This was a very fun, although weird, Christmas! Bill and I took the morning slow so I could recover from kitesurfing yesterday. I have mystery bruises in various places, but nothing serious. We went for a scooter ride downtown this morning but everything was closed. We’ll go again tomorrow so I can get a tea cup. I have a collection going from all the places I visit. After lunch, we decided to try to find a snorkel location other than the hotel just for something different. We took the scooter past miles of beautiful beaches but most of them weren’t good locations for entering the water. Rather than sand, they are covered with pieces of coral and then a rock shelf that’s almost impossible to walk on without shoes. There are sharp edges everywhere and they hurt. So, we came back to the hotel and snorkeled here for a while. The reef is really close to shore and it’s filled with various kinds of fish. The fish are used to snorkelers so they stay pretty close although not close enough to touch. There are little damselfish that are black with bright blue and purples spots that look like tiny lights. I wonder if they glow in the dark. We also saw some crabs and sea urchins. I’d really like to see some seahorses, rays, and octopuses, but none so far. We might see more when we go to Kline Bonaire. Bill has a GoPro-like camera and he got some great underwater pictures and video. I’ll attack the pictures.
We got a note from management asking people to dress up for Christmas dinner. They wanted people to wear long pants instead of shorts, which is a little unfair since many people don’t pack pants to come here. There’s not much reason to have them. Bill and I dressed up, but the meal was basically the same as every other night and lots of people weren’t dressed up. The restaurant offered “wild game” pate, but we aren’t sure what counts as wild game here. So far, I haven’t seen any mammals – no squirrels, rabbits, rodents- nothing! Do iguanas count as wild game? There are lots of those. We ate fish and chicken instead.
We are sitting by the pool now overlooking the beach. It’s a beautiful evening with a nice, cool breeze and palm trees blowing around us. We can’t see the ocean because it’s dark, but we can hear the waves crash in. No one else is out here so it’s peaceful and perfect! It’s definitely not a snowy Christmas, but it’s been lovely just the same!
Tomorrow, we are doing a three hour 4 wheeler ride to a bat cave. That should be a lot of fun. I’m hoping to go shopping for a tea cup too and we’ll probably snorkel again.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and everybody is healthy and well!
Traveling with Emily! 