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TR - shark week continued
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NoWorriesMom
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Boulder, Colorado
TR - shark week continued
Hi all, thnx for comments on part one! Here's more and not too much I hope.
Day 2 on STJ: With no air conditioning needed we got to wake to the sound of soft rain. Hooray, back to sleep! When we wake again it is sunny. This day we went to the Haulovers, north and south. South side was deserted except for a kayak tour truck meaning the kayakers had made an early start of it. We tried to snorkel but it was like snorkeling in a snow globe. Algae. One side, left I think, was clearer but we mostly made a morning of swimming and relaxing. Haulover north was really choppy so we just took in the view and breeze. I love the lizards scurrying everywhere and the wild goats in the trees. Skinny Legs time! After lunch we head to Lameshur which I don’t really know how to pronounce. We hope it isn’t lame (4) sure. We went to the right first then all the way around the point on the southern side. The point area was beautiful. Tiny black fish with electric blue spots swimming over bright yellow coral! After two and a half hours in the water we relaxed on the beach. A man walks up then with a baby octopus in his hat (pic coming, have to read how to do that exactly). The man had been walking the shoreline and saw the little octopus on some rocks! He scooped it up and showed us until it liberated itself and plopped into the water. It did that cool eight arm compression backwards swim away.
We head home, shower and go out for dinner at Sweet Plantains, sitting outside, soft breeze, no bugs because of how dry the island is. Funny thing is that we were having a bit of heartburn (shouldn’t snorkel right after lunch and especially dive down to look under ledges so much!) So we’d stopped for Tums and laughed at ourselves for getting older. At Sweet Plantains, which was delish, we start with a salad that turns out to be super, extra, intensely, SPICY. Holy cow. Didn’t expect that one. Good thing the Tums was working. My chicken and coconut curry was amazing. Husband’s grouper (again with the grouper, he’s going to have a worm belly!) he said was wonderful. We had cold pinot and were in food and wine heaven at that place!
Day 3: Woke early, eat banana bread in the car on the way to Waterlemon. We park at the Annaberg lot, walk to the first little bit of sand and get right in the water. There is plenty to see there: lots of soft coral and fish around the rocks. Then we swim straight over to the cay. Yes. Over deep, can’t see the bottom, water. Cue the Jaws music. We make it no problem (although people on their boats were giving us funny looks) and head around the cay. The snorkeling there is great. A highlight for me was a trumpet fish feeding on fry, unafraid of me, two feet from my head. He/she would sort of slide up then dart and gulp. Cool to watch. We go around twice and then swim to the land closest to the point and make our way around the bay. Right off land, maybe ten feet from where people are beginning or ending their snorkel we see: a small octopus, a lobster, a bigger octopus, a big starfish, a spidery looking crab! At the larger sandy beach there are turtles. Near our exit point I get tired of being in the water and just motor forward. That’s when I miss seeing another nurse shark. This one had the decency to be still and resting in the shadow of a boulder. Rick got a couple pics of it. Head to Cruz for lunch at Deli Grotto. Greek sandwiches and espresso delights are sooooooo good! We end the daylight hours at Francis again and at home we drink Ting with rum and enjoy time together. Rick hurt his foot on a stick poking out of the sand and I am burnt so we wonder what we’re going to be up for the next day. We get a day off because that’s when the bloody monsoon starts! Up next, Centerline is kayak-able, too many drinks and La Tapa. Hooray, I finally got to try La Tapa!
Day 2 on STJ: With no air conditioning needed we got to wake to the sound of soft rain. Hooray, back to sleep! When we wake again it is sunny. This day we went to the Haulovers, north and south. South side was deserted except for a kayak tour truck meaning the kayakers had made an early start of it. We tried to snorkel but it was like snorkeling in a snow globe. Algae. One side, left I think, was clearer but we mostly made a morning of swimming and relaxing. Haulover north was really choppy so we just took in the view and breeze. I love the lizards scurrying everywhere and the wild goats in the trees. Skinny Legs time! After lunch we head to Lameshur which I don’t really know how to pronounce. We hope it isn’t lame (4) sure. We went to the right first then all the way around the point on the southern side. The point area was beautiful. Tiny black fish with electric blue spots swimming over bright yellow coral! After two and a half hours in the water we relaxed on the beach. A man walks up then with a baby octopus in his hat (pic coming, have to read how to do that exactly). The man had been walking the shoreline and saw the little octopus on some rocks! He scooped it up and showed us until it liberated itself and plopped into the water. It did that cool eight arm compression backwards swim away.
We head home, shower and go out for dinner at Sweet Plantains, sitting outside, soft breeze, no bugs because of how dry the island is. Funny thing is that we were having a bit of heartburn (shouldn’t snorkel right after lunch and especially dive down to look under ledges so much!) So we’d stopped for Tums and laughed at ourselves for getting older. At Sweet Plantains, which was delish, we start with a salad that turns out to be super, extra, intensely, SPICY. Holy cow. Didn’t expect that one. Good thing the Tums was working. My chicken and coconut curry was amazing. Husband’s grouper (again with the grouper, he’s going to have a worm belly!) he said was wonderful. We had cold pinot and were in food and wine heaven at that place!
Day 3: Woke early, eat banana bread in the car on the way to Waterlemon. We park at the Annaberg lot, walk to the first little bit of sand and get right in the water. There is plenty to see there: lots of soft coral and fish around the rocks. Then we swim straight over to the cay. Yes. Over deep, can’t see the bottom, water. Cue the Jaws music. We make it no problem (although people on their boats were giving us funny looks) and head around the cay. The snorkeling there is great. A highlight for me was a trumpet fish feeding on fry, unafraid of me, two feet from my head. He/she would sort of slide up then dart and gulp. Cool to watch. We go around twice and then swim to the land closest to the point and make our way around the bay. Right off land, maybe ten feet from where people are beginning or ending their snorkel we see: a small octopus, a lobster, a bigger octopus, a big starfish, a spidery looking crab! At the larger sandy beach there are turtles. Near our exit point I get tired of being in the water and just motor forward. That’s when I miss seeing another nurse shark. This one had the decency to be still and resting in the shadow of a boulder. Rick got a couple pics of it. Head to Cruz for lunch at Deli Grotto. Greek sandwiches and espresso delights are sooooooo good! We end the daylight hours at Francis again and at home we drink Ting with rum and enjoy time together. Rick hurt his foot on a stick poking out of the sand and I am burnt so we wonder what we’re going to be up for the next day. We get a day off because that’s when the bloody monsoon starts! Up next, Centerline is kayak-able, too many drinks and La Tapa. Hooray, I finally got to try La Tapa!
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cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston