A Barrier Reef Adventure: 2 Apr--Fun w/Crazy Friends

Mon, 2 Apr ... crazy day ... we all got up and just sat around for awhile .... then decided to get some breakfast here at Rudy's .... while eating, Justine and Fran decided they were leaving this afternoon and going to Nicaragua ....... oh boy ... that leaves Enric and i in the 4 person cabin at US$60/night; .... which means we have to move back up the hill to the dorm with Christina. that's ok .... we all knew that this could happen when one of us decided to leave .... but ... we just moved all our 'stuff' down here ... well, especially me, since i'm the one with the most 'stuff' .... so i packed up all my 'stuff' again, .... and hauled it UP the hill this time, .... back to our old cabin, but to the 3-bed room ... it was a short-term one night luxury that we had in that nice cabin .... it's just been getting hotter and hotter each day ... and today was so no exception .... so after we moved everything, we decided the only place to be today was IN the water, and we should go snorkeling. it's now after 12noon, ..... Justine and Fran need to leave around 1pm to catch the 2pm Ferry to the mainland .. and i'm wondering how they are going to go snorkeling and still make their Ferry .... we weren't 50 yds from home when they started saying ... "well, we could stay just 'one more night' .... but neither of them wanted to make that decision ... so in the middle of the road, began the debate ... to leave, or to go, ... to snorkel, or not ........ it was way too funny !!!!!!!!!

what shall we do ?

let's flip a coin ... but who will 'call' the coin ? not me, says Fran ...

.....Cristina says, ok ... i'll do it ...

it went on and on and was quite comical. it was obvious no one wanted them to leave ... and in the end ... they ran back to Michele, to tell her that they changed their minds, (again), ..... and we wanted to move BACK into our cabin again .... and Phil Collins' song "One More Night" became our 'theme song' ...... so, TODAY is Justine and Fran's last day .... positively .... unless they decide to stay just 'one more night' :) Enric had errands to run, so the rest of us walked down to Half Moon Bay to the beach in front of the Sundowner to snorkel ... we noticed that things are starting to change here in preparation for Semana Santa .... new little 'make-shift' bars and 'restaurants' have appeared all along the street .... existing bars have new 'fronts' on them with new signs and lights ... there are snorkel and kayak and beach chair rental places ... amazing !!!!!!! we had a fun snorkel, ... taking pictures of each other ...

saw this French AngelFish

i chased this Spanish HogFish around for a long time .... someday i'll get a good photo of this pretty blue and gold fish ...

then i wanted to take them under the Submarine dock to see all the cool stuff there .... i knew that Fran really liked to take his time to look at tiny things underwater .... i knew he'd like it there .... i showed them all the things that i had seen before .... like this Arrow Crab, with the blue pinchers ...

Fran spotted this tiny Orange Spotted FileFish ... hiding in this hole ... you can just see it's eye, and spiky dorsal fin on the top ...

... the girls went into shore, but Fran and i stayed and investigated more .... and ... i saw this ....

i asked Fran ... in his Spanish i figured out he said it was a Nudibranch .... WoW .... i've never seen one before ... they are so tiny ... about 1" long .. and look like 'stuff' ... i had to look this one up in the book ... it was a Lettuce Sea Slug, .... 'slug' doesn't have a good connotation for me ... so i prefer Nudibranch .... it does look like lettuce

back to the room, Enric was home ..... we got cleaned up and walked back down to the Sundowner for ... sunset ... on the way we took these .. that's me, Cristina, and Justine ....

i still find it interesting that i saw such spectacular sunsets last year when i was here, at the same time .... and this year, they were just nice sunsets ......