Thanksgiving with the McPenguin5
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:49 pm
It was a very good Thanksgiving day. We started out early for Maho beach, and found ourselves a nice spot. We weren't the only ones there, but it wasn't crowded either.
We spent some time snorkeling around in the center, spotting some conch and small turtles. Helene commented that we might be able to see more interesting stuff if we headed over to the right side near the rocks, past the boat channel.
We decided the best course of action was to snorkel close to shore as we got to the boat channel, looking for any boat traffic as we crossed it, and then to head in close to the rocks.
We started seeing all sorts of great coral, and then, as everyone was swimming on past me, I decided to just drift while in a huge school of bait fish. I just love the way it feels... I hang in the water, trying not to move, until the fish get used to me being there and swarm all around me. It is like floating in space. There seemed to be so much more of them, in such a tight space, it felt very surreal.
I was focusing on what I thought was a golden brown colored rock, when I realized I was looking at a very large turtle! I was surprised that the others hadn't tapped me to let me know about him, so I figured they hadn't seen him (or her, I can't really tell).
I surfaced and found the rest of the gang further up the rocks, so I swam over and told them to come see the turtle. They scurried on over, and were pleased to see that the turtle was still there. I was very happy, this was one I found before anyone else! JJ was busy snapping pictures (he is our designated underwater photographer) and we marveled at the size of our turtle. I felt very possessive, this was the turtle I had found!
We began to slowly head back further up the rocks again, when suddenly we found a flurry of activity in the bait fish. WHOA! There was a great big fish, about 6 feet long, with a dorsal fin, swimming right through our group and gulping down bait fish! John started herding us back closer to shore, but JJ insisted on trying to get a picture of it before he would move. We all thought SHARK!
John said that as we started moving on back he thought he saw scales on it, so maybe it was just a Tarpon. I'm not so sure after reading What DCPHOTO posted seeing in Frances Bay - the big nurse shark. We may never know.
We were impressed enought that we thought twice about swimming in the middle of a densely packed school of bait fish. We watch a lot of nature shows on TV, and I am familiar with the "Bait Ball" they form when they are being persued by predator fish. Could we have been hanging out in the middle of a bait ball?
We started swimming on down the beach back to our pile of towels and stuff. It was nice snorkeling that day, clear water and so much to see. It was great that we were finely able to hit a north shore beach finally. We came back to our spot and sat for a while, enjoying the sun, warming up.
Helene was curious about the left side of the beach and, after getting warmed back up, she took off snorkeling over there. It wound up to be murkier and not as interesting to view, so she came on back.
We did a bit more snorkeling in the center of the bay, JJ doing some diving to pick up a few Conch to take pictures before putting them back down. I was surprised how colorful they were. I had only seen Conch with pink inner shells before, but he pulled up an orange one. Very pretty. We made sure that they were properly nestled back on the bottom before we moved on.
We started packing up, as we had to get to Baked In the Sun before 2 PM to pick up our Thanksgiving dinner. We were eager to see what it would be like. John drove up to the Marketplace Shopping center, and Jim ran in to collect it. Imagine our surprise when an employee came out with him, bearing boxes and boxes of food! It was a total shock to see how much food there was. We hurried on back to the villa, and brought everything in.
Helene and I set to getting our table set. We thought it would be fun to sit out on the deck to eat with a view of the sea. We pulled two of the plastic tables together, pulled a nice tablecloth over them, and placed out the dishes, silverware, and napkins.
The food just barely fit onto the table, and we were busy searching around to see what all we had. The turkey was packaged with stuffing, honest to goodness REAL stuffing, none of that awful Stove-Top stuff. You could just tell everything was made from scratch. The green beans were so delicious. The Yams, I don't know what they did, there was a seasoning I couldn't identify, it was so good, I could have gotten stalled on eating just Yams.
Of course the turkey was exquisite. Tender and juicy, and plenty of it. We were never going to eat all this in one meal, that was plain. And to top it all off, the tastiest apple pie I have ever had. We had been given a choice of apple pie or Pumpkin pie, and decided to go all apple. I am glad we did.
We were all groaning, full to the max. We got up and began putting all the leftovers away in the fridge, cleaned the table off, and loaded the dishwasher. It couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes, and we were over to the pool.
I think this has to be the best way to do Thanksgiving dinner yet. No one had to do any cooking, the clean-up was a snap, and we had a pool to jump into when we were done. It was also a bit sad, as we realized that tomorrow would be our last day. We were talking about how we were going to have to somehow eat all those leftovers tomorrow, we had to pack up and leave on Saturday morning.
As the sun went down, we drifted back into the house and set up to play some more cards. We just can't seem to resist playing silly poker games.
It wasn't any time at all and we were all ready for bed. I am constantly amazed at how tired a person can get from doing something that feels as effortless as snorkeling and swimming. I never feel it while I am in the water, but at the end of the day, I am whipped. Good solid sleep. And tomorrow, more fun.
Thanksgiving day was definitely a day to give thanks for!
We spent some time snorkeling around in the center, spotting some conch and small turtles. Helene commented that we might be able to see more interesting stuff if we headed over to the right side near the rocks, past the boat channel.
We decided the best course of action was to snorkel close to shore as we got to the boat channel, looking for any boat traffic as we crossed it, and then to head in close to the rocks.
We started seeing all sorts of great coral, and then, as everyone was swimming on past me, I decided to just drift while in a huge school of bait fish. I just love the way it feels... I hang in the water, trying not to move, until the fish get used to me being there and swarm all around me. It is like floating in space. There seemed to be so much more of them, in such a tight space, it felt very surreal.
I was focusing on what I thought was a golden brown colored rock, when I realized I was looking at a very large turtle! I was surprised that the others hadn't tapped me to let me know about him, so I figured they hadn't seen him (or her, I can't really tell).
I surfaced and found the rest of the gang further up the rocks, so I swam over and told them to come see the turtle. They scurried on over, and were pleased to see that the turtle was still there. I was very happy, this was one I found before anyone else! JJ was busy snapping pictures (he is our designated underwater photographer) and we marveled at the size of our turtle. I felt very possessive, this was the turtle I had found!
We began to slowly head back further up the rocks again, when suddenly we found a flurry of activity in the bait fish. WHOA! There was a great big fish, about 6 feet long, with a dorsal fin, swimming right through our group and gulping down bait fish! John started herding us back closer to shore, but JJ insisted on trying to get a picture of it before he would move. We all thought SHARK!
John said that as we started moving on back he thought he saw scales on it, so maybe it was just a Tarpon. I'm not so sure after reading What DCPHOTO posted seeing in Frances Bay - the big nurse shark. We may never know.
We were impressed enought that we thought twice about swimming in the middle of a densely packed school of bait fish. We watch a lot of nature shows on TV, and I am familiar with the "Bait Ball" they form when they are being persued by predator fish. Could we have been hanging out in the middle of a bait ball?
We started swimming on down the beach back to our pile of towels and stuff. It was nice snorkeling that day, clear water and so much to see. It was great that we were finely able to hit a north shore beach finally. We came back to our spot and sat for a while, enjoying the sun, warming up.
Helene was curious about the left side of the beach and, after getting warmed back up, she took off snorkeling over there. It wound up to be murkier and not as interesting to view, so she came on back.
We did a bit more snorkeling in the center of the bay, JJ doing some diving to pick up a few Conch to take pictures before putting them back down. I was surprised how colorful they were. I had only seen Conch with pink inner shells before, but he pulled up an orange one. Very pretty. We made sure that they were properly nestled back on the bottom before we moved on.
We started packing up, as we had to get to Baked In the Sun before 2 PM to pick up our Thanksgiving dinner. We were eager to see what it would be like. John drove up to the Marketplace Shopping center, and Jim ran in to collect it. Imagine our surprise when an employee came out with him, bearing boxes and boxes of food! It was a total shock to see how much food there was. We hurried on back to the villa, and brought everything in.
Helene and I set to getting our table set. We thought it would be fun to sit out on the deck to eat with a view of the sea. We pulled two of the plastic tables together, pulled a nice tablecloth over them, and placed out the dishes, silverware, and napkins.
The food just barely fit onto the table, and we were busy searching around to see what all we had. The turkey was packaged with stuffing, honest to goodness REAL stuffing, none of that awful Stove-Top stuff. You could just tell everything was made from scratch. The green beans were so delicious. The Yams, I don't know what they did, there was a seasoning I couldn't identify, it was so good, I could have gotten stalled on eating just Yams.
Of course the turkey was exquisite. Tender and juicy, and plenty of it. We were never going to eat all this in one meal, that was plain. And to top it all off, the tastiest apple pie I have ever had. We had been given a choice of apple pie or Pumpkin pie, and decided to go all apple. I am glad we did.
We were all groaning, full to the max. We got up and began putting all the leftovers away in the fridge, cleaned the table off, and loaded the dishwasher. It couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes, and we were over to the pool.
I think this has to be the best way to do Thanksgiving dinner yet. No one had to do any cooking, the clean-up was a snap, and we had a pool to jump into when we were done. It was also a bit sad, as we realized that tomorrow would be our last day. We were talking about how we were going to have to somehow eat all those leftovers tomorrow, we had to pack up and leave on Saturday morning.
As the sun went down, we drifted back into the house and set up to play some more cards. We just can't seem to resist playing silly poker games.
It wasn't any time at all and we were all ready for bed. I am constantly amazed at how tired a person can get from doing something that feels as effortless as snorkeling and swimming. I never feel it while I am in the water, but at the end of the day, I am whipped. Good solid sleep. And tomorrow, more fun.
Thanksgiving day was definitely a day to give thanks for!