Dana Stanley 00:00:00 You probably started listening to the laid back magic way for Disney World stuff. But today we're talking about the Bahamas, not Disney's cruise line, port or resort, but I'm talking about a sleepy island in the Bahamas where no itinerary is needed. Truly, just like the opposite of Disney World planning. And that island is Eleuthera. There is still so much more to learn and see on Eleuthera, but after visiting a handful of times as a family, I want to share the details. I do know how to get there. The best places to stay. What we love about it. And at the end of the episode, I'll share ten things to do with kids that make Eleuthera surprisingly perfect for families. Plus, I'll give you a few things to know before you go if you are planning on visiting. Hello and welcome to the Laid Back Magic Way podcast. I'm your host, Dana Stanley, creator of Laid Back Magic. As a mom of three, I know how tough it can be to find time to plan a Disney World trip that doesn't leave you feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

Dana Stanley 00:00:59 That's why I'm here to help moms like you create Disney vacations that feel even better than they look on paper. Here we're not chasing perfection, but creating our next favorite memories. So whether you're brand new to Disney or looking to go deeper into the details, this podcast is your go to for simple tips, mindset shifts, real life trip recaps, and expert insights to make your trip magical and manageable. New episodes drop every Monday, so be sure to subscribe so you never miss a moment. Okay, let's dive in. So first things first where even is Eleuthera? How do you pronounce it? I am saying it the way that I'm saying it, which is Eleuthera. I've heard a lot of the locals call it Lootera. I am obviously not that cool to pull that off. So Eleuthera it is. I feel more confident saying it the faster I say it. So, Eleuthera. It is part of the Bahamas, about 240 miles from Florida and 50 miles from Nassau. And it's this long, skinny island.

Dana Stanley 00:02:00 It's actually 110 miles long, but only about a mile wide in most places. That means you're getting lots of beaches on both sides, the Atlantic and the Caribbean side. In fact, what it's known for is at its skinniest point. There is a glass window bridge, and if you stand on the bridge, you can literally see where the Caribbean Sea is meeting the Atlantic Ocean. So you can be standing there and see two different colors of water, two different sides of the ocean. It's very cool. And because you're getting the open ocean on one side and the other side, which is more protected and calm, it's really cool that you kind of get two experiences on the island. On our last trip, for example, the last two days had very, very strong winds, felt like hurricane winds if we were back at home. So our house, which is on the beach just a little bit too windy to enjoy the beach. The waves were pretty rough, the ocean was rough, but we were able to just pop over to the Caribbean side for the day and get dinner.

Dana Stanley 00:03:02 Minimal winds, calm ocean, so it's just nice having both of those options because the island is so skinny. If you've heard of Harbor Island before, this is the island that is right next to Harbor Island. So technically you would fly into Eleuthera and then take a little boat to Harbor Island. It's like a five minute boat ride. So if you even have Harbor Island on your radar, you're still going to want to know a little bit about Eleuthera, because that's where you're going to go to get to Harbor Island. There are three airports on the island. You have North Eleuthera, which is at the top, Governor's Harbor, which is in the middle, and then Rock sound, which is more south. In the past, we have always flown into L, which is North Eleuthera, and then made that our long drive down to Governor's Harbor. That's because the Governor's Harbor Airport for a while wasn't open, and if we were visiting Harbor Island, we just got very used to North Eleuthera. Now that the Governor's Harbor Airport is open, that is amazing because that's kind of where we want to be, and I'm going to get to that more.

Dana Stanley 00:04:13 But if you have to fly into North Eleuthera because the flights work out, it's not a terrible drive. It's again about an hour. I would stop halfway, get lunch. We like a place called Daddy Joe's. It's not the end of the world. While we're on the topic of flights. The flights from the United States usually are not direct unless you're coming from Florida or Atlanta. So you have to be open minded. I get a lot of messages of like, Dana, I'm trying to go to Eleuthera. There's no direct flights. I know we come from new Jersey and there's always going to be two planes. It's just part of the inconvenience and why a lot of people aren't going to this island and makes it so sleepy and quiet. If you're looking for a vacation that is easy, breezy, convenient. This is just not it from a logistical standpoint. Obviously it's very relaxing once you get there, but it is a travel day. I wouldn't consider myself like an easy, laid back traveler, and I just go into it knowing that it's going to be a big travel day and the kids will do their best, and they always do better than I think.

Dana Stanley 00:05:24 And once we get there, it's totally worth it. This is a good time to mention that you will need a passport to get there. And the kids. The Bahamas is its own country, even though it doesn't seem very far away sometimes it's surprising that yes, you do need a passport and I highly recommend, if you can, to get Global Entry if you don't already have it. It's essentially like TSA PreCheck, but for international flights. So when you're flying into Eleuthera, you just have to fill out a little customs form. It's pretty simple, straightforward, and doesn't hold you up and you're already on the island. But coming back into the United States through customs, if you have a layover and that line is long and your layover is very short, and especially if you checked bags, that's where things can get dicey. And you could miss that second flight unless you have Global Entry and it really speeds up going through customs. So you walk in, it scans your face, and you're on your way.

Dana Stanley 00:06:26 I've seen customs depending on where you're flying into. I've seen an empty customs line, and I've seen a line that I can't even fathom waiting in and was just so happy to have Global Entry. All of the kids will need it. I'll leave a link in the show notes so you can learn more about it, but it has come in handy for us so many times. Flying into Charlotte, North Carolina, there was a family behind us that had a very short layover. Getting home. They had checked bags and he was kind of like, yeah, there's no way that we're going to make this flight. And one of the reasons was he knew that he was going to have to wait in that customs line. When you're looking at the whole island of Eleuthera and deciding where to stay, we've stayed at the north end and also more central and kind of dabbled like in between. And hands down, Governors Harbor is the best place to be in terms of the convenience, especially with kids. When you stay near or around Governor's Harbor, you're going to be minutes away from French leave beach, which is the most perfect beach.

Dana Stanley 00:07:36 It's a wide, flat beach. You can't even find a rock or shell. It is just a perfect smooth pink sand beach, the most crystal clear water you will ever see in your life that you could just spend the entire day week on this beach. Which when you're looking for a tropical vacation, is why you're going. So you're going to be minutes from that. There's also two really good grocery stores, a couple restaurants, a few great coffee shops and ice cream shop. There's even a little library. There's a gas station. So everything that you need for your whole trip, you're going to be able to find there's a lot of options of where to stay in terms of, you know, a resort style, like there is a French leave resort that is really beautiful. There are condos that you can rent. We prefer to rent an entire house. We're very much Airbnb, short term rental house people. That's just what we prefer. So we've always got a kitchen and a washer and dryer.

Dana Stanley 00:08:37 This helps me pack less and we can do the carry on route. So again, not worrying about that dicey layover. I can do some laundry if I need to. And preferably we like a house right on the beach. So even though the beach will never be that far away because the island is so skinny, not having to even pack like a beach bag or snacks or get in the car at all makes it feel incredibly easier. Obviously with kids, even on those days, I had talked about where we went on the other side, which when I say like the other side of the island, it was probably a five minute drive. But it's a lot different when you're coming off the beach. You got a bunch of Sandy kids and droopy diapers and you're in the tailgate, like doing all that stuff. It's fine. But the days where we were just chilling at the house and exploring that beach is a lot easier. Like, you literally don't have to bring anything. You can just walk down to the beach if you forget something or need a towel or a beer, you can just have a short walk up to your house so it feels a lot more relaxed that way.

Dana Stanley 00:09:37 If you can figure out how to stay on the beach. I've linked a few of the houses that we've stayed at on Eleuthera in the show notes. Some all have like their pros and cons, some I like more than others. So if you have any questions or like details on a specific house. Please just message me on Instagram. I'm happy to give you a rundown and my honest review. And I probably have a lot of photos, like of the house and of the bedrooms in my camera roll if you need them. That being said, you know we've only stayed at five different houses on the island. There are tons and tons of options, especially depending on the size of your house. You know, we've gone on trips where it's just us or one kid, two kids up to like our whole extended family. So really, you just want to think of the type of setup that you need as a family. And the closer you can get to the beach, the better. One of the reasons why we love going back to Eleuthera A is because we love revisiting places.

Dana Stanley 00:10:38 I love going back to a place and not having to discover new things or find, you know, the grocery store or where to get diapers. I like the comfort of just knowing where things are. That way it takes out the guesswork part of the trip and I can really start to relax. But this is also the vacation where it is the opposite of Disney World, for one. My husband does the majority of the planning. He books the flights. Eleuthera is very much Colton's thing. He's the one who found it. He has been an island Caribbean boy since I have met him, so he feels like he can get lost a little bit, as opposed to other places that are more built up. Again, because it's such a long island, you could be driving down the main road and have no idea what is to the left or to the right of you until you turn down some rocky, beaten path. You can find somewhere that feels completely isolated and you are the only people there. But you're also like ten minutes away from your house, which is really nice.

Dana Stanley 00:11:42 I mentioned the water. I mean, the water is just it looks like a pool. It is just the most beautiful water you could ever swim in and it's very calm most of the time, unless it's like very windy. So it's great for kids. It's just that low flat beach. That's French Leaf beach that I'm mostly talking about, which we love. But there's also a lot of popular beaches on the other side that are going to have more seashells. And you can go during low tide, and it makes these like little warm pools that are I mean, they feel like bath water. My toddler love that. I mean, they can go out for a long time and not have the water even hit their knees. So as a parent, it's really nice because you can kind of just actually relax and not worrying about like waves crashing them over, like at home in new Jersey. I just I'm like always stressed out about them being at the beach with like a million people. This is going to be like you and like one other family.

Dana Stanley 00:12:38 Speaking of which, your kids will find other kids to play with on this island. I'm not exaggerating with this, but every time we have gone down there, I have exchanged phone numbers with a mom who is looking to get two kids together. You may have heard of Eleuthera because of Disney Cruise Line's newest port there. So this is all the way down at the southernmost tip of the island called Lighthouse Point. So if you hear someone say, you know Disney's new private island, look out key. That is not true. Very much not a private island, but they do own a small portion of the point. That being said, if you wanted to visit Lighthouse Point while staying on Eleuthera, not look out key like the facilities of Disney, but actual lighthouse point, you can still access that through the public access. It's about an hour and a half drive from Governor's Harbor. So depending on how adventurous you're feeling, that's always an option. You could also drive an hour north to visit Sapphire Hole for more exploring.

Dana Stanley 00:13:38 There's literal pirate caves. There's ocean baths. There's a lot to explore on the island. There's Surfer's beach. Fishing is a big thing. Boat tours. I tend to kind of want to not do any of those things when I'm on the island. I like to just like putt around, because being in the car with my kids ages right now, they're one, four and eight. It's not my favorite. I'm not going to lie, but I do want to mention it in case you're looking for, like, a little bit more excitement. Maybe your kids are older. Maybe you're looking for a kids free trip. I just promise you won't be bored and you will want and need to rent a car or SUV while you're there. There isn't like a Hertz, so like you can't go to the airport and just easily rent a car. You're going to want to set it up ahead of time. And these are not going to be luxury vehicles. You know, they get beat up a lot on these island roads.

Dana Stanley 00:14:34 They get scratched a ton from all the, you know, branches and things on these narrow roads. But they get the job done. They're clean. I've never had a problem getting a car seat. Again, we're not talking like top of the line. But to help you picture the driving situation, there's one main road from the top of the island to the bottom and there's zero traffic lights. So pretty chill compared to what we're used to. I have a few rental options that we've used that I'll link, but our favorite lately has been from a guy, Justin Pinder. Great person, always good communication. We got off the plane and the car is clean and ready for us with a car seat. And then we just leave it at the airport for him when we go home, because it's in the Bahamas. You're also going to be driving on the left side of the road, which feels so, so weird if you haven't done it before. Especially when you're at like a four way stop and trying to figure out like who has the right of way.

Dana Stanley 00:15:35 But that is kind of my husband's problem. I think I've driven once on the island. It's not bad because it's not busy, but especially if your steering wheel is on the normal side on the left side. And then you're also driving on the left side. It feels really weird. We've also had cars where the drive was on the right, and I feel like that was a little less weird. Just something to keep in mind. Just keep reminding yourself. Left, left, left. Now that we've gone over an overview of Eleuthera and you might be wondering what to do with kids, I want to give you ten things that my children themselves have said that are their favorite things to do. So if you're like, but what will we do all day? I got you, even though it's like a low key vacation, it's also not boring. So here are our top picks for family friendly little adventures. Number one at the top of their list is to visit the library. So this is the Haines Library and Governor's Harbor.

Dana Stanley 00:16:37 I believe it's the oldest library in the Bahamas, if not close to it. She's adorable. She is pink with green shutters. The librarians are wonderful. But the best part is off the back is an entire kids section. And they have good books, like good kids books. They have more Disney books than my local library has. Some of them are really old, like things that you can't find anymore. This week we were able to check out a rescuers book like the Disney movie with a little mice rescuers. I was so excited. If you've listened to the podcast, you know that's one of my favorite movies and they just love it. There's little tables and little chairs and they can spend an afternoon there. Or like if it's the beginning of your trip, go and take out a few books for the house. That way you don't have to lug a lot of like, bedtime stories on your trip. And my girls love to get their own library card, so I think it's $5 for the year.

Dana Stanley 00:17:40 It's either 5 or $10 for the year. Obviously we're not doing it to like, actually use it, but it's really a donation to the library. So if you go get your kids a library card, you know, it's kind of like a little souvenir of sorts and like an experience, but it helps out the library so much. And also, if you have any books that you bring to the island and you don't want to lug them home, you can just donate them to the library. They'll be so appreciative. It's hard to get things on the island. Everything's a pain with like tax and shipping things. So if you have that in the good of your heart to donate some books to the library, it's called Haines Library and Governor's Harbor. Number two is to visit ten Bay beach. For little tiny seashells. We ended up here a few times on our trip because I told you it was so windy. Ten Bay is on the Caribbean side, not far from Governor's Harbor. And the cool thing about it is, unlike the other side where you can't even find a shell, this is full of seashells.

Dana Stanley 00:18:40 So you could spend an entire day with the kids and like, a little, you know, bag or basket and just searching for seashells. And they're all really, really tiny. Like my mother in law was saying, it was like a nursery for shells. It was really fun. Kids love it and it's very calm. Has that again, like flat, no waves, the kids. It's like a one huge splash pad. So that was really fun. Number three is to get ice cream at the Buccaneer Hill gift shop. It is right next to my favorite lunch place, Buccaneer Club, and they have really good ice cream. I don't know where they're shipping it from. I don't know if they make it themselves. I should really ask. Sometimes they don't have cones and you'll have to ask them, like when they're getting cones in and they'll say tomorrow, you know, is boat day. They'll be coming on Tuesday. So I usually wait until they have cones because it is so good. I know it's on the kids list, but this is probably on my list because I still think about they had like a strawberry cheesecake ice cream, and I had like chunks of cheesecake in it on a waffle cone.

Dana Stanley 00:19:52 And I ate the entire thing. Like, all I had left at the end was a napkin. It was so good. Number four is to not be shy and let your kids just walk up to other kids. I mean, I said before that I have never left without having some type of playdate, whether it be planned or on the fly. It's not really like a tip, but it's one of the things to do with kids is to meet other kids. They're on vacation. There's not like it's not like Disney World, or it's just like bombarded with other kids. They almost get excited, like, look over there, a kid, and they'll play for hours on the beach. Or if you're waiting for your table at a restaurant, which can be a while because it's island time, it's one of those great situations where you don't have to, like, stay seated at the table. You can, you know, go for a walk on the beach outside of the restaurant when you're waiting for dinner.

Dana Stanley 00:20:46 Go for a walk. My daughter's story added the fifth thing on the list. She is eight years old. To give you some context and that is to get Boba. There is, believe it or not, a little boba place on this island and I hope it stays open. My girl loves it. She got. What did she get last time? I think she got taro root with a coconut tapioca. You know, boba balls. It's very, very good. And it's a cute place. And again, I'm gonna link all of these in the show notes. If there's any, like, place or Instagrams, I will link them. Number six is to look into which nights at which restaurants have pizza nights. So there are a few restaurants that will rotate different pizza nights. Is it the best pizza in the world? No, I live in new Jersey. I am a pizza snob. But do the kids like it? Yeah, they don't know. They're just excited to have pizza. It tastes like, you know, comforting and reassuring and familiar.

Dana Stanley 00:21:50 So there are a few around the island, like tipis, Bacchus, and I believe a restaurant called La Bougainvillea. They all will have a pizza night, so look into that ahead of time. I'm going to do a side note here of any like Eleuthera forums on Facebook are really, really helpful. People that visit Eleuthera are tend to be like revistas, kind of more die hard vacationers and are very knowledgeable about things like this. So yeah, join a forum. It's very easy to get recommendations there. Number seven is to get coffee at De Perk. This is in Governor's Harbor. And no, I'm not saying to give your kids coffee even though it is a coffee place, but I want you to keep visiting until the owner, Horatio's daughter coffee is there. She is so sweet. She will greet you at the door. Show the kids all her little toys. She's like the sweetest little hostess. They have great coffee and like, breakfast things. Breakfast sandwiches, muffins, smoothies, things like that.

Dana Stanley 00:22:51 One of our spots that we always have to go is to perk. And you should take the kids there, too. Number eight is to just look at the stars. There's like, barely any light pollution every night. Like just coming home from dinner or before bed. Turn off the lights like in the house. So it's not like shining on you outside. And just look up and look at the stars. I know there's like an app that will show you the different constellations and things. That's really cool. I, you know, don't get that into it. I just look up. And this past trip, my daughter and my husband, I missed it. Very mad. Saul, an actual shooting star, which is so cool. Actual magic. So make sure you look up at those stars. So number nine would be a little bit more of a drive if you're staying at Governor's Harbor, but that's to visit Golding. Kay. So this is more up north, I want to say maybe 45 minutes from Governor's Harbor.

Dana Stanley 00:23:50 Golden Kay Beach is just one of these perfect beaches on the calm side. Very few rocks. It's really shallow, clear water. Good snorkeling if you're into that. And very, very quiet. And what I like about it is that it is very close to a lunch spot that we like called Daddy Joe's right across the way. So if you're feeling like you kind of just like want to take a little bit of a drive and you have a kids, I would suggest starting with Golden Kay and then lunch at Daddy Joe's. Last at number ten I have watching the sunset at least one night. This will be on the Caribbean side. My favorite way to do this is to get a dinner reservation at a restaurant called 1648. This is at the French resort that I talked about earlier. Really beautiful spot. Great steak. Really good fries. Which. Side note all the fries are good on the island. I don't know why. So. One of my favorite. I don't know if you want to call it a mom hack is I always get a fry appetizer.

Dana Stanley 00:24:51 I let the kids meals come out with our meals the same, but when we're ordering drinks, I get drinks and fries and they're really good. That was a complete side note, but it is such a great night. If you're looking for a night out and you're killing two birds with one stone with the sunset there it is really beautiful. Just look at the sunset time, because you don't want to get there too early because it's like kind of straight sun. That's why it's a beautiful sunset. So I would get there, you know, around 630 for like a 730 sunset. And there's a lot of places to walk the kids around there. If you're a little intimidated by, like, a sit down restaurant. I wanted to mention we had met a family while we were there, and she was asking me about any, like, takeout spots that you like. Like, we've gotten takeout from here and here and here. And I was surprised. I was like, why don't you just go to dinner? And she said, well, it just feels easier, like just eating back at the room, which I can understand in some ways, especially like at home in new Jersey, sometimes just easier to stay in.

Dana Stanley 00:25:57 But this is vacation and you're on the beach, so like, you're not stuck in like, a Chili's, you know what I mean? Or like a regular restaurant, you're most likely on the beach or some type of beach or near a beach. So go out to dinner. You're going to be paying essentially the same amount, staying in or going out except for the tip. So I say go out, enjoy. Like the weather, unless it's raining or something. I say take your kids out. Go to 1648 French fry appetizer, watch the sunset, maybe get ice cream after. I mean, that is like a solid night. We've covered all of these things to do with kids, and I would love to just mention a few things if you were visiting the island, and some of them I have already mentioned. But just like a rapid fire things that I want you to know, if you and I were having coffee and you told me that you were going to Eleuthera, we've covered that the Bahamas is its own country, so you and all your kids are going to want a passport.

Dana Stanley 00:26:57 We've covered that. I think you should get Global Entry. We've covered that you will be driving on the left side of the road, and we've covered the best beach spots for kids. Now, there are a few things that I want you to pack, like sunscreen. Can you get sunscreen on the island? Of course. But it's not going to be the brand that you absolutely love, and it's going to be triple the price. So usually like for Disney World and stuff, I only bring like a little bit of sunscreen, like a roll on, really pack the sunscreen. The sun is extremely powerful down there. You will get burnt. So definitely pack sunscreen, preferably reef safe sunscreen to protect the beaches down there. Another thing that you'll notice is there can be a lot of flies depending on the time of year. So you sit down to eat. And restaurants know this. It's like a normal Bahamian thing. They will bring stir knows like the things that keep your food hot at a buffet.

Dana Stanley 00:27:51 Do you know talking about little Sterno, those will be lit. The flies obviously don't like flying over the heat, so they avoid it. I just wanted to mention this because I could see someone sitting down and there's flies at their food and they're like, what is going on? And if you have any pepper at your table. Pro tip if you sprinkle some pepper on those journos, the flies like extra hate that. It's just like this annoying thing that I guess you kind of get used to, but it really just depends on like where you are, the wind, where your table is, the time of year. Just something to be aware of. And while I am not complaining about this island, obviously because we clearly love it so much and keep going back, one of the things that can be Shocking is the cost of food when you get down because it's an island. Everything has to get shipped there most you know. Besides like a few fruits and vegetables and local things. So if you go to the store and you're getting Organic Valley milk or Cheez-Its or goldfish, the price is going to be about 40% more.

Dana Stanley 00:28:55 Just that's how it is. It is not ideal, but that is just island life. You scarcely get used to the prices. Like as soon as I get home, I feel like everything is so inexpensive because you get used to it. But that being said, once you get used to different places, you'll find like where to buy certain things that are cheaper. Anything that you can buy local and fresh is going to be the best and least expensive. So there is a place called Island Farm. I think it's like ten minutes from Governor's Harbor. They have so many fresh like lettuces. I know this is weird, but they have, like the best romaine lettuce I've ever had. There are tons of farms on Eleuthera, so anything that they are growing there is going to be really tasty, really fresh, and not, as you know, high in cost because they're not shipping it in. But that same family I was talking about on the island, I had asked because they were coming from Boston.

Dana Stanley 00:29:52 I said, did you know ahead of time about like the prices on food? And she was like, nope. Like, we're on vacation. It's fine. But it is shocking when you go to the store and you're like, wait, why does like, there's no way that these eggs cost, you know, $13. Another thing that's different on this island is you're not going to be drinking water from the tap. So most likely nine times out of ten when you are renting a house or what have you, they're going to have something set up for you already, like a water cooler with purified water in it. I have asked as many people as I can who live on the island, like, come on, like, do you drink the water like you're local? Goal. Is this just like an outsider thing? Like, are you guys used to it? And they're like, no, we don't drink the water. I guess it's just an old system or they don't trust something that's going on, so I don't risk it and I listen to them.

Dana Stanley 00:30:46 They will at restaurants give you, you know, purified water. They're not going to like, give you tap water or anything like that. Now that being said, I still use it for like brushing my teeth. I've never had an issue. But if your kids are in the tub, remind them like, hey, don't drink the tub water. Not that they I mean, they shouldn't be anyway. But just again, things that when you're going to the island, I want you to know ahead of time. I have gotten a few questions about safety. Like, is the island safe? It's very safe. I mean, obviously everywhere is going to have, like, petty theft and you shouldn't leave things out or unlocked. But again, like, there's just not a lot of people in general. We've always felt safe everywhere we go. And yeah, no problems there. So that's Eleuthera, the not so secret island that we've been loving. And if you're dreaming of, you know something different than Disney World.

Dana Stanley 00:31:38 Of no schedule. Just kind of do whatever kind of trip you can. Check out the show notes for links to our favorite rentals. Some more travel tips. And if you found this episode helpful, send it to a friend who you know is planning their next family trip and prefers empty beaches. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Laid Back Magic Way Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode and it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me if you'd write a quick review. Your reviews help more moms like you find the show, and I read every single one of them. Seriously, thank you in advance. You can find me on Instagram @somewhereworthwhile and I'd love to hear from you there. DM me if you have any questions about this episode or what you'd like to see in future ones. Until then, keep planning for your next favorite memory and I'll see you next time.