Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Here we go!  This is our last day in paradise!  Of course, it is a beautiful day.  We are waiting until after lunch to start putting things away.  I have to soak up this place and keep it in my heart until I get back here once again.  We ate all three meals out on the porch.  We paid off our huge grocery bill.  It was a little over $2500.00 and I thought we brought most of our food with us.  This does include gas for the truck, scooter, and boat!!

Our flight out tomorrow morning is at 8:30 A.M. so we will be up early.  Until next January....

Here we are on our last day on our beach.  We sure had a good time.

The latest shot of the street side of our house.

Richard hosing off his kayak to put it away for the year.  We got one of those fancy new cloth hoses that shrink up when the water is turned off.  It worked great!

 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Yesterday the internet was down so I didn't get to type on my blog.  We had a very nice day here in paradise of course!  Richard went fishing in the morning and they caught tuna but he gave it to the guy who went with him.  I enjoyed myself here at the house and took my kayak out.  I have started thinking about going home and have been cleaning things for departure.  It is going to be hard to leave the beach behind let alone the weather!

Last night Tom and Pattie had a party at their place.  Everyone was there!  We are so fortunate to have made so many nice friends while here.  We didn't get home too late so I still sat on the beach and admired the stars.

This morning (Monday) Richard and Joe went fishing and I did some laundry and soaked up some sun on the beach. My hammock needed to be used and I obliged.  This afternoon I took my floaty out in front of the house and a big turtle swam with me!  He put his head up about a foot from me and just looked at me for the longest time.  I thought he would start a conversation he looked at me for so long.  That was a pretty special time!

Tonight we had fresh caught tuna for dinner that Richard caught this morning.  We froze the rest and will bring it back home with us.  The wind is very still tonight and it is so quiet.  Tomorrow is our last day here in paradise.  We leave on the 8:30 A.M. flight on Wednesday.

Here is a picture of the area that we cleared from the jungle this year.  We can actually hang a hammock there now!  Way off to the left on the photo is a burn pile that we will start up tomorrow.  

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Today is Saturday but I will first post about Friday.  We woke up on Friday to a very cloudy day.  It was so unusual and lasted until almost noon.  Some areas of the island even got a little rain.  We did some work on the grounds to take advantage of the cooler temperature.  The sun came out of course and we had a beautiful clear sky and nice hot weather.  Last night we went to some friends house and had a game night.  It was lots of fun and we think we will continue the "tradition" next year when we come back.

The weather today was spectacular, of course!  I expect nothing less any more!  We actually spent some of the morning just sitting on the beach enjoying it.  I was down there by 7:00 A.M. today.  I have to make sure I get out there a lot as our time is almost up here.  How will I ever leave!

I cleaned all the ceiling fans today.  We are starting to get the place ready for shut down.  I like to have everything nice and clean when we leave.  I took my kayak out for a long time in the afternoon.  There are so many fun things to do here.  I did some reading in my hammock today also.  There is nothing more comfy than a hammock!

As the sun was setting tonight some guy and his girl friend or wife decided to fish on our beach.  He even caught a tiny fish.  The sad thing was, when he left, he left garbage behind.  I was very disappointed.

I think I will shut down now and go sit under the stars on the beach.  We have started doing this and it is so relaxing.  Some nights we even light the Tiki torches.  What a life in paradise!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

This morning we woke up early as Richard wanted to go fishing again.  The forecast for the wind was supposed to be good to get through the cut.  It was not!  After getting to the cut, it was so bad, the only thing to do was turn around and go back.  Not worth the risk.

Richard went back to bed.  I am starting to think ahead to what needs to be done to prepare for our departure in a week.  The time here goes so fast!  I didn't go to bed.  I did laundry.  Then I took our new grill tank to the area where the guy can fill it when he comes over from the Brac.  He comes around every three weeks or so.  I'm so happy to now have two tanks so I will not run out of fuel.

Jane and John arrived on Sunday as planned.  We had nice weather the whole time they were here.  The guys went bone fishing and Tarpon fishing and seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The first morning they were here, we took the boat out to go deep sea fishing.   The conditions were very bad at the cut.  We all got soaking wet!  What an adventure!  The swells were so high that we came back without even fishing.  It was treacherous!  We did get to snorkel  and that was lots of fun.  We enjoyed sitting out on the beach late and watching the stars.  We all said we could have slept out there right under the stars and been very comfy.  The day Jane and John left (yesterday),  Richard and I headed right over to the North side to snorkel.  We were so glad we weren't the ones who had to leave the island.  We got cleaned up and then  we had guests join us  for dinner.  We ate outside and watched the sunset.

Today we did some work around the house and then went to Point of Sand.  We stopped to visit some friends who live near there.  Richard and I ate a light supper tonight as we decided to go to the Hungry Iguana to watch the ISU basketball game tonight.  While there, we had some of their yummy french fries.  The best in the world!  WOW!  I also had a mud slide.  That was very good too. ISU won their game so we celebrated.

All this visiting has worn me out.  I think I'll sleep really good tonight.  Tomorrow will be another busy, fun day in paradise.

Eating out a special dinner at Southern Cross Club with Jane and John.     

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Another day in paradise!  The full moon has been just beautiful again and in the morning it is still in the sky where the sun usually sets.  It is not dark at night and the early morning hours are well lit too.  The cut is much easier for the fishermen to see by the light of this moon also.  This morning Richard took Mark and his son out fishing.  Mark is the owner of the boat Richard is renting this year.  They caught two black fin tuna!  They had two lines out and both went off at the same time!  How exciting!

Tonight for dinner we had fresh yellow fin tuna that Richard caught yesterday.  It was so yummy!

Today the weather was very warm, upper eighty's and the sky was so pretty.  Tonight it is going to be in the 70's though.  This is our forecast every day.  Cannot get any better.  It is good and hot in the sun for water play and one can be in the shade and get a breeze and be very comfortable.  I think I'll just stay here for awhile yet.

Tomorrow, Jane and John are coming to visit us.  We have been busy making plans for all the fun things we can do while they are here.  

Here is a shot of our pretty sunset tonight.  The water was as smooth as ice.  

Richard took a sneaky shot of me finishing eating dinner on the porch.  We have been eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner out on the porch almost every day.  Can't do that at home now!

Friday, March 6, 2015

Today we hardly have a breeze at all here in our paradise.  The water is so smooth and the sky is so blue.  Richard and Tom P. went fishing this morning and caught a yellow fin tuna!  How exciting is that!!

We moved slow today as it is very warm here.  It's a good water day.  Today I was out in the driveway and Cutie Pie was there.  I was able to get super close to him.  I was closer than two feet from him.  He is getting used to us.  The little green anoli's are here yet and I love to watch them.  They also are very easy around us.  They can be found only on Little Cayman and one of the islands in Hawaii.  Richard saw the reef shark this morning when he went down to the boat to go fishing.  It is the one we saw last night in our waters.  Wow!

Marsha came for dinner tonight as Mark is gone home for the week.  We had a good time visiting.

Here he is!  A little Anoli.  When you talk to him he cocks his head and looks at you real cute.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

We got up early again today.  Richard and Tom P. went out fishing this morning.  What a beautiful morning.  The water was calm and the full moon was setting.  It looked just like a huge sunset!  In the exact same place the sun sets.  What a sight!

I did my workout and house duties and was just going to head out on my bike ride when I saw them pulling into the dock.  No fish!  I think it has something to do with the full moon.  They will try again tomorrow.

We have been working on the jungle on the resort side of our property.  It has been a huge job and we are finally ready to call it finished for the year.  It really looks great!  One of these days I will take pictures so I can remember it always.  We have completed a lot of big projects this year.  Very rewarding.  Hope it all makes it through the year, hurricane season and all.

Here is our nice shark we saw while snorkeliing today.  What a beauty!

Last night we went to friends for dinner and had a nice relaxing evening.  After working so hard all day, it was a nice treat.  I took my floaty out in the water to cool off after the hard days work and there were four kite surfers there too.  It was so pretty to see their colorful kites.

This afternoon. after working hard in the morning, we went snorkeling.  We saw a huge shark and a mean looking barracuda.  Today our sky was just so clear!  Very striking!  Tonight Richard and I went out to sit on the beach chairs around 7:00 P.M.  We discovered a shark in the water right at our beach. His fin was up out of the water.  That full moon is so bright, we could easily see him.

Hello, mean looking barracuda!  

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Hello paradise!  Thank goodness I am still here.  It is cold and snowy back home.  Today we had a relaxing breakfast and then Richard went to help Tom put in a rope filter for their cistern.  I did some grocery shopping as this is Super Tuesday.  We get 15% off at the store!  It is fun to go on this day as lots of islanders are there getting in on the savings.

This afternoon I worked hard on the jungle area I am trying to clean out.  I got so hot and sweaty.  I jumped in the water and relaxed on my floaty.  It was fabulous!

I did a load of laundry today and layed on the beach.  That about sums up my day today.  I sound like a bum hanging out on an island.  The good life!!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Today I got to wake up when I wanted to.  We did not go fishing this morning.  They predicted big swells in the ocean and rough seas.  The morning was kind of lazy with little work projects.  We are working on the side jungle and I was picking up giant sea grape leaves when an army of biting ants attacked my feet and ankles.  Each time they get me my reaction seems to get worse.  This time I got big blisters and itched like I was on fire!  I ran and sprayed off and got benedryl cream but that was not enough.  I took a pill.  That finally helped.  I found a pair of fishing boots that Richard outgrew and I will wear those when I work from now on.  That "episode" slowed me down.  I eventually made lunch.

After lunch we hauled beach sand to our beach.  We need to do repair work after all the stump removal.  This was fun as I wasn't being attacked by ants!  I cut some island sea grape branches off and the sand fleas started attacking.  It seems this was the day of angry biters!

I decided to try to make a loaf of gluten free bread today.  I pulled out the bread machine to see if it worked.  I followed instructions on line for a flour mixture I had brought along.  It had me add milk, eggs, honey, olive oil and yeast.  It turned out great!  We tried it and it tastes great too!  Yay!

Richard and I sat outside tonight for a long time.  The weather is so perfect and the moon is nearly full tonight.  Cutie Pie came along to talk to us on the beach.  I don't know if I mentioned in an earlier blog post that he is still here on our property.  He is full grown now and very handsome.  When he talks to us he sounds like a horrible croak.  What a cutie!  I guess that is why we call him Cutie Pie!  Every day after lunch, Wnston, the iguana from next door comes over to visit us.  He is very large!  I ask him if he wants something to eat and he shakes his head up and down.  It is unbelievable!  I always get him some pieces of broccoli.  They are vegetarians.  You could set your watch by this guy coming over.

Another day comes to a close on our wonderful island escape.  This place is really special.

  

Sunday, March1, 2015

This morning I woke up to another beautiful day in paradise!  Richard got up early to go fishing but I didn't go.  Mike went with him as his boat is out of commission!  I went back to sleep for a little while and it was great!  I ate my breakfast out on the porch and watched the water and listened to the birds!  Doesn't get any better.  The guys didn't catch any fish.  Richard blamed it on me.  He says I am his good luck charm and I didn't go along.

I finally found out what the water fountain spray was that I saw the other day out in front of our house.  It was an eagle ray spraying up.  I knew it couldn't be a whale or a dolphin.  How lucky am I to have seen such a thing happen.  It was really something!

Today a big island sea grape tree fell down right across our driveway!  Good heavens!  Good thing it didn't land on anyone.  All our cutting and one falls down on its own.  Who would think!  Crazy!!