The afternoon was spent playing in the pool, getting some groceries and checking in with the dive shop. In the late afternoon, we strolled over to the split for a short snorkel. We found seastars, stingrays and a couple of guitarfish, a species we had never seen before. Sadly, Quentin got stung by something in the water that caused him to have tremendous pain in his feet for several hours. He found some relief when he kept his feet in the pool. Fortunately, the benedryl kicked in and he was able to fall asleep. By the next morning, he was fine and ready to go diving.
Day 12 was our diving day. Beth spent lots of time and thought communicating with the dive shop since January to set up an arrangement that would work for our four certified divers in the family and the two who are not yet certified. Despite her efforts, the dive shop reneged on our agreement. Instead, they proposed a different plan which mostly worked for our family. In the end, we came up with yet a different plan once Gerard saw the waves on the outer reef and Xavier turned green after the first dive.
On the outer reef dives, everything was big. 8-10 ft. waves rolled the boat. It was like a never ending amusement park ride to the buoy. Under water, we saw some enormous and very friendly groupers, a triggerfish and a few large eagle rays. Beth spotted a lobster on the first dive. The outer reef is a series of canyons with sand channels in between, so the rays must love this spot. On one dive, we saw one 5 ft. eagle ray glide by followed by yet another. On the inner reef dives/snorkels, we saw big turtles, nurse sharks, tarpon, eels and schools of fish like grunts and snappers.
For dinner, we sat outside at a picnic table at a local eatery and enjoyed a simple dinner by the sea. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading home to soothe sunburns and get rested for the next day’s sailing and snorkel tour.
