Airport Beach

It was windy as usual at Caribbean Blue.  As much as we enjoyed the light breeze because it kept the insects at bay, we were ready for it to quit so we could spend a day at "home".   After our adventurous day with Eleuthera Tours and all the excitement of the two days prior we were not up for another big adventure kind of day.   But it was still too windy at Caribbean Blue for snorkeling and J really needed to get in the water to relive the pain of a fire coral rash he had acquired the day before.  We knew we would need to head to the ocean side of the island to beat the wind so we decided to see what Airport Beach had to offer on a calm day.  

It was beautiful!!!  Miles and miles of untouched sandy beach and not a soul in sight.  

We set up "camp" for the day and I lounged in the shade with my book while J, D & S grabbed their rods and went for a long stroll.   After about an hour or two people started arrive at our untouched little mecca.  Luckily there was so much space that we could spread out far enough from one another that it still felt like a deserted beach.   Some of the visitors were just cruising by on their daily beach stroll.  We soon realized that Airport Beach is a favorite beach walk for men who would prefer to go sans clothing.  Some were accompanied by wives or girlfriends but only the men chose to be completely liberated.  Most would quickly slip on their suits when they saw another person, but not all, we did not take offense either way.  We experienced this naked man phenomenon numerous times throughout the rest of the trip so we aptly nicknamed Airport Beach "Naked Man Beach".  

Well once we had warmed up enough in the sun we decided to see what snorkeling opportunities Airport Beach had to offer.   We could see a dark area off shore but we could not tell if it was sea grass or coral heads.   Typically we can tell the difference by color but this looked a reef shape with the darker sea grass color.  Once we made it out to the reef we discovered why.  It was not quite a completely dead reef, but close to it.  There were very few fish, mostly jacks, yellowtail snapper and French grunts, but not very many.   The reefs were devoid of the colorful sea fans and lively formations that we had seen in other areas.  Despite it looking dark from shore it was lighter in color, almost like it had a dusting of sand was covering the coral and very little was growing on it.  It was very sad and rather eerie.  That combined with the frigid water temperatures from the cold front that had started to move in made it a less than desirable place to be.   S and I decided that the warm sandy beach and a good book were preferential.   J & D decided to head out farther to see if the reefs were in any better shape, but they just found more of the same.  It seemed like it might be isolated to this one area because when we moved down the beach to DaVilla a few days later the reefs there were vibrant and healthy.

Well anyway after our frigid and troubling snorkel we enjoyed some quality beach time with our books and Sands light.  Eventually the boys joined us and after a few hours we headed home to get dinner preparations started.  

We spent the rest of the late afternoon lounging on the deck of Caribbean Blue and enjoying yet another spectacular sunset.  For dinner we made some BBQ pork chops (Burrows) that had been doused in a tasty Island Farms marinade and we polished off the rest of the Island farms veggies and salad dressing.