Another lazy morning in paradise. Winds were blowing last night which caused some rolliness, but all in all a good night’s rest. We started slowly, after all it is island time, and with no access to wifi, so we relaxed watched some kite boarders playing across the water and we re-hydrated, Matt made breakfast quesadillas, Wayne worked on the port alternator belt, and I read. We then piled in the dingy to go explore the famous turtle sanctuary (one of our favorite places) and to snorkel the beautiful reefs. Much to our surprise, there were no sting rays within the sanctuary confines (which allows all sea life to come and go as they please, but it is protected and food and grass are more abundant in this area), and most of the turtles were smaller compared to previous years, but there were lots of them. Seemed like they just hatched a bunch of babies (anyone know when mating season is). It still was great fun to see the turtles in their habitat, less than 5′ from us, eating, swimming, and coming up for air. We then went to the reef (right in front of where we anchored) and enjoyed a beautiful array of sea life. We enjoyed observing many schools of fish, some enormous turtles (must have left the sanctuary) and much to our surprise we saw an octopus! Yes, you read that right! He was beautiful (despite my underwater gasping). I could not tell what it was at first as he hugged the coral – almost looked like a porcupine puffer, but then turned inside out (not really, but it appeared that way), unwrapped himself and swam away to hide under another piece of coral). Of course Matt followed at a brisk pace, almost on top of him as I trailed behind in utter amazement of this beautiful sea creature! Tim, my dear friend and fish guy would have loved to see this.
After being water logged, we headed back to the boat. I decided I needed to dry off and fell to my belly for a quick nap – now I enjoy a nice ruby red back side! Boys played with the remote some more, but could not revive her. We watched the many kite boarders all day long as they gallantly swished passed up from shore to shore! They make it look so effortless, and I know it is hard!
Since we have so much tuna on board, we enjoyed another tuna dinner (mine cooked well and spiced with “Pappy’s” and the boys raw), with come cous cous and corn – perfect evening to a fabulous day. Celebrating with some rum/cokes and vodka/water.
