The weather cleared, thank goodness, and we got our first glimpse of Eleuthera at about 2:30pm. We stayed on deck until we couldn’t see it anymore, feeling just a little homesick.

However, we still won’t be home until November 23rd as we still have more things planned for our time in Florida.

So, we bid farewell to Eleuthera and looked forward to ending our transAltantic cruise in Miami tomorrow.

Day Two of the Greek Islands Cruise

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Oct 05 ~ Day #148
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$14800
$178.51
$12677.10
$85.66
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
15097
4515.8+360.2=4876
5966
119
26058

Current Location: Onboard the MSC Musica at Katakolon, Greece

Today’s Total Expenses: $178.51 (cruise cost includes transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment)

Miles Traveled Today:
Sea Miles: 360.2 (313 Nautical Miles – Bari to Katakolon)

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

We arrived in Katakolon at 12:15pm and disembarked to explore the island.

We certainly enjoyed walking around the small town and looking in all the touristy shops.

The ship offered excursions to Olympia but, of course, they were very expensive.

There were local tour companies offering excursions to Olympia at much lower rates. We were tempted but it just wasn’t in the budget.

Maybe Some Beach Time?

As we have dubbed ourselves “beachologists”, having written a book about the beaches of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas – The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera – we simply had to check out the local beach. (Interesting fact: Eleuthera is the Greek word for freedom.)

Well, calling this a beach was being kind, a little too kind. It was postage stamp size and it was pebbly rather than sandy, so we didn’t linger. There was, however a little beach bar there that seemed quite popular.

Instead, we choose to walk up a hill and get a great view of the ocean and of our ship.

Afterwards we headed back to the ship to relax before dinner.

Cypress Cove Nudist Resort, Kissimmee, Florida

Vicky Wells Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Aug 21 ~ Day #103
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$10300
$30.00
$9094.38
$88.29
Miles by Road
Miles by Sea
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Miles
13488+34=13522
4451
000
69
18038

Current Location: Vacation Village at Parkway, Kissimmee, Florida
Accommodation: $30.00

Today’s Total Expenses: $30.00

Day 103 – Saturday, August 21, 2010

Cypress Cove Day Pass

As an outing for today we decided to visit Cypress Cove – a naturist resort right here in Kissimmee.

On their website they offer a free tour and day pass and we thought we’d take them up on their offer.

Great Weather

The weather forecast for the day was favorable – 90 Deg. F and small chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

Given how hot, humid and rainy it’s been we thought we had better jump at the chance to take advantage of a, hopefully, good weather day.

Pools, Paddle Boats and More

This resort certainly has a lot going for it. We were given a complete tour and they have several full time residents, lots of RV sites and several tent site as well. In addition to that, they also have a few hotel rooms and apartments with full kitchens for rent.

There’s tennis courts, a big lake with paddle boats and canoes that are free to use and two heated pools as well as a very large hot tub.

Surrounding the pools are things like a boutique, clubhouse, hair dresser, restaurants and bars and even the American Nudist Research Library with quite an extensive collection of nudist publications through the years.

We even donated a copy of our book “The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera” which rates each beach on the island for privacy.

Is Bigger Better?

It’s probably the biggest naturist resort we’ve seen so far with a lot going on.

We felt that perhaps the size of the resort accounted for the feeling that we got that it wasn’t as friendly or welcoming as other naturist resorts we’ve been to.

However, we were visiting on a singles weekend, so maybe that had something to do with it as well.

If you’re in the area, take advantage of their day pass to check it out.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Well, it seems that if it’s Florida, then it will rain in the
afternoon, as sure enough it did.

It certainly cleared the pool really quickly, particularly when there was some thunder.

Trying Out the Paddle Boats

When the weather cleared, we actually took one of the paddle boats out on their 50-acre lake. It was calm and pleasant and – thank goodness – we didn’t encounter any gators. Hey – it’s Florida!

Back to the Condo

A short drive back to the condo for dinner, drinks and relaxing in front of the TV. Yep, pretty boring but still enjoyable.

We’re Famous Authors

Geoff Leave a comment
Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

June 27 ~Day #48
Budget to date
Spent today
Total to date
Daily average
Total
$4800
$31
$5743.78
$119.66
Miles by Road
Nautical Miles
Miles by Air
Miles by Train
Total Statute Miles
6253
3826
000
69
10756.4

Current Location: Sunny Chinooks

Today’s Total Expenses: $31.00

Accommodation: $31.00

Reading Naturally
This was another relax and do nothing day, lay in the sun, walk down to the river, spend time in the hot tub, lay back in the sun. Sunny Chinooks is building a new pool but they doubt it will be ready for this season.

They have quite a collection of naturist magazines including several back issues of “Naturally”. Vicky and I were passing the time reading some of them and I picked up the Fall 2008 edition.

We’re Famous
To my surprise on page 38 was an article entitled “Escape to Eleuthera” which is the island in the Bahamas we live on. Eleuthera has more than fifty fabulous beaches that you pretty much have all to yourselves. The problem is they are very hard to find and a tourist with only a week’s vacation has no hope of finding them. This is why we wrote “The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera” which has become a must have purchase for anyone that comes to the island.

Rich and Cindy Thiboutot
Well the authors of the Naturally article, (Rich and Cindy Thiboutot) apparently agreed because they gave our book a terrific plug right in the article.

We are now writing an article for Naturally about how we discovered the Thiboutot piece in a pile of back issues in a naturist camp in Alberta.

Thanks again to the folks at Sunny Chinooks for letting us keep the Fall 2008 copy of Naturally.