A long Sunday both ended and began with awesome activities. Community service at 8 am started quickly as we laid a primer of white on the walls surrounding the local cricket pitch and planted some soon to be large palm trees and desert roses. During service we made some more interesting friends, Kyle and Sasha were locals who couldn’t be more kind and they continued to show us how well the people fit into the gorgeous island. The white walls are to be mural painted by the troop coming in next week with the help of the local high schools art teacher and I hope to see the final product. After a few hours and a freshly painted blank white wall, we spent a few hours back at guava berry just relaxing and I got to read a little bit which was nice and unexpected. Then came the baths, and this island just continues to one up itself. Casey gave us a tour through the national park named the Baths due to its use during the slave trade times as a place to stop and clean up. Huge volcanic marble rocks form caves with little crystal clear tide pools all around with no inhabitants aside from a few crabs. As Casey explained, the place is so well known for its beauty that several Sports Illustrated swim suit photo shoots have taken place inside and it seems as though this was the main attraction for tourists on this island. The Baths lead out into Devils Bay which we found to be just as attractive as the rest of the beaches, from Devils Bay we snorkeled back to our own beach, about a forty minute swim. On this snorkel we saw some more neat stuff like the LionFish and a baby sea turtle . Back at our beach of guava berry, Jeff had set up a dinner spot for us and we scarfed down burgers then played frisbee in the sunset. The sunset was unreal and I took way too many pictures. Again, our beach is breathtaking. As the sun fell and the innumerable stars came out, we geared up for a night time snorkel. Each buddy team armed with one flash light, we followed Casey though rocks crawling with urchins and over the sea bed of sting rays, spotting some cool stuff like squid, tarpon, and octopus along the way. I think the tarpon was my favorite thing so far, it was just chillin all mighty and stuff. This trip has flown by, but turtle tagging tomorrow ought to be a good way to conclude a good trip.
Devils Bay
Photoshoot portion of The Baths
Dixie, Casey and Jeffs dog playing on our beach
