It was perfect weather this morning, so we declared today to be a beach day.
But first, we went out exploring to find brunch. The resort borders the Sandyport Marina Village, which contains a few different waterfront restaurants; we chose the News Cafe for some omelets with a view.
After eating, we strolled around the waterfront for a bit.
The view across the lagoon includes the building our suite is in. It's the pink one, center.
This beach is much calmer than the ocean side, just a few steps from where we're staying.
After a quick stop back at the suite to load up our bags for a beach day, we returned the beach where we had dinner last night. The weather was significantly calmer, although there was still some swell sending waves crashing into the beach. Apparently it was also a good location for a small beach wedding.
There were a few other people there, but we almost had the beach to ourselves.
I enjoyed a brief paddle around with a snorkel and mask on, but the water was too turbid to see anything.
Eventually, we got thirsty and sent some emissaries to the beach bar for adult beverages. Here you can see them returning, triumphant.
At some point, Lauren noticed there were ghost crabs emerging from their burrows, around us, and it became a bit of a sport to find them.
We had seen them previously, on another island, but couldn't remember if it was St. Croix or Turks and Caicos, and a cursory search of the blog didn't turn anything up. Some people were vigilant in their quests to get the small crabs on camera.
Over the course of 2 or 3 hours, a few small rain showers blew through. Eventually, one set of clouds looked ominous to chase us off the beach, so we took the canal path back to the resort. Along the way, I stopped to watch the divers who were dredging sand from the canal using a diesel-driven pump, on the opposite shore.
Next to the restaurant (Blue Sail), there's an area with lounge chairs and hammocks, for resort guests. We might have to inspect that more closely, at a later time.
When we returned to the room, it was temporarily occupied by housekeeping, so we were forced to go wait at the beach bar on the lagoon side.
It was probably around 3:30 PM when we finally got back to the suite, where we quickly made plans to handle a few errands before dinner. We split up, with half of us going to the grocery store just down the street, and half going to reception to gather information about tours, bus schedules, and scaring up some more towels.
Sabrina, Rudy, and I went on the grocery expedition to the local Super Value. They have some rather draconian policies on PDA.
After loading up on all the food we could carry back, I popped into the liquor store a few doors down, to acquire some local beers. They, too, had some amusing signage.
Having to carry everything back really makes one reconsider much food to buy. Or at least how heavy the food is. We might need to make a return trip in a few days.
After reconvening back at the suite, we again ventured down to the waterfront on the other side of the lagoon, where we had been this morning for breakfast.
We managed to get a table outside at the Twisted Lime, overlooking the marina, to watch the sunset and have an early dinner. Despite what it looks like in these photos, the place was actually very crowded (inside, and the side deck).
The food was excellent and the drinks were plentiful. Steve tried the fried conch, which he described as something like "not that bad" and "chewy". If you're ever, uh... at the Sandyport marina in Nassau... definitely give it a try.
Back at the suite, we tossed around some ideas for future plans, but didn't commit to anything for tomorrow. We had initially considered trying the whole "swim with the pigs" experience, but have since nixxed it. After some light research, it looks like the "authentic" (original?) swimming pigs situation is down in Exuma somewhere (~90 miles by boat, each way), which involves a full-day commitment and a sizeable investment. The closer/more-affordable alternatives appear to be knockoffs designed to appeal to cruise tourists looking for a shore excursions, some of which are still a full-day endeavor; the pig-meeting is just one part of a larger boat tour, in most cases. Also, some of the reviews are essentially "they gave us apples to lure the pigs into the water, and then let some pigs out of a pen for 30 minutes". (It's also questionable in several other aspects.)
Anyway, tomorrow's weather looks perfect for more beach-type activities. That's about as far as we got with the planning.
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