Catamaran Day

Well we all absorbed our full share of sunrays today.  A nice breeze on the water and not a cloud in the sky.
Started off by picking up Matt and Tracy at a condo type place down on the water between West Bay and West End.  If you think our hill is steep, you should see that one.  Got over to West End to meet up with Ralph and Karen, and found four other people waiting for the same catamaran van, all of whom were from saskatchewan.  Worked out just perfect for the group, the van fit ten people just right.  Got to the cat at 9:00 and off we went.  It was a little rough on the eastbound leg until you got your sealegs, but it was quite tolerable.  The highlight of that segment was the escort given by a pod of eight dolphins that swam along right in front of the boat for at least five minutes until we veered off for Port Royal Bay and shalllower water.  I took some video but it was so bright out that I couldn't really see what I was getting, and it didn't turn out.  Bummer.  Only took one picture of the boat/group and I ended up with my fingers over the lens of that skinny little camera.

Here's our first snorkel spot at the Cow and calf islands.

This stop was just like I remember it, so many different colors of coral, especially the dark red that you just don't see elsewhere.  There was a really nice starfish:

Something that must be related to a spiny urchin, but this guy was all covered in fuzz:

And one pretty colorful squid:

We then pulled anchor and continued on the the wreck, where we moored again and had another snorkel.  Starfish all over the place (dozens), a few people saw an eagle ray, and there was a southern stingray gliding around although we only saw him from the boat.  A few of us got in the inflatable pontoon boats and motored off for a cruise through the mangroves.  Interesting as always, but no nice birds or critters this year.
The cook on the boat outdid herself this year.  During the day we were served fresh cooked peanut butter cookies, banana muffins, a couple of rounds of pizza bread and of course the same fabulous fresh made salsa, and then for lunch we had shrimp skewers, chicken skewers, meatballs, rice, caesar salad, and fresh buns.  Deserts were some carrot cake and another cake that I think was something chocolate bananna.  I think everyone was sort of blown away by the food.
Got back to the dock at 4:00.  I think everyone was just about sunned out by then but everyone agreed that it was a great catamaran day.  Actually Karen said it was one of the top ten days of her life, so that kind of puts it up there.
The top of my head is tingling a bit tonight, I think I caught a bit of burn while snorkelling because I had my hat on the rest of the time.  There must be a thin spot up there on top.....The van got us back to West End, we dropped off Matt and Tracy, got home, and hit the showers.  We were so burnt out that we just cooked up a couple of denvers for supper and then crashed.  Eileen popped in a movie but I checked the cover and it`s 178 minutes.  Bet she doesn`t make it, because I know I won`t.
The best one liner of the day comes from Ralph.  We came around a corner on the way home and there was this guy walking up a hill with an armful of grass, leading a donkey on a rope.  The rope seemed quite taunt, so Ralph says ``That guy is literally dragging his ass.``  All ten of us had a good laugh over that one. 
Got the morning dives booked for tomorrow.  Not sure what the afternoon holds.  One of these days soon we`re going to need to do a run to the Cerveasia and we`re out of briquettes, but I`m not sure what all will be open tomorrow.  Maybe that`s a Monday trip.