Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Easy Rider

Meadow and Joe from New Hampshire, with Jen and me,
getting ready to ride
Today we took a tour of the island on motorized bikes. We met our guides, Alfredo and Genie in the morning, got acquainted with the throttle and brakes on our gas-powered cruisers, and zoomed off down the road. Riding the bikes was incredibly fun (I highly recommend bikes which don't require peddling), and we got to see parts of the island we'd never have seen on our own. Genie gave us a lesson on conch (first point: it's pronounced "conk" not "consh"), Alfredo gave us a lesson on the history of the Bahamas (Columbus, the British, pirates, etc.), we saw some incredible beach-front houses (owned by the proverbial "other half"), stopped for a lunch on a gorgeous beach, and got a free dolphin show at the UNEXSO sanctuary since we happened to be cruising by at feeding time. Really great day on the island.

first stop, dolphin sanctuary
second stop, drinks at Taino Beach
my new favorite drink on the island
a less appetizing-sounding local brew
Genie discussing the life cycle of a conch
this is the disgusting-looking critter that lives in a conch shell
did some beach-combing for shells before leaving