The flight from Sacramento to the remote island of San Salvador was basically uneventful. Sac—Chicago—Miami. We stayed the night in Miami at the Sheraton Airport Hotel. I recommend it. It’s an older hotel, but the beds were super comfy and clean. They have a restaurant, so getting dinner is a cinch. The mahi-mahi tacos were to die for… or maybe I was starving? The view is really nice--one side has the airport and the other is a combo of the golf course and Miami.
The next day we had a flight to our island. The only flight for the week. It left at noon so we had a little too much time to kill at the hotel and the breakfast was a bit spendy. So, off to the airport. The problem is that Bahamas Air has so few flights, they don’t even open for check-in until 2 hours before the flight. Almost everyone on the plane was going to Columbus Isle-Club Med. That’s always fun because it’s a festive group.
Once we landed on San Salvador the bus took us to the resort one mile away. We were the first guests of the (official) season, which put the 600 person capacity Club at about 65 J This is the main reason we book this first week. They literally cannot have any more than one plane-load of people from the US. On the following Tuesday the next plane comes in from Montreal. Then Thursday The big jet from Paris will arrive and the club will be hopping. It will still only have 400, but it will seem like more.
We’re enjoying having an almost 1:1 ratio of activities staff for the moment. This is really awesome when we have a double-decker catamaran to ourselves… almost. There’s about 8 divers on the boat. First dive we saw so many reef sharks I lost count. They were very curious about us and followed us around to see what we were going to do. A grouper came up and tried to work up the courage to let me pet him, but he couldn’t do it. I respected his boundaries and made a friend. He followed me for the rest of the dive like a cat who wishes it had the guts to climb up in my lap. A large turtle went by with the scuba doc and his wife filming it’s every move. It was cool they got video of it, but it wasn’t cool to follow it so closely.
When we came up for our surface interval we saw a pilot-whale right in front of the boat. This is actually more in the dolphin family, but it sure looked like a whale. The captain stopped the boat and gave it some space. It frolicked around at the bow while we all hung over the sides like little kids. It was so exciting. I'm bummed I didn't get a photo. The next dive was even better because it was shallower. I was amazed at how many different schools of fish we saw simultaneously.
The remodeled Columbus Isle has a new restaurant called La Pinta. It’s in the Spanish style of tapas. It has a stunning bar overlooking the turquoise ocean (which is where I’m sitting typing this). Even better, it has a wine room! Yes, a wine room. Can you feel the tremor in my fingers as I type this? We booked a wine tasting session for Friday night. It will be an hour of food pairing and tasting in the glass enclosed wine vault.
I already bribed the sommeliers by bringing them a taste of my wine from NorCal J Joe’s birthday is Tuesday the 23rd. He’ll be 60, so I want it to be special. One of the sommeliers is going to go to town and get some chocolate stout beer for me. I think Joe will be thrilled.
We’ve really enjoyed getting to know the G.O.s (guest organizers). They’re such a unique group of people from all over the world. Most of them are young and all are multilingual. They share the guest’s passion for travel. One of the things to expect at any Club Med is guest talent. We happened to become buddies with the Evon the singer, and Manu the guitarist while waiting in line at customs. They play a lot of English and American hits, though they are French. We’ve convinced them to learn Kenny Chesney’s song; “no shirt, no shoes, no problem.” I’m dying to hear them play it. They swear they’ll have it learned by the end of this week.
We dove again today. Trying to take advantage of the almost empty boat. Next week will be crowded. Our dive was great again… lots of shark and various schools of tropical color. I spotted a large lobster. It was crystal clear and no current. We just hung there in the water enjoying the moment.
A storm is coming in now, but it should clear out by Thursday, I hope. So right now the wind is whipping my hair around my face in a most annoying manner. I think I will stop and seek shelter J
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