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Indiana, United States
Empty nesters...ready to stretch our wings. Life is good and we plan on making it even better. This blog is mostly about our trips to Vieques Puerto Rico, with a few odds and ends thrown in about our life after the mortgage.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Orchid graffiti gallery....

Awoke this morning early...managed to catch a few pics of the sunrise.


We had a light breakfast of hard boiled eggs, juice and coffee. Packed up and made it to Orchid around 9am.  We were the first ones there. It's nice having the whole beach to yourself. Lorrie and decided to take a stroll east along the beach and ended up at the "Love Shack".  First thing we noticed was a coconut with a face drawn on it.



Not a bad drawing and it pretty much captured our morning mood.  We walked on past the "Love Shack" and I noticed some sand castles left from Dave's children the day before.




Not sure what they had going on with that one above. It kinda looked like a fish or something. They sure put a lot of work into it. We turned around and walked down past the "Love Shack" again. I took a shot of the names of the original builders of the shack. I wanted to show how they were beginning to fade away:



While I was taking the above shot, Lorrie pointed out all the other graffiti in different places on the "Love Shack".  I grabbed some pictures of them. Interesting how so many different people feel the need to leave some sign that they were here at the shack:









While we were walking back down to our own little "shack", Lorrie mentioned that she would like to have a table. I had made one in November but it was no where to be found. So that was my morning project. Lorrie returned to sun worshiping as I began making the table. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished table. I'll have to do that tomorrow.

I haven't mentioned it but the surf was up big again today. No chance of doing any snorkeling. Visibility was poor at best. Not long after I finished the table a couple strolled down. They walked right up to me and ask "Your Curt, aren't you?". Yep..that's me. It was another person who had posted on the blog. Dan was his name and he and I talked about spearfishing on Vieques. I mentioned to Dan about how much the surf was up and that there wasn't really any point in trying to spearfish here today. He told me that they were at Green Beach the day before and it was perfect. I think I remember him saying that he had speared a snapper over on Green. We talked shop for a while and then I was on to my next project.

Now I don't know why I decided to make a sundial. Maybe it was because I got tired of digging the phone out of the bags to check the time. I do remember seeing the shadow cast from a large log someone had stuck in the ground next to our cabana and thinking "That would make a really nice sundial". So I began marking the hours, I also marked a few half hours. Lorrie grabbed a shot of me starting:



I put a rock in the sand to mark 11:00. Then I was thinking..."who's gonna know it's eleven unless I put a little sign on it. So I took a piece of bamboo and wrote 11:00am. The next picture is a little after 2 pm.



and here's how we marked 12 noon:




The rest of the day was spent walking the beach just taking things easy. There were not nearly as many people today on Orchid as yesterday. We counted 17. I didn't go out and try some spearfishing around 4 o'clock (that's when I officially stopped marking time). I was out about an hour..couldn't really see anything. Way too much sand being stirred up by the surf.  After having no luck in the water I balanced another rock on the west side of Orchid.



We left Orchid about 5:20. First there...last to leave. Headed back to Hilltop. Lorrie had cooked chicken that night before. We had that again and a nice bottle of wine. I did get an email from the property manager of Casa la Vista this evening, asking our itinerary. Lorrie and I both with we had just booked Hilltop for two weeks. I almost did that for this trip..but not knowing the place I didn't against. Tomorrow there's a slightly greater chance for rain. We've not really had any, to speak of, since we've been here. If the wind ever does lay down Lorrie and I are going to rent a sea kayak and try to make it out to "Blue Tang Reef". Now that should be an adventure.


3 comments:

  1. Hi Curt & Lorrie
    Dave here. It was a pleasure to meet both of you this past February. The kids got a kick out of seeing their creations on the blog. You will be pleased to know that your cabana & table are doing quite well (100% occupancy rate) when we left on Wednesday. Unfortunately, your timepiece is completely gone. I walked down from the Love Shack to check the time (had to catch the plane) and had to return to the Love Shack to check it on my phone.
    We wound up going out for a morning sail and snorkel with Jorge as well. What a terrific person and trip. Snorkeled Limon Reef, and a small reef at Playa Fanduca. Saw a lionfish there with Andrea. Crazy looking creature.
    Looking forward to seeing you both again next February. In the meantime, stay warm and keep the blog postings coming. Also, if you are interested, you can check out my site for silver charms I have been creating inspired by VQS @ www.viequesislandcharms.com

    David

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    Replies
    1. Dave,

      It was great to meet you and your wonderful family. We too look forward to seeing you again next Feb. What did you think of Limon reef? Did you get to spend much time there and did you see the flying fish?

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    2. Curt & Lorrie,
      Limon Reef was by far and away the best snorkeling we have seen in Vieques. We stayed at Limon reef for about 45 mins. Jorge was great in helping us interpret what we saw. We saw the flying fish too - those were also amazing, almost surreal. A 5-6 foot barracuda as well. We also noticed on the way out to Limon Reef that the water had a hue and saturation of color that I have never seen before. Super turquoise, almost like the mineral turquoise.

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