It’s been over a year since travel was even possible to think about as COVID took over the world. But here we are planning for a May 2021 Grand Bahama Island Trip, will it equal painting while traveling for me?
With vaccination records and masks in hand, off we go beyond the states. The Bahamas have relaxed their strict rules for people who have received a vaccination but stick to following protocol of wearing masks, temperature taking and using hand sanitizer upon entering a building.
This was our third trip to the island, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Why go there, you might ask?
The Bahama Islands are known for being some of the best bone fishing in the world. Do I fish? Nope, but my husband does, and he looks forward to this trip all year long. Even more so this year, having missed 2020. He spends hours tying his own flies especially for this type of fishing. How do I spend my time while on the island? Creating art of course.
Discovery and Painting
When we first traveled here, we rented from a delightful woman who has three apartments for rent in different areas of Freeport, a town on the island. We’ve rented from her all three times, this time our rental was called Villa Martinique. She goes out of her way to make us comfortable with her special touches. One, is with fresh flowers that she arranges about the apartment. These flowers come from the ever-blooming landscape outside. I love how it brightens up the rooms with each exploding color.
The vase that contained a bright magenta Bougainvillea was the most stunning. The flower is most intriguing, each petal is the shape of a leaf with the tiniest daisy like flowers in the center in groups of twos and threes.
In my search for the symbolic meaning of Bougainvillea, I found that they are a sign of welcoming to visitors as well as a symbol of peace. This made perfect sense to me since most of the time they are planted at the entrance of a home or business.
I couldn’t help myself, of course I had to take some photos of these beauties. I loved the way the explosion of color filled the entire photo frame of the macro photo. The petal detail and the tiny flowers become clearly identifiable.
I hadn’t yet painted an up close, macro piece so I thought I would give it a try with this one. It’s a small piece, 5 ½” x 6 ¼” but with that much of one color I think it makes a big statement. Painting while traveling is always a bit tricky. I never know if I have everything I need to draw, then trace my drawing onto watercolor paper. Do I have enough paint or the right colors. I do like to paint what inspires me not paying attention to what supplies I’ve brought. Turns out I did have all the supplies I needed. When painting while traveling it’s good to keep your piece small for two reasons; so you have time to finish it and have room to pack it for home. I do like my small colorful piece and have it hanging in my living room.
To view my watercolor portfolio yet click here.
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Painting is the number one of the things I did while on the island. I also keep up on my work with my amazing clients while traveling, too. My make-shift-office on the deck overlooking the canal works out well. With lots of time on the beach, too!
Natural Beaches
Hurricane Dorian, Sept. 2019, now regarded as the worst natural disaster in the in The Bahamas’ history (we were there in May of that year). In fact, of all the Bahama Islands, this one took the most damage. We weren’t sure what to expect as far as the damage done and the progress of their repairs. Visually, hit and miss type of damage was seen all over the island.
The area where we were staying had very little damage and, in some parts, none. As we traveled around the island,we realized that clean up could be expensive so a lot of buildings, boats, even a water scooter was left were it landed. The forest was also left as is. Some areas toppled,with no evidence of any new growth returning. In some parts they were still repairing the electrical lines. We spoke with one woman who confirmed that she just now got her electricity back and now she could start to repair the damage to her home.
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Having said all of that, the beaches are amazingly beautiful. I enjoyed many morning walks, gazing over the massive ocean to the horizon. Absolutely, it’s one of my favorite things to do. As soon as my feet touch the beach, the sandals come off to enjoy a foot massage by the soft sand. As I make my way to the water’s edge, getting close enough so the waves can splash up against my legs, I can walk for miles. Nothing is blocking or interrupting the beach. I love how the sand dissolves under each step as I slosh through a few inches of the sea, like a child enjoying a rain puddle.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, always around 80 degrees with a breeze and occasional puffy clouds, making interesting shadow formations on the beach. I love the discovery of different line formations in the sand made by the movement of the water. Watching an occasional sailboat or fishing boat, making waves through the aqua-blue-green Caribbean Ocean as I walk along.
The beaches are rarely visited which means there is an abundance of shells to discover. The discovery of so many different shapes and colors overcomes me, as I forget to look up at the beauty all around. There are miles of these beaches and sometimes I wouldn’t see another person at all. It truly is a natural setting without human intrusion.
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Fisherman’s success
If you aren’t into fishing, you may not know that bone fish are extremely hard but fun for the fisherman to catch. They aren’t for eating so it is a catch and release situation. Bone fish are found feeding along the very shallow water knowing when the tides are coming in or going out is very important.
My husband, the fisherman, went out fishing most every day. Sometimes I would accompany him to hang out on the beach and read while he walked up and down the shoreline looking for schools of these skittish, elusive fish. I would also act as photographer when he had success.
We ended the trip with lunch at Fortune Bay restaurant on their large patio overlooking the bay. It was so enjoyable spending a few hours there, then a walk on the beach after lunch. What a great way to spend the last day.
Traveling Home Becomes a Challenge
To return to the U.S. you must have a negative COVID test, that wasn’t the challenge that we faced. Our mode of transportation is flying via certain airlines non-rev. If there is a full flight on the day of departure, we always have a plan B. Well, that is exactly what happened; however, plan B is slightly more complicated.
There are only two days per week for flights to the U.S. It was the last day of the week for those two. We didn’t want to stay another three days to wait for the next flight. Plan Bis a ferry that also runs two days a week, the next departure is on the same day as the flight we had wanted to take. We had gathered all the info about the ferry the day before and knew what we needed to do in case Plan B was to be our mode of travel.
The 30-minute flight we wanted to take that was full was leaving at noon, the 3-hour ferry ride didn’t leave until 5:00pm. It’s this type of adventure that we prepare for and in many cases turns out to be an interesting and fun choice. This time, it turned out to be the later.
The Balearia Caribbean Ferry is a huge, high speed ferry normally seats over 450 people but because of COVID some of the seats were blocked off. We had ample room and were very comfortable. The best part was going out on the deck and observing the ride from there. We arrived on the mainland after sundown, affording us a beautifully colorful sunset along the way. We also lucked out as the sea wasvery calm. If there had been rough seas it might have been a completely different story.
Sometimes when you keep an open mind, but think things are going wrong, they turn out to be positively right.
Success for a great painting while traveling experience. Travel has given me the opportunity to experience and see things I wouldn’t have normally. I’m working on a couple of textile pattern collections that this trip, the painting and my discoveries has inspired me to create, so stay tuned my friends….( the best way is to join my quarterly newsletter here)
With lots of love,
Phyllis
