More great snorkeling

Well after a full day of R&R at Caribbean Blue we were ready to hit to the road and find another great new beach to explore.  We were starting to run out of unexplored territory so we got out "The Book" and picked a beach we had not been to yet.  Nope I am not going to tell which one, that would spoil all the fun, you will just have to try them all yourselves.  The book mileage and our vehicle mileage definitely did not match up but we still found it with minimal trouble.  

We figured since this beach was in The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera it would be a busy place.  Lucky for us that was not the case, it was just another fabulous deserted beach.   I think part of our luck with deserted beaches, besides the fact that Eleuthera is known for them, is that we arrive early.  We are usually on the beach by 10am at the latest, before most of the other beach goers have left their homes.  We are early risers and like to have a full day on the beach and still make it home in time for cocktail hour. 

We did not know what to expect when we got there but we were very pleasantly surprised.  You could tell the water was shallower here then many of the Atlantic Beaches, around 15-20ft deep all the way to the outer reef.  The shallower water made for a spectacular view from the top of the dune where we parked.  The water was that spectacular bright Caribbean blue that is so hard to believe is real in photographs till you actually experience it for yourself.

We did our usual routine of finding a shady spot then unloading all the stuff, cooler, chairs, kayak, snorkel gear, etc.  After we set up our camp for the day and applied a thorough layer of sunblock we hit the water.   The temperature was still cooler than normal so we stuck by the closer reefs knowing we would get cold and have to go in before too long.   Luckily the water was clear and this area had some really great reefs close to shore.  We saw so many fish, parrotfish, grouper, schoolmaster and mangrove snapper plus tons of fun colorful little wrasse's.  There were some great coral formations too, so many different types of corals and sea fans.  There was not a huge area to explore close to shore as there was only one really good coral-head that close in but it was a fantastic one.  S and I stuck it out for much longer than we had anticipated, despite the cooler water but as usual the boys stayed it a good hour after we had gone in.  Once we got out of the water we were absolutely freezing, the breeze had kicked up and the clouds rolled in.  I was curled up with a sweater on and a towel covering my legs and still shivering.  When D finally came out of the water the sun was starting to peek out but he was still shivering so bad he was chattering his teeth.   It took us all at least 15 minutes of chasing pockets of sun to finally start to warm up. 

We figured eating lunch would help us warm up so we made the usual sandwiches and polished off the rest of the leftover ceviche for lunch.  After lunch the wind died down and they sky cleared up so we all decided to go for a beach walk to get ourselves nice and warmed up before hitting the water again.  J and I headed North and D & S headed south.  I filled my pockets with sea glass and sea shells as we walked.  Eventually we hit a rocky are that was impassable with bare feet and had to turn around.  On the way back I spotted a small school of bonefish.  J rigged up his rod and after a couple of casts had a bonefish on the line.  As he was reeling it in the others kept following it, almost all the way up to shore.  These bonefish obviously have not seen too many fishermen.  It was the first and only bonefish of the trip, but it was a beautiful fish nonetheless. 

After our walk we decided to it had warmed up enough to get back in the water and check out some of the farther out reefs.  The water never got much deeper as we headed farther out and the shallower water made for really great snorkeling.  The water was crystal clear and the sky had completely cleared up so the visibility was amazing.  We snorkeled around for hours exploring a multitude of scattered reefs.  The outer reefs were also full of fish and the boys were wuite successful in their afternoon hunt.  They wound up with two grouper, a schoolmaster, a mangrove snapper and two lobsters.  Not bad for a hard days work in paradise.  J finally let me use the go pro so I don't have any pictures to share of our second snorkel of the day, and I still have not had time to edit the videos, but someday I will share them. 

After our long hard day we packed up the car, said goodbye to our new second favorite spot (nothing tops Parrotfish beach) and headed home.  We had worked up quite an appetite so we made up a small batch of fish tacos, along with grilled lobster and yellow rice.   We enjoyed our wonderful meal on the deck of Caribbean Blue with a glass of red wine while we watched another sunset in paradise.