Amy and the boy on STJ: Day 8
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:50 am
The day before, Jan told us that recently she had had a very good snorkel over at Lameshur, and said she saw turtles, stingrays, and spotted eagle rays. Spotted eagle ray has been on my list of things I really want to see, so we decided to head out that way today. When we started out it was a little cloudy, but soon it was raining hard as we made our way through Coral Bay. The ride out to Little Lameshur is a bumpy one, so we took our time and by the time we got there, the sun was shining again.
When we got in the water, we almost immediately saw a green turtle (I think I called this a hawksbill in my real-time report, but after looking at photos now I know it's a green turtle).
Lots of fish and coral along the rocks on the right side and a couple of stingrays:
Hubby discovered what he called an underwater mountain range not far from shore, and he took some time exploring there:
All of a sudden, a BIG shape appeared to my right and I realized it was a spotted eagle ray! The water was very murky and I think I might have messed up the settings on the camera so this is a lousy photo, but I have to show it anyway:
We were so excited to see it! So huge and graceful to watch. We snorkeled until we were all tired, then headed back to shore when the clouds started forming again. On our way out, we saw a mama and baby deer:
We really wanted to stop at Shipwreck Landing for lunch since we'd never been there before, but when we drove by it was closed, so we'll leave that for the next trip. Hubby had missed our lunch at Skinny's earlier in the week, so we decided to head back for more great burgers. It rained along the way, but cleared up quickly once again:
Blue cheese burger and painkiller:
Chicken which kept eating our crumbs:
My solo excursion today was back to Trunk, since I knew there were no cruise ships in that day. I started out snorkeling along the trail intending to get all the way out to the end of the cay, but halfway there I met a very polite southern gentleman who signaled to surface so we could talk. I'll try to re-create the conversation (imagine this with a very charming southern drawl): "I sure hate to bother you, ma'am, but I was out there at the end of the island taking pictures of a turtle, when I saw a big ol' shark that scared me half to death. I thought you might like to know since I notice you are on your own and all. Have a nice day!" I told him thanks for the warning, and in fact I really didn't want to see a shark while I was by myself (the lifeguard was off-duty!), so thank you for telling me! And then I turned around and headed back to shore. I am sort of a wimp when it comes to sharks, after having a VERY close encounter on our last trip at Waterlemon with a not-nurse shark (never figured out what it was, maybe reef shark?) mere feet from my face. So I went back, sat and enjoyed the beach and the beauty (again, no bugs here), then headed home.
Another area I had never explored in any kind of detail before was the Cinnamon Bay sugar factory ruins, so I pulled over and took some photos there as well:
That night was our splurge dinner at Sweet Plantains, and we were all looking forward to it. Last trip we had gone with J's family, but J got a bad migraine as soon as we got there and never got to enjoy the food.
I forgot to take photos of the food (sorry! We were too hungry!), but it was delicious. We got 2 orders of the tostones with spicy crab dip, and we all got one of the curries, some West Indian and some East Indian style. I love the atmosphere there and the food is terrific. Totally stuffed, we headed home to play another Scrabble game (which by the way, the boys often won) and get ready for our last full day on the island, sniff.
Last full day: Cinnamon and a little bit of Hanna
When we got in the water, we almost immediately saw a green turtle (I think I called this a hawksbill in my real-time report, but after looking at photos now I know it's a green turtle).
Lots of fish and coral along the rocks on the right side and a couple of stingrays:
Hubby discovered what he called an underwater mountain range not far from shore, and he took some time exploring there:
All of a sudden, a BIG shape appeared to my right and I realized it was a spotted eagle ray! The water was very murky and I think I might have messed up the settings on the camera so this is a lousy photo, but I have to show it anyway:
We were so excited to see it! So huge and graceful to watch. We snorkeled until we were all tired, then headed back to shore when the clouds started forming again. On our way out, we saw a mama and baby deer:
We really wanted to stop at Shipwreck Landing for lunch since we'd never been there before, but when we drove by it was closed, so we'll leave that for the next trip. Hubby had missed our lunch at Skinny's earlier in the week, so we decided to head back for more great burgers. It rained along the way, but cleared up quickly once again:
Blue cheese burger and painkiller:
Chicken which kept eating our crumbs:
My solo excursion today was back to Trunk, since I knew there were no cruise ships in that day. I started out snorkeling along the trail intending to get all the way out to the end of the cay, but halfway there I met a very polite southern gentleman who signaled to surface so we could talk. I'll try to re-create the conversation (imagine this with a very charming southern drawl): "I sure hate to bother you, ma'am, but I was out there at the end of the island taking pictures of a turtle, when I saw a big ol' shark that scared me half to death. I thought you might like to know since I notice you are on your own and all. Have a nice day!" I told him thanks for the warning, and in fact I really didn't want to see a shark while I was by myself (the lifeguard was off-duty!), so thank you for telling me! And then I turned around and headed back to shore. I am sort of a wimp when it comes to sharks, after having a VERY close encounter on our last trip at Waterlemon with a not-nurse shark (never figured out what it was, maybe reef shark?) mere feet from my face. So I went back, sat and enjoyed the beach and the beauty (again, no bugs here), then headed home.
Another area I had never explored in any kind of detail before was the Cinnamon Bay sugar factory ruins, so I pulled over and took some photos there as well:
That night was our splurge dinner at Sweet Plantains, and we were all looking forward to it. Last trip we had gone with J's family, but J got a bad migraine as soon as we got there and never got to enjoy the food.
I forgot to take photos of the food (sorry! We were too hungry!), but it was delicious. We got 2 orders of the tostones with spicy crab dip, and we all got one of the curries, some West Indian and some East Indian style. I love the atmosphere there and the food is terrific. Totally stuffed, we headed home to play another Scrabble game (which by the way, the boys often won) and get ready for our last full day on the island, sniff.
Last full day: Cinnamon and a little bit of Hanna