Not being cold....

Just got back to the house and finished showering. I came out of the bathroom and told Lorrie "you can't put a price on not being cold, especially when you step out of the shower." And you can't. Back home you jump in the shower and then when you step out it's like SHEIT!!!! Well, at least it is at our place with the thermostat set at 70. Down here on Vieques there's no difference from when you step in, to when you step out.  That is a wonderful feeling.  Something about having the house all open and the fresh air. Lorrie and I have not used the air conditioning, nor will we. There's no need. We're experiencing, at most, a 10 degree temperature swing from heat of the day, to low at night. Your body acclimates to that narrow range quickly and all your joints feel soooo much better. Not sure why I needed to share that, but if you've spent any time in the Caribbean you'll know where I'm coming from. 

Today it was back to Playa Grande. I had some unfinished cleanup and we just felt like it. Forecast was for a 20% chance of rain showers. We hardly saw a cloud, no beer in this picture. It was 10:30am and I just wasn't feeling it. 

Like I mentioned I had some unfinished cleanup to do at Playa Grande. I opted to get it done first thing.  Right out of the gate it  seemed like I was finding an inordinate amount of flip flops/ shoes on this particular sojourn.

Not exactly what I would expect to find on the beach?

Thought the same about this one

Then I started finding the flip flops

I should have counted, but I didn't. But I would wager that I found more than 25 different shoes. Of course I found plenty of plastic liter bottles, plus 5 lighters. Two in one bag and 3 in the second bag. Having already filled the first bag and now nearly at capacity on the second, I sat it down rather than lugging it. I would search a 20 foot stretch and then move the bag down.  I've also started taking the caps off of the plastic bottles and then smashing them with my foot so as to get more into each bag. When I saw that my bag have fell over and spilled I new it was time to quit. 

I made it to marker #85 on Playa Grande. I could still see garbage on ahead of me, but I had to stop. I've been using a piece of bamboo or driftwood to carry the bags back. Smashing the bottles makes for much more weight and using the ties at the top of the bags nearly turned your fingers blue trying to carry them. I just loop the ties over a stick and carry them like a hobo would, works great. 

Trash detail complete the rest of the day was spent enjoying Playa Grande. We went swimming again, with noodles this time. Only saw one other couple, who parked behind us. Young couple from the main island. They told me if we needed to leave they would gladly move their vehicle. I told them we would be on the beach till the sun went down. The walked west up over the rock outcropping. 

While we just hanging out and old friend stopped by, Officer Sanchez. I shook his hand and he said it was good to see us. He's a great guy, and a real asset for Vieques.  We talked for a short bit, kind of caught up. He pointed out how the beach was much wider on Playa Grande than it normally is this time of year. He also talked about how cool the temperatures have been (depends on your point of reference, I know). Then he explained why he had stopped. The car that was parked behind our Jeep had the doors locked and windows up, plus a purse laying in plain site on the seat. There was also a phone in plain site. He was worried that the car would get broken into and was wanting to talk to the owners. We explained that the car was not our, we had the Jeep, which he assumed. I explained that the couple had went west over the rocks down the beach and that we hadn't seen them for about 30 minutes. I told him I would be glad to pass on the advice, if that would be alright. He agreed and thanked me. I like him a lot and I think most people will also.  The young couple showed up 20 minutes later and explained what officer Sanchez had said. 

We packed up about 5:15pm. On our way out Lorrie wanted to stop at the eastern part of Playa Grande. We did and what we found, which we had no idea was there, was a small protected little swimming spot. 

That reef that is out to the right of Lorrie in the above picture, is breaking the waves and creating a nice little calm stretch.

This is looking the other direction, west. It's a nice little area that's really calm. You can't really tell but Lorrie had some other reasons to stop at this area of the beach. Sea glass. At the rate we're going I'll have to check another bag just for the sea glass. She was on the hunt for the elusive " blue" sea glass. About all we could fine was this little piece:

Finally here's her find:

Tomorrow it's back to La Plata, plus we have a new video project to work on. 

:-)