Slow days...odds and ends

I didn't post yesterday...was a nice slow day. Lorrie and I drove to Sun Bay yesterday morning to attend a yoga group session.  We ended up leaving before things got started. Not sure why, but we just wanted to get back to Orchid. As it was we ended up getting there around 10:30, late for us. We were delighted to find our cabana. unoccupied. I began to notice the water clarity getting better yesterday. I went out and did some snorkeling on the south side of the beach and watched a sea turtle off the reef. The visibility was best right in the reef. I spend some time there watching a moray eel. We ended up leaving the beach @ 6pm.

Today we got a much earlier start. We arrived at Orchid at 8:15. That's such a nice time to be there. You will more than likely be alone for at least an hour or so. Did some maintenance on the cabana while Lorrie took her meditative morning walk along the beach:

After I finished making the repairs to the cabana it was time to set another stone in place on the sun dial.  We now have 9am marked.  After that I caught up with Lorrie and we walked along the beach, just the two of us. On our way back I walked up to where Andre and Judy usually stay, under some nice trees. They weren't there yet. We were hoping that they would show up today because they didn't make it yesterday. I took a shot of their hangout:

After our walk I decided to head out to try some snorkeling. Water clarity was just a bit better than yesterday. It should really be about right tomorrow if things keep improving at this rate. Saw the sea turtle again today. Saw some nice sized bar jacks, one red snapper and a few shoot able yellow tails. Tomorrow looks like a good day to do some spear fishing.

When I came back in from snorkeling Judy and Andre had showed up. They came down to say hi and complimented Lorrie and I on our newest addition to the sculptures. Lorrie and I hauled a monster chunk of coral over to the gallery and got it set up. Andre said that he did his Zen design around the base of it. They invited us over to their place this evening for their Friday night "sunset" party. Mostly just a gathering of friends watching the sunset and having a few cocktails.

Met lots of people today. Saw Dan again. He went out with his daughters boyfriend and tried some spear pole fishing. They didn't have any luck. Lorrie and I counted 27 different people on Orchid today..almost a record day.

On the drive in to Orchid today Lorrie and I saw a tree/bush that looked like it had cotton hanging from it. I had seen that tree in the same area last year and wondered what it was. Today we stopped and grabbed one of the cotton balls. I have a picture of it below. I didn't know that it grew on the island:

I found one other strange seed near Orchid beach. I've showed this to a number of people and no one can identify it. One guy did pull one that he had found out of his pocket. I would really like to know what this is. I took a couple of pictures of it:

We ended up leaving the beach earlier today because we needed to get to Judy and Andres around 6pm. We rushed back to the house, showered, grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out. We made it at 6:05. There were 9 of us altogether. Everyone was out on the veranda. Andre got Lorrie and I some rum punch and we had just enough time to meet everyone and then the moment was at hand. The setting sun starting dipping below the western point of the island. Right as it was disappearing everyone was saying a very low and soft "Ohmmmm".  It was one of those moments when you knew you were experiencing something really special. I had my video cam with me and even had it on trying to capture the moment. I thought I had until here tonight when I realized I still had the memory card in the laptop. Darn the luck, I would have loved to have shared it with you.

After the sun set Judy ask that we all gather around. She said that since it was so close to Valentines day she had something she wanted us all to do. So everyone took a seat and Judy came out of the house with a little basket. In the basket were little pieces of paper, cut into heart shapes. She walked around and everyone drew one. Each one of the little hearts had something written on it. Judy ask that each one of us read our slip aloud for the group. Some were very mysterious. Some were funny and some just made you think. So each of us took our turn and read what our heart had to say. It was a really good time and something that Lorrie and I both knew we could only experience in Vieques with such wonderful people. Since my video cam wasn't working all I can share is a couple pictures of the little hearts Judy made. The first one was mine:

This second one was Lorrie's:

After that Andre, Robert and I each had a scotch while Robert showed us Sirius, Canopus, Venus and Jupiter while at the same time talking at length,  with such depth of knowledge, about the night sky,  that I was totally confused before my scotch was finished.

We headed back to our Hilltop apartment about 8:30 having spent another wonderful evening with our very good friends. And speaking of Hilltop, Lorrie and I spoke with Barry and have rented it again for the full two weeks in November of this year.

Tomorrow we leave the Hilltop apartment and begin our stay at Casa La Vista.

Hasta Manana

:-)