lotsa nature

Yesterday it rained much of the day - lots of rain dripping off the trees, splashing on the sand, speckling the water. We spent a good bit of time on the porch watching and listening:

The sun came out this morning and Marc saw this slight rainbow:

I poked around and ate breakfast while Marc swam and snorkeled for awhile, and then we took a walk. The owner of this resort built a new road that comes directly to the hotel. It's a big deal; you can see it on Google maps, and the taxi driver talked about it, too.

Here's the road we walked on:

It's really beautiful, and the jungle on either side is primeval and wonderful:

Lots of interesting trees and plants

want a banana?

The most beautiful little butterflies, with red and black wings; they never land long enough to get a good picture, but Marc got this one:

And this strange blue-headed lizard. Really, its head is blue and its body is brilliant green:

When we circled back to the hotel, we stopped at the big cage of brilliant red macaws by the front of the hotel:

Tonight I think we're going back to Lobster Pot for dinner. It's hard to stay away, the food is so good and the service is so sweet. We went back to Mavis and Dixie's for dinner last night, and believe we saw Dixie. We suspect the reason our waiter was sullen at breakfast was due to Dixie's stern hand. We just made that up, but it made us laugh.

Lots of sun today, lots of suntan lotion, lots of paddling around in the water and lots of doing not much. Vacation.

Mavis and Dixie

Marc was up very early so he took a walk out on the pier and shot these great pictures that show just how clear the water is. Take a look; he shot these images standing on the pier, shooting down into the water:



He came back to check on me and I was still sleeping hard, so he went out for a snorkel and swim, though the sun kept going behind the clouds. I woke up and watched him swimming along, circling here and there, and just felt so happy.

Our breakfast mission was to walk into West End to find this much raved about place called Mavis and Dixies. All the reviews we have read were unanimous and nearly over the top, raving about the food and claiming the reviewers only want to eat there, they could eat 3 meals a day there, etc. The one to beat, as far as we're concerned, is the sweet little Lobster Pot, but they're closed on Sundays anyway so we ventured into West End to find Mavis and Dixies.

walking into town

The sky was looking heavy and dark, which I noticed but didn't really notice....I was carrying my camera. My really nice and not inexpensive camera, which does not have a case. But we were walking along, letting the water lap over our feet, talking. My shoes are rubbing the skin off between my big and 2nd toe, so I was kind of limping along, but never mind. Mavis and Dixies lured us forward.

Maybe we got the Sunday crew. Maybe the guy who served us was having a rotten day. Maybe they just didn't like the looks of us, that happens. But I was not at all impressed. The guy who served us was sullen and didn't bring what we needed. The menu wasn't all that great, nothing that really made me salivate. I got coconut bread toast and coffee, and Marc ordered banana pancakes and coffee. We sat on the back deck overlooking this little bay, eating our OK breakfast and watching the sky darken:

Several more bites and the rain started falling:

We grabbed our food and went inside the restaurant to wait out the storm.

It didn't last too long, and we were able to get a plastic bag to carry the camera in.

For those of you prone to schadenfreude, this is the 2nd day in a row (of our 2 days here, so far) with cloudy skies and rain. There is still time to go out snorkeling, time to lie in the sun, etc., it's just not sunny skies all the time. As far as I'm concerned, that's good because it lets me off the hook from feeling guilty when I want to just lie in the hammock and read or nap. I couldn't be snorkeling anyway, might as well snooze.