The sailboat ride wasn't available, so the watersports people recommended the water taxi to Green Key for snorkeling. Sounded like a good idea at the time, so we rented the appropriate gear after trying it on. Everybody agreed that we should've had a video camera to record what "trying to walk wearing flippers" looks like...
We'd been told there was no shade on that island, but a beach umbrella was included with the taxi ride. As the water taxi approached the beach, Carol spotted a cave and was out of the boat to lay claim to it before the boat "parked" (leaving Paul, as usual, to carry the luggage.)
The first thing Carol discovered about the cave was that it was inhabited. Later, Paul came in from a swim without his glasses on and mistook this little critter for one of Carol's shells - until he got it close enough to his nose to see that there was what looked like a 2 foot claw coming out of this 3 inch shell...
The beach is on the lee of the island, and
the water here was almost as calm as a pool. The swimming kind of ended when Carol
saw a giant snake (or small eel) being scared by Paul's flippers. We later learned
that the larger ones really can hurt, but the water is so clear it is easy to stay
out of their way.
Paul hid in the cave for a bit while Carol collected seashells. The adventure began when Carol discovered that the south side of the beach had lots of shells and some really cool rocks...
This is Paul trying to stand up on a rock that is almost six feet above sea level. He's holding his knees to keep them from shaking...
and this is Paul getting comfortable with the rock.
Carol had no problem climbing the rock
but is still kind of mad at Paul for using the camera while she was climbing.
never to be seen again until...
...she showed up on top of the island above the cave.
There she is! Now Paul goes "running" across this field of broken coral in canvas deck shoes shouting "wait for me!" into a 20-knot tradewind...
Nearly dead, Paul made it to the "beach", still shouting. Finally, Carol heard the mournful cries and turned around.
Carol had wanted Paul to climb up with the camera to get a picture of the neat cacti:
and Paul is certain they were worth it. (?)
Did get a good view of the beach while looking for the easy way down, though.
And Paul did make it back to the shelter of the cave.
We had a bit of a scare when the water taxi showed up to pick us up at the
appointed time and we weren't ready. We started gathering things up and when we
turned around again, he was gone. Of course, he just had to pick up another couple
from a different island. Turned out great for us, because we all got dropped off
at "The Perch" (the bartender was wondering why she hadn't seen us) where the
first two Guavaberry Coladas disappeared without
hardly being tasted.
| Copyright 1998 by Paul Kislanko and Carol Weeks |
