Scotch and Coconut Water.....

Today was our last full day on the island so we got an early start, arriving on Orchid about 8:30am. We were, of course, the first ones there. We began our morning ritual of walking up and down the beach seeing what designs had been left for us overnight in the sand.

Doesn't look like much in the picture, I know. It's one of those things, like the azure color of the water or the feel of the tradewinds while you on the beach, that you just can't communicate. It's nice to walk the beach in the morning when everything is fresh and the previous days events, at least what evidence that was in the sand, is gone forever. So...that's what we did first thing today. While we were walking we were asking each other when the first visitors would arrive. I said probably earlier today since it was Friday and people would be wanting to enjoy as much of the beach before departing Saturday.  It was while we were walking back along the beach that we heard the first car doors. It was 9:30 and it was a party of 4. Lorrie and I were surprised, just the day before we virtually had the place to ourselves. The party of 4 went down to the "Love Shack" and took up residence.

The water was relatively calm so I decided to head out one last time to try some spearfishing. I was out about an hour or so. No luck, didn't even fire a shot. Saw a lot of fish. Was also noticing all the new, young, brain coral. Little round globes of it. Nice to see. I saw one large snapper, but he saw me first. Lots of large parrot fish. Saw some squirrel fish, but not as large as the ones on Playa Chiva that Lorrie and I saw earlier in the week. Lots of grunts and jacks.  I then noticed that some other snorkelers were heading towards the reef, so I called it quits and headed back to shore.

By the time I got my gear off and put up  it was near 11am. I mentioned to Lorrie about what time it was and she was ready to head to the gate for some Sol Food.  While she's  gone another 6 people show up on Orchid.   Today being a very nice day  with partly cloudy skies and a nice breeze, I'm not too surprised.  Since I'm going to be by myself for a while I start people watching. You see, when you log as many hours  on the beach as Lorrie and I do, you naturally gravitate towards the fine art of people watching. My cabana is the perfect spot to watch things happening around us unobtrusively.  Lorrie and I make guesses as to where people are staying. There's a certain beach chair that we see the "dubyas" carry (if you don't understand...then never mind).  When it's windy we make bets as to how long people umbrellas stay up.  We watch people put on their fins, on the beach, and then duck walk into the water (just like we did when we first visited). We sit back and say "hah...couple of greenhorns" (like we're old hats at it or something). We watch people walk off the beach into the sand burrs, ouch! We watch older couples walking hand in hand along the beach and younger couples kissing in the water. I just don't understand what it is about the Caribbean waters, but young couples almost always end up kissing at about chest high water. Maybe a lot of them are on their honeymoon or something...I dunno. Lorrie says "it's sweet".

 About 45 mins later I hear a car door. It's time for some Sol food!

That's the Bob Marley, just in case you didn't know. Spicy chicken with some kind of pineapple goo on top. I had the lentil curry and guava iced tea. Man-oh-man, it's the best.

Lorrie had the pulled pork with psychedelic purple cabbage, no bun (what can I say, she's a groovy kinda carbohydrate conscience, chic). That's some sort vegetable pasta side. She had apricot sun tea. Bill for it all was $23.

Bellies full we decided to take a little walk around the south (right) side of Orchid towards Escondida.  We had  walked over there earlier in the week but somehow screwed up on the video we took. We had video of this kinda of cave or pool. It was making a really strange gurgling sound. We walked all the way over to where we could see Escondida, but couldn't find the pool.

There's this strange sort of geologic formations over on this side. I didn't have the camera with me, all I had was the video. But here's a still from the video of what I'm talking about below.

There's these little pockets that hold the darker colored rocks. Strange.

While I was over on that side of the beach I decided to balance a few rocks. I had yet to do any on that side of Orchid.

Got a shot of Lorrie in front of the finished pieces.

I like this shot the best. Can you see the approaching storm in the background. Hah...it sure looked like we just might need my little addition that I put on the cabana, after all. It began to sprinkle lightly so we headed back. It did begin to rain harder and the little my little addition did keep up dry. I have a short clip of the rain below.

The rain didn't last for long. Lorrie and I then headed down the beach to the other end. On our way down there, a couple says "your Curt". Yep....sure am.Then the husband says to me "Dude..your famous!" Lorrie and I both laughed.  We're glad other people are enjoying our little blog. That was the second couple that recognized us from the blog this trip. This second couple, Chris and Susie, were from New Hampshire.  We met so many different people on this trip.... a record producer, a fashion photographer, a physicist,  an engineer. Pretty kewl.

It wasn't long before there was only one other couple on Orchid. Things had made full circle back to the way it was this morning.  It was getting on about 4pm now and I ask Lorrie what she wanted to do? She said she wanted to stay longer since it was our last day. We sat in the cabana and I poured myself a scotch. I caught Lorrie starring out into the ocean...not saying anything, just taking it all in. I grabbed the video cam and managed to catch some of it:

We sat there for quite awhile. Lorrie ask me "aren't you sad we're leaving?" I told her yes...but we'll be back in 8 weeks. I told her I was going to head out into the water one last time and she joined me. When the water got about waist deep I put my arms around her and gave her a kiss. We hung out until the sun was getting really low on the horizon. I knew we were pressing our luck with the no-see-ums.

It was when we headed out of the water that I noticed another couple show up. "Boy...are they getting a late start" I told Lorrie. I was feeling kinda mellow from my scotch so I walked over to say hello/goodbye. His name was Jose and his wife was Anita. He was working on a project on the island. He was overseeing the installation of new water pumps out by Green Beach. I noticed that Jose had 4 young coconuts in his hand. I ask him if they were the right ones to try and open. He told me that these young ones were good for getting at the coconut water. Anita told me the water was good for your kidneys. Jose said it makes for a great scotch. He was a single malt scotch drinker...my kind of guy. We chatted for quite a long time. Super nice people. They live on the main island. Jose showed me how to open up the coconuts, the easy way. He gave one to me and then opened one for Lorrie. Anita raised her bottle of Heineken and said "Salute". We all toasted the moment.

We said goodbye and headed back to our cabana where I had to have a coconut water and scotch.

Hasta Luego Vieques...we'll see you again in about 9 weeks.