A yankee in the bahamas

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5 years ago

ANDROS

Many years ago, (over 40, to be exact) my husband (at the time) was working on the island of Andros, in the Bahamas. He was working on an undewater detection system of some kind. I cannot remember the details, and I am not sure I ever understood them.

THE HARRISON HOUSE

We were moved from Merrett island, Florida, to the island of Andros by way of the company plane. It was a single engine, and a little small for myself and my 3 children. Because of limited space in the plane, we were not able to bring many of our belongings to Andros. This also consisted of toys for the children. They would have to do without. (More about this later,)

The first few days we were given accomadation in tdhe beautiful home known as the Harrison House. As I recall, the company we were with was Nat Harrison, inc., but, once again I am not sure. The story was,that the Harrison House was built by someone in the royal family, and that the Duke of Windsor lived there. I do not know if that is true, but it was a beautiful home, and I am sure, that in its day, it was fit for a King, even an abdiccated on.

Around this time, we were given access to the Navy Mess Hall for our meals, as there were no grocery stores on the island. We were given the use of a small house, only a short walk from The Harrison House. The main thing I can remembmer about this house, is that a beautiful peacock was frequently looking out from the top of the house, with his feathers spread out.

The power for this part of the Island was by generator, and the noisy generaator was quite close to our house. It went out often, and wen it did, look out for the heat !!

The house was nothing special, but it was adequate, since I didn't have to cook meals. My 3 children Kirk, Tarie, and Jo, were awsome. Since they had no toys, they made themselves a monopoly set, with a board, paper money, etc., and they entertained themselves for hours with it. I have always thought this showed so much character and ingenuity, and I was very proud of them. My children were moved around alot and lived in some places very strange to them, but they always had each other

ACTIVITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT

My son Kirk, who was an excellent swimmer, was quite often invited by the sailors, who were stationed on the island, to go diving with them. Even though I did not cook much while there, we did enjoy lobster occasionally.

We often got up early in the morning, depending on tide, and went "shelling". We found some beautiful shells. My daughter, Tarie, was especially good at finding speial shells.

I must mention that Kirk learned to drive while we lived at Andros....And he learned to drive on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD

Bonefish fishing was also popular. But we could not eat the fish, so we used to take these fish "Across the Creek" to the native population living there. They seemed to relishthem.

Another pastime was going to the Navy baseball games. They were divided into teams, and even though I am not a sports fan, the games were quite enjoyable.

My mother came to the island to visit us for a couple of weeks. She was entertained by the company pilot, cannot recall his name, but it will come to me. We used to go down to the Andros Hotel and dance.

Dancing was big in those days. Keep in mind that my mother, Neva, was a very attractive widow and the company pilot was a bachelor. I can well remember him dancing with her and I noticed both her high heels protruding from his pockets. What a memory !!

While my mother was there, we also joined "the boys" poker games, and we often won. All in all, my mother's visit to the Island of Andros was enjoyed be us, and I am sure,by her.

Of course, swimming at the beach was a great pastime, until my daughter Jo, and I were visited by a shark while in shallow water. I got her out of there without incident, but it was frightening.

Occasionally we went by company plane to the main island, Nassau, where we visited the local market and did some shoopingl One time, we even went to Nassau by boat. Needless to say, traveling over the waters of the Bermuda Triangle was a little disconcerting.

CONCLUSION

We were only in Andros 3 months, as there were no schools there. What a great 3 months it was, and we were very sorry to leave. Another overseas job awaited us soon, and that was in Australia.. Please also read my post "A Yankee in Australia".

Thank you for reading my post.

Janice Gustafson 6/1/2019