EDITED - PIX!!!! Trip Report - Day 2 (August 5, 2012)

[ColumbiaSCTraveler]

I woke up at 5:45am. (That's what happens when one goes to sleep at 8:30pm.) I made myself fall back asleep, and then got up at 7am. I fixed my inaugural pot of Kiss of the Jumbie coffee. Bliss!

Our first beach of the trip is usually Maho. This is D's fave, and one of my faves as well.

We were at Maho at 8:15am. (Again - you might remember this from our last trip report....we are early risers and early returners. Meaning, we like to get up and out to a beach early, and leave the beach in the mid-late afternoonish when the crowds start thickening.)

So, Maho, 8:15am. Obviously we were the only [crazy] ones out at that hour.

This year's first glimpse of Maho...approaching from our parking spot....BLISS!



We always set up camp on the left hand side beneath the palms. (Left = look at the beach, we're on the left.)





We got in the water and snorkeled the rocks on the far left. We saw 2 stingrays right off the bat. Nothing much was going on, so we got out and walked to the middle. There was a [baby] shark patrolling the shallows over the black rocks.



So out we go. We see the biggest barracuda; 2 turtles; 1 HUGE STAR FISH, and a huge conch. We snorkeled about an hour (probably more - time flies in the water) out in the middle. I promised D we'd see turtles there, and I'm glad I (ha) was able to deliver. (I'm SUPER PUMPED about the STAR FISH since this was my first time seeing one!!!) AMAZING snorkel, though. First snorkel of the trip!







After our snorkel, we relaxed some. I'm too hyper to just sit for too long, though, so D sat some more and I walked to the other end of the beach.



Walked back to "our" end of the beach and again - bebe shark!



We were getting hungry about this time, so Skinny's it was. Finally! We both had the special: pepper jack, bacon, and mango chutney. Holy awesome!!! D had 3 coconut swizzles, and I had a guava swizzle (the drink special) and 2 beers. Price = $56 before tip. (Another forumite posted the price of meals, so I'll try to do the same, too.)



After Skinny's, we headed to Haulover South. I snorkeled the right hand side. Lots of sea fans, corals, saw some trumpet fish, and then got out and relaxed.



Then the craziness happened.



All of a sudden, we see 3 donkeys coming onto the beach. Two eventually left, but 1 lurked! Seriously, y'all. The donkey would. not. leave. He approached us and kept nudging D. And then he just stood there between our chairs. Forever. We knew that he would just hang out until we fed him (which we would NOT IN A MILLION YEARS DO - we know better than to feed / touch the donkeys, so please don't yell...it's just obvious that other people have done this, so they are just brazen now to approach people like that), so we gave up and left.





We were back at Sail View at 3pm. We showered and rested, and left at 4:30pm. We had somewhere to be. THE FORUM GATHERING AT THE BEACH BAR!!!! I was SO excited for this, y'all. I'm SO GLAD we went!!!!! First of all, we had NEVER been to Beach Bar. I know, I know. Colossal mistake. Please forgive us. We've learned. So we get there and order conch fritters and $4 painkillers. We're sitting facing the water and I THINK I recognize Awardb from the forum. I kept staring over at him. He probably thought I was a stalker. ha! So when I saw Silverheels walk up to Awardb, I KNEW it was them! Yay!! (Silverheels said she recognized D from my trip report. Funny. D is sort of "distinctive" looking. ) So, we gathered our stuff and joined up with Awardb, Sylvia, Silverheels, and her sister. We chatted on the beach with them for about 2 hours about anything and everything. It was SO GREAT to meet up with forum folks in "real life"!!! So for any of y'all who have missed out on forum gatherings - don't miss out again!!!! I'm already looking forward to being back on island again and meeting up with these peeps and more sweet forum folks. We got a group picture at the end, and only left because we were hungry!!



Off to Rhumb Lines we went. **FIRST TIME HERE.** LOVED IT, y'all!! We split the mango gazpacho, shrimp/corn fritters, and the ultimate pad thai (beef, chicken, shrimp). Everything was DELICIOUS! Oh, we also had mojitos. I had a regular one, and D had a guava one. Bill was $57 before tip. (D rated this place a 9.25; I gave it a 9.5)



Tummies full, we headed back to Sail View. Arrived at 9:30pm (late night for us - ha), showered, and drifted off to sleep.

[EagleRayLover]

Sounds like a perfect first full day- Bearch Bar forum days are fun after a snorkel day!!! hope you get evolution on the pictures soon!!(get it?hehe)

[PA Girl]

We are early birds too. We stayed on the Coral Bay side of the island for the first time in February and the sunrises blow any sunsets away.

[Tia]

Great trip report post and loved the pic's

[DonnaM]

The pics make all the difference! That donkey looked so sweet! We have had them come up to our car window like that but never on the beach.

[Connie]

Love the pics. Husband and myself laughed so hard about that donkey.