If you're wondering where I've been all this time, Erskine and I have been travelling a lot for the last several months, as we searched for and transitioned from one home rental to another here in Nassau, Bahamas. We had been given only 40 days' notice to vacate our Cable Beach apartment in January, as it had been sold!
We managed to find a rare but expensive three months' short term rental in Cable Beach.
However, when that ended we were in a dilemma. We still couldn't find a permanent apartment or even another short-term one. So we decided to spend the month of June in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, as it was cheaper to stay in an apartment in Florida than AirBnB here! And we had some JetBlue credits that were about to expire.
Our sons kept looking for rental apartments
for us back in Nassau while we were in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and we searched
online.
There is a shortage of affordable and decent rentals here in Nassau, partly (or perhaps mainly) due to the increasing number of expensive AirBnbs and also because some foreign companies snatch up rentals sight unseen and are prepared to pay high rents and large deposits for their non-Bahamian employees in advance. We read that a similar problem exists with the rental market in many other countries.
While in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, we strolled around the town and discovered the Town Hall. Unfortunately, the library was closed at the time. Quaint little place. Well kept and very quiet, but has great amenities. Would love to live there! One apartment owner that we chatted to said she had been there seven years and loved her “little piece of paradise”!
In the nearby Publix, before starting our walk around the town, I asked an employee there if it was safe to walk. Would there be any stray dogs that might attack us (as can happen in Nassau when walking in some neighbourhoods!)? The employee laughed and said no way, "the place would be closed down right away"!
When our unexpected vacation was over, we returned to Nassau. Unfortunately, a rental that one of our sons had found for us fell through, and we moved back into the Orange Hill Beach Inn on the Western Shores of Nassau, where we had spent a night or so in between our moves.
We ended up staying in a room there for 28 days! Fortunately, the hotel owners were very kind and helpful. We were even able to set up our desktop computer there and start to get back to a somewhat “normal” life.
Finally, we found a permanent rental apartment in
Cable Beach, signed a year’s lease and moved in at the end of July.
It’s been quite an adventure, if we can call it that, as it was a strain on our finances. But we held out for what we wanted and didn't choose second best, despite the "naysayers".
We’ve learned a lot and are going forward with more strength and vigour. Our
new Tiktok platform (tiktok.com/@youngheartsforever) has given us a new interest and is becoming
quite successful. My husband Erskine is a musician and is enjoying playing his
guitar and singing a selection of songs (including some he has written
himself) for videos we upload to Tiktok.
And I am getting back to my writing projects. I have so much to catch up with!
(If you wish to comment on this post, please click the title and a comments box will pop up. Thanks!)
