(July 25th, 2011)
Whenever I go on vacation, I tend to wake up fairly early in the morning, anxious to go out and see the world I’m visiting. It’s a rare day when I sleep in while vacationing, and this day was no exception. My travel companions were not of the same ilk, especially after our late night stargazing, so I folded up my bed and ventured out on the terrace for some yoga. A little Sun Salutation at sunrise, you might say…
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| Spuddy Buddy expecting me to rub lotion on his shoulders. |
I was soon joined by my Egyptian travel companion, Spuddy Buddy (my couch potato), who decided it was time to get a tan. At this point I also realized I was quite hungry and very thankful for the previous day’s stop at the grocery store. I then spent the rest of the morning crafting a personalized stick-figure card for Laura’s birthday. My stick-figure cards are becoming well known in my circle of friends and family, as I make a comic strip about something that I’ve shared with the person I’m making it for. Case in point, Laura’s card was all about how this whole Puerto Rican trip came about and what we had experienced so far. It was an entertaining little thing that took me over an hour to complete, and, luckily, the birthday girl had a leisurely morning sleeping in and was not witness to my card making.
As soon as Laura was out of bed, her swimsuit was on, and she claimed it was time to hit the beach! Her goal to bring in the monumental birthday (her 6th 25th birthday) was to spend the entire day at the beach, so off the three of us went. Rick and Sara were still in the process of waking up and planned on meeting us down there.
We stopped by the guest relations counter to see if any snorkeling gear had been returned and if there were any beach towels available (the day before we had been told that all the snorkeling gear was already checked out by other guests and that something had happened with the washer/dryer so that no beach towels were available…right…). Luckily, two sets of snorkeling gear had been returned so we scooped them up. No such luck on the towel front. They claimed they were in the dryer that instant and that they would come find us on the beach to deliver the towels to us, personally…right…
Because it was still early and a lot of people were checking out that morning, we had our pick of beach chairs. As Miriam and Laura prepared to go snorkeling, Laura’s parents came down to visit, so I chatted with her mother while watching M&L’s pooch, Thor, giving them the chance to swim out to the reef.
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| Miriam, Laura, and Laura's dad, heading to the reef |
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| Spuddy Buddy enjoying the beach |
Laura’s parents went off to run errands, so Thor and I sat and watched the surf (he’s afraid of the water) until the girls came back. They had an amazing time at the reef, but one of the fins in the snorkeling gear was broken, making it difficult to propel. Laura, being irritated by the hotel’s lack of usable gear and wanting us all to be able to snorkel together, decided we had to purchase our own snorkeling gear.
By this time Rick and Sara had joined us, having acquired their own snorkeling gear from the front desk, as well as beach towels (so much for the staff coming to deliver towels to us…). Miriam and Laura decided to leave on their shopping excursion right away before all the stores closed for the day, it being a holiday in Puerto Rico. They prepared to take Thor to Laura’s parents, but Sara insisted we would keep an eye on him, so off they went.
As I was about to take my first dip of the day in the water, Rick and Sara headed off for a walk along the beach, so I sat back down with Thor (the little man couldn’t take being left alone at the chairs—panic attacks would ensue). Once they got back from their walk, they decided to go grab lunch. Alas, it looked like it was my duty to sit and watch Thor instead of playing in the water…
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| My home for most of the day |
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| Thor waiting patiently for his mommies |
Two hours later I was still alone and still looking longingly at the beach and the water, wishing I could go play, wishing that Sara hadn’t insisted that we would watch Thor (as it translated into me watching Thor), and really wishing I had my gal, Miriam (remember her?), along to keep me company.
Laura and (the other) Miriam finally came back after a harrowing hunt for groceries and snorkeling gear, having gotten lost and then found and going to a store that wouldn’t take their credit cards because they didn’t have photo IDs with them, spending a half hour convincing the manager they were who they said they were, and then finding snorkeling gear at Wal-Mart (that’s right, they have Wal-Mart in Puerto Rico), only to have me point out that the snorkeling packs were all kids’ sizes. Whoops.
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| The kiddie flippers |
After Laura found out how long I had been stranded in my beach chair watching Thor, she sent me off on a much needed walk along the beach, apologizing profusely and saying repeatedly that she would have taken him to her parents had she known.
I went on a short walk along the mostly deserted beach with my camera in hand and enjoyed every second of the peaceful sound of the waves crashing, then I headed back to the girls, grabbed a bite to eat from the snacks they purchased on their journey, and suited up to go snorkeling!
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| Waves crashing on the rocks |
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| View of the beach on my walk |
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| I'm ready for snorkeling! |
By this time it was late afternoon and the tide was starting to come in. The trail to the beach where the reef was located was now under water, which meant we had to wade through the water to get to our destination. The water was lovely, though, so that wasn’t a problem.
Laura instructed me on how to use the snorkeling gear, breathing techniques, and what to pay attention to while at the reef. The most important rule: DO NOT TOUCH THE REEF. One, it’s a living creature. Stepping on it kills it and the plants living on it. Two, there are sea urchins all over it, and those little suckers are spiky and will give a person a nasty, painful puncture wound if touched.
The water was a bit rougher than it had been in the morning because of the tide, so we struggled a bit to swim out to the reef. But it was so worth the struggle. The reef was so beautiful! There was so much color and life under the water, and you would never know by looking at the surface. Everywhere I turned there were plants moving in the currents, practically waving at us, and fish swimming in and out of little caves, feeding. I caught a glimpse of a sea urchin, and then another one, and another one. I was a little scared of accidentally running into one, but their coloring was so alluring that I couldn’t stop looking for them. They all had a deep, deep, blood red coloring to them. Gorgeous!
At one point I thought I saw an octopus hiding in an alcove of the reef, but when I turned to gesture to Laura to come look, it disappeared. There were, also, plenty of little Dory fish (as in, Dory from Finding Nemo. Just keep swimming!).
It was so exciting, and I didn’t want to stop snorkeling, but the water was getting so rough that we were fighting to keep from being swept right on top of the reef, and I started to get sea sick from all the jostling by the waves. We finally decided to head back to the beach but made a stop at the reef the hotel had suggested to us…only to find out it was dead. Thanks, hotel. I’m glad we had Laura there to tell us where the good reef was!
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| Back at our chairs, enjoying the last of the sunshine |
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| The fun palm tree shadows |
The sun was beginning its descent, so I grabbed a Piña Colada and a beach chair along with the rest of the gang, and we all relaxed and appreciated the view we were seeing. I love watching sunsets on a beach.
Time for the birthday dinner! We ran back to our rooms to rinse off and get dressed and then made our way back to the outdoor restaurant. Rick insisted on paying for dinner this night and even threw in a lovely bottle of Prosecco so we could toast the birthday girl. The food was just as delicious as the night before, and we all walked away from the table very satisfied.
After saying goodnight to Laura’s family, we went back to our terrace, this time with a bottle of Puerto Rican coconut rum, and sat back to stargaze again. The sky was much cloudier than the night before, and we were mesmerized by how fast they moved across the sky.
Eventually the conversation turned goofy and we spent the rest of the night reminiscing about rotary phones, the 80s, and accents we’ve gotten rid of (mainly, me and my northern Wisconsin accent and Rick and his southern accent…). It was the perfect way to end the day, laughing.
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| Sunset on the beach |
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