First of all, this post is dedicated to my Aunt
Jean, who is celebrating her 29th birthday today. ;) Happy birthday, Aunt Jean! Wish you were
here so I could celebrate with you!
Now, on to business. Monday started with the spa and relaxing by
the pool. That night was the Manager’s
Cocktail Party, which was basically just an introduction of the staff in the
lobby area with a few appetizers. This
simply served to remind us of a cruise ship, again. Then we grabbed some dinner at Coconut Walk
and went outside to watch the resort’s entertainment team put on a show called
Caribbean Night. There was a band who
sang some reggae and calypso songs as well as a dance team who performed
various dances that can be found throughout the Caribbean. It was pretty entertaining.
Yesterday we had our first excursion! About 10 of us got picked up at the front of
the resort at 8 AM and were driven to Laborie.
There we boarded a catamaran called The Majestic that would take us to
two snorkeling sites: one right off Sugar Beach and one by Anse Chastanet. They were both near Soufriere and the
Pitons. The boat’s crew was very
friendly. The captain’s name was Bradley, but he kindly informed us that the ladies
on the boat could call him Chocolate or Juicy.
There was another crew member on the boat who talked to us for a while,
and was very friendly, but none of us can remember his name. The sea was surging a bit, and it was very
windy, but the ride was nice. At one point
the crew even let out the jib for a while.
The ride lasted about 30 minutes and the views were fabulous.
The snorkeling was done in little areas off of
beaches that were roped off and protected as marine sanctuaries. There was so much to see! There were lots of different fish and corals;
I even saw a lionfish and a few crabs.
Also, on the way to the second site, we sailed right past a pod of
dolphins! It was so fun to watch them swim around the boat. There must have been about 10 of them. After we snorkeled the second time, the crew
took us to the bat cave. It is a crevice
in a cliff on the side of Soufriere’s harbor that has hundreds of bats in
it. You could hear them even from about
20 feet away. Oh, and did I mention that we got rum punch? :)
After snorkeling we were picked up and driven back
to Coconut Bay. We showered and spent
most of the afternoon sleeping. Dad and
I found some nice hammocks to take our naps in until it started raining on
us. That evening there were local
vendors in the lobby, so we decided to do a little souvenir shopping. We also checked out the Coconut Bay gift
shop, where I got a Bounty rum hat, and the Diamonds International on the
second floor of the lobby. I got a pair
of tiny tanzanite studs for free and Dad got Mom an entire set of jewelry for
their anniversary. The stones are called
Caribbean Topaz and the color is called Martini Fire, which is a very nice
yellow color.
Today we went to Sugar Beach, which is my mom’s
favorite beach in the entire world. It
is owned by a resort by the same name that caters to some seriously famous and
rich clientele. The resort itself is way
out of our price range, but you can sit your butt on a towel on the beach for
free! The resort is located on the side
of Petit Piton, which means it has a lovely view of both the Pitons, but that
also means that the walk down to the beach was seriously treacherous. My hamstrings were shaky once we finally made
it down to the beach!
The beach itself is gorgeous. The sand is perfectly white and soft, but
that might be because it is imported from Guyana. The water, however, is local, and it is
crystal clear and blue as can be. The
best part, for me at least, was watching all the little crabs run around on the
sand. They popped in and out of their
holes to clear out the sand that had fallen in during the high tide. Abi, however, did not find this amusing, and
spent most of the day worried that she would step on a crab. Of course, we were all very understanding of
this worry and did our best to set her fears at ease (not!).
We only had a couple of hours at the beach, but I think Mom
is satisfied. Tonight we are going to our first fancy dinner at the
resort. We will be eating at the Asian
restaurant called Silk. Then tomorrow we
get to take a full island tour! I’ll let you know how it goes.
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