Very Blessed!

Very blessed. Extremely grateful. Shaking our heads in disbelief. Enjoying ourselves immensely. These are some of the phrases Randy and I were expressing over lunch today, between our 2 scuba diving sessions. Neither of us ever dreamed about a trip like this before, and now we feel like we are living a dream. We have a sense of how Griff and Cheryl felt when they first began their “mystic journey”.

As Cheryl mentioned, I took the helm for most of the trip to Bequia. It was rather exhilarating; I found a newer comfort level with the wind and the waves. At one point I found myself yelling out “I’m sailing!!!” I was reminded of a childhood skipping song, “Bell bottom trousers, coat of navy blue, She loved the sailor and the sailor loved her too,…….” Fun.

Last night, after our three hour tour of Bequia, Randy and I chose to take the dinghy into a beach restaurant called Frangipani, named after the flower. They lured us into trying their Thursday night buffet, complete with a band playing steel drums, which Aleitha had never heard before. It was enchanting. The atmosphere was lovely; the food was amazing, especially the salad buffet with things like curried pasta salad with shrimp, chickpeas with raisins and unique local spicing, FRESH tuna salad and cold but tasty frittata. It is the best meal we have had yet! We are spoiled with our Alberta beef so the BBQ steaks were not as impressive, the fish might have been a better choice. The desserts were delightful too; rich chocolate cake, crème brule, key lime pie, sweet custard pie, and fruit salad. Unfortunately Griff wasn’t feeling well so they stayed behind and rested. Griff went to bed earlier but Cheryl was acting like a “good Mom” waiting for the kids to get home with the car for the first time when we pulled in with the dinghy at 8:50.

Yesterday Randy and I had enjoyed snorkeling (this being our third location) at a point near where the boat is anchored. Today we went Scuba diving in two locations, one in the morning and one after lunch. Again Griff decided to take it easy today, no sense pushing oneself when there is a bug going around. Cheryl swabbed the deck and cleaned the outside of the boat.
Both of our dives were great and somewhat different. The first was with another couple who had done a deep dive earlier in the morning. We dove to 45 feet and saw much sea life, coral, and the highlight, a moray eel. By the second dive we were very comfortable; it has been over 2 years since we last went scuba diving in Venezuela. This time we went down 50 feet and saw 4 manta rays, a frog fish (very unique!), a sea horse, and octopus, lobster, crab, and a 4-5 foot barracuda! One of my favorite fish is the trumpet fish, very long and narrow with a long snout that makes me think of a beak; they like to stand on their heads and camouflage in the reeds as you pass by. Other amazing fish would float by in enormous schools; others came close individually in apparent curiosity. So many beautiful colors and so much to see, in the world below the waves; we only wished we had underwater cameras!

When we got back, Griff, Randy and I ran into town to get a few more supplies before heading out ‘to sea’ again tomorrow. There had been a funeral in town today and many people were wearing the formal black and white colors for the occasion. The atmosphere in the stores and on the streets was highly charged; it felt like a wake was happening all over town! We picked up pizza for supper at the local ‘Pizza Hut’ – not our typical “Pizza Hut” – this was a small, blue, open-aired building where only take-out occurs. It was very tasty though, I’d take it over most pizza in Canada!

Tomorrow is hump day – our halfway point in being here. It seems like a dream…. As I head off to bed I’m hoping to dream about that underwater world…….