Ceratopogonidae attack

I woke up at 6am and started coffee, Lorrie was up right after me. We had breakfast and headed out to Orchid a little bit earlier today. It was 7:30 when we arrived at the beach, first ones there. As soon as we got the gear to Casana Corona  I noticed that the wind sock (my makeshift version of one) wasn't  moving at all. There were no winds at all, dead still and that's when they made their move. Yep "no-see-ums", in force.  We were both swarmed. We had three options: get in the water (outside temp was 68 when we left the house), go to the truck and wait or use the bug spray that Lorrie had packed. We opted for number 3. I'm not a big fan of chemical sprays but this was war. Even though we had the spray on it was still necessary to walk up and down the beach. We tried sitting and reading but the little buggers were unrelenting. After about an hour or so the winds picked up and  POOF they were gone. Thank gawd...that's the second time we've ran into them on the island. The first time was in November over at Puenta Arenas.

While we were walking up and down the beach, trying to avoid the attack force, we went over to check on the land crabs. I saw a whole group of them not far from where Judy and Andre were haning out. I took a picture of them. A few feet from this group was the remains of the crab from the empty shell (or at least that seems logical to me). I found it interesting the way they were all bunched up together. I guess they must be a gregarious sort of creature.

After the battle with the insects was over things slowed down to their normal pace on Orchid. Most of the time  Lorrie and I were either like this:



or like this.

It was nearly 10am before anyone else showed up on the beach (I guess everyone else knew better with no winds). Orchid beach has been seeing about 25-30 at peak time for the last two weeks. Today there were only 20 and most didn't stay long at all. I did take a walk around the west side of Orchid, past the rocky point almost over to Secret. There are lots of little tidal  pools and places where the water would push up thru little channels. I even found one place that almost looked like a small cave or something. I took a few shots on the walk:

We did snorkel around these rocky points pictured above. Saw lots of black sea urchins. On the way back to the beach I didn't  swing out far enough and ended up heading into some shallow reef. It was almost too late by the time I realized it. A big wave broke right over Lorrie and I tearing Lorrie's snorkel loose from here mask. We managed to make it out without any injures.

Other than that it was an easy day at the beach. We walked over to the rock art gallery a few times. I added a few more pieces. I took a picture of Lorrie:



And of coures she took one of me. You can see my floating pieces (at least the look that way) in the background.

We left Orchid about 5pm, the first one there and the last ones to leave today. Tomorrow is our last full day on the island.

:-)