Tripping to the Islands With My Daughter

 By Erica

Not too long ago my daughter and I realized that we hadn’t taken a vacation--just the two of us--for over a decade. We had talked about it, but never got it done. We reminisced about vacations when I was a single Mom and she was little, but those wonderful memories were not enough to get us going. (Maybe because the ones we dwelled on, like the tiny room at a Club Med in St. Lucia with the even tinier bathroom that kept flooding, prompted laughs but not confidence!) Anyway, in the new year we decided we would just do it. Destination for a long weekend. Her choice: Harbour Island in the Bahamas. Never heard of it but it turned out to hit the perfect note. No chain hotels or large resorts. Just islanders and their guests. 

We left for the airport at 4 a.m., both of us groggy with small bags slung over our shoulders, a reminder of an early family travel rule that you can’t take anything you can’t carry onto the plane yourself. Changed planes, arrived in Eleuthra, took a five minute cab ride to the dock and away we went, skimming over beautiful blue water, to Harbour Island. The Landing, our small hotel, overlooks a harbour filled with huge yachts and is just steps away. It was built plantation style the 1800's, its seven rooms decorated by India Hicks, a local. Large four poster mahogany beds, wood floors and beams, fresh white linens. Not fancy, no TVs, just right. We checked in, changed, and walked 10 minutes to the pink sands beach--all in time for lunch. 

For three days, our routine was simple. Breakfast, touring around in our golf cart, the preferred mode of Island transportation (if you go be sure to reserve one).  A little bit of late morning beach. Lunches at the SipSip (try the lobster quesadillas) or the Dunmore were long and leisurely and delicious--with colorful cocktails and lively conversation to match. What an absolute privilege to have one’s daughter all to oneself. No rushed conversations, just rambling ones, with laughs all along the way. For dinner, we got lazy. We loved The Landing, the people, and the food. And so for dinner we stayed in and then fell into bed with a good book when we were done. 

I knew our vacation was a success when we got on the boat to go home and my daughter all of a sudden thought she had left her personal iphone behind. Normally, she would be hyperventilating. Stop the boat! But to my utter amazement, she just shrugged and said if she didn’t have it, she would just have to have it sent or get a new one. 

We are planning to go back next year. For both our sakes.