“The beauty of memories
lies not in their clarity,
but in the warmth
they bring to our hearts.” 
Author Unknown

On Saturday, August 24, 1974, my friend and high school classmate, Dan Pasini, and I boarded a 10:00 p.m. flight from San Francisco to Miami. From there, we took a connecting flight to the Bahamas. We arrived at Nassau International Airport around mid-day on Sunday, August 25th. That was fifty years ago today. After going through immigration and customs, we were greeted warmly by our host, Father Elias Achatz, a 63-year-old Benedictine priest who served as Prior of the St. Augustine’s Monastery community. Dan and I had met Father Elias at a social gathering in Kingston, Jamaica in July 1971. Much to our surprise, in April 1974, he invited us to teach at St. Augustine’s College in Nassau during the 1974-75 academic year. We accepted his offer.

At that time, Dan and I were completing our second year of college. I’m fairly certain that the term “gap year” had not yet emerged, but that’s exactly what the opportunity turned out to be for us. There we were, two 20-year-olds, embarking on the experience of a lifetime.

St. Augustine’s College is a Catholic, 7th through 12th grade comprehensive high school. Dan and I were both given full teaching schedules in the Religious Studies Department. In addition to our academic responsibilities, we took on additional roles as coaches of various sports, and I was asked to serve in a quasi-administrative position overseeing the academic and social involvement of one-quarter of the SAC student body. 

The experience at St. Augustine’s was transformative for me, and I know it was for Dan, too. One cannot help but be changed when given the opportunity to live in a different country for a year and to immerse oneself in a new culture. 

The memories of that year are still vivid for me: SAC students in uniform transitioning from one class to the next; getting acclimated to the heat and humidity of September days in classrooms with no air conditioning; preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Fifi, which fortuitously shifted course and passed well south of the Bahamas before crossing the Gulf of Mexico and devastating the small country of Belize; and having seasoned Bahamian veteran educators such as Mr. Lou Adderley and Mr. Winston Carter to mentor us throughout the year. 

Dan and I also enjoyed the camaraderie of a number of other young Bahamian and expatriate teachers with whom we enjoyed an active social life throughout the year. We joined them for many Friday evening happy hours at The Bridge Inn, followed by music and dancing to the tunes of Kenny & the Beach Boys at The Rum Keg, a small night club located on the lower level of the Nassau Beach Hotel. 

Of course, we took advantage of some of the beautiful Bahamian beaches, too. Our favorites were Cabbage Beach on Paradise Island and Cable Beach on West Bay Street. Occasionally, Dan and I would drive to the Palmdale district after dinner to get milkshakes at Dipper Dan’s before driving out to the end of the Nassau wharf where the large cruise ships docked. The unobstructed view from Nassau harbor of the sun setting on the horizon was awe-inspiring. On other evenings, we would hang out at the casino on Paradise Island watching the tourists trying to beat the house in craps, blackjack, and roulette. (Locals, and those of us with Bahamian work permits, were prohibited from gambling in the casino.) And it was not uncommon for us to drive out to Howard Johnson’s restaurant, in the Nassau Beach Hotel, for a late-night snack.

The friendships made, the experience gained, and the memories associated with Nassau and St. Augustine’s College are as vivid and valued today as they were when I first experienced them fifty years ago. I will be forever grateful for this amazing, undeserved opportunity.