It’s been a long time since I sat down and put in a post. This year, we did a smaller Halloween display than usual. I’m still a little angry about the vandalism and thefts. The stealing of the skeleton I get… but to just kick and destroy all the tombstones I’d made was just so nonsensical. I just don’t get what prompts people to do that.
Anyway, we concentrated all the display around the driveway, and it was actually quite effective. Lots of people complimented us on the display, much more than in other years. My theory is because everything was so concentrated, it was more intense. We added one major piece and it was a zombie who “pops up” and growls, “Welcome to my graveyard.” It caught people unaware and added a little spooky experience.
One thing I did new was to put some masks we had over paint cans and put them on the candy table. I think they look darn spooky, especially in the night with the fake fog on them! (You can see them in the picture – the one on the right is pretty cool.)
One kid had to come back – his mother apologized for that! She said he wouldn’t go home til he saw it one more time. Pam told her that that was ok – anyone who liked it that much gets another chocolate bar!
If you turn the sound up when you watch the movie, you can hear Pam calling in some kids, the spooky music from the karaoke machine, and the reaction of a kid approaching Pam to get her candy.
Smith’s Reef is in the Turtle Cove, and it totally lived up to its billing today!
The reef was filled with turtles, all kinds of turtles, from greens, to hawksbills, to maybe even a leatherback! I say maybe on the leatherback, because this turtle was the biggest one I’ve ever seen. Check out the movie, and you’ll see the hawksbill to start with, then I get sidetracked by the big guy…
The first thing we noticed on entering the water today, was a big barracuda. He was about four, maybe five feet? Quite a way to start the swim! When I swam out to the green buoy and saw the two turtles, there was an even bigger barracuda. He was just enjoying the sun, like the rest of us!
One thing we’ve really noticed, is how the clear the water has been. What a boon that has been! I’d have to say that only the Cayman Islands has come close to being as clear as these waters. Even when the current was strong, visibility was extremely good. One of the “problems” with the great visibility though, is that you can get easily distracted by something twenty or fifty feet away!
One ultra cool thing we saw today was a pair of ocean triggerfish. These trigger’s are large, about three or four feet tall, and although we’ve seen them in the past, they’ve usually swam away before we’ve gotten a decent picture. Well, not today! I saw a big one, digging in the sand, but he took off. I swam over to Pam and told her I’d just seen one right over there, and pointed. We swam a little ways, and he was back! I’ve got a movie of him digging in the sand. It’s a tad jerky to start, but watch through the early problems and you’ll be rewarded with a good closeup of this terrific looking fish. Kinda funny to see him spitting out the sand!
But turtles were the story of the day. We saw at least eight, probably more! Two of them even met up for a meeting at the bottom! It was unreal. One young couple were out swimming with their five or six year old, and we pointed out the turtles. Well the little guy was in a tizzy to see the turtles! He got to see the two of them meeting, and it was a lot of fun to see his exuberance. Afterwards, we met them on shore, and they couldn’t stop thanking us for showing them the turtles!
For our last dinner here in Provo we decided to check out the resort’s restaurant called the Mango Reef. It’s right on the ocean, completely open air. The stars were twinkling, and the waves were gently washing into shore. It was a very romantic setting. There was a duet playing, all romantic songs. It was a terrific setting. And the meal itself lived up to the billing. We started with some coconut crusted butterflied shrimp, served with three sauces, ($14). They were delicious, but one sauce would have been fine!
For an entree Pam had one of the daily specials, tiger prawns served with an asparagus risotto ($34) She pronounced it very good, but I thought the risotto was a little thick. I had the Mee Goreng ($24) a very good mixture of julienne vegetables, angel hair pasta with chicken and shrimp. It was very tasty, but might have had a little too much pasta (although I did eat the whole thing!)
Dessert was tiramisu for Pam, and chocolate coconut pie for me. (Both $8) The pie was more cake than pie, but tasty nonetheless. Pam enjoyed the tiramisu, but I thought it was a little small, being served in a small martini glass. Total bill with drinks was $109, without tip. It seems a little high, but still, we both thought it was well worth it. The music, the setting, the service – all impeccable.
Here is a video of Lemon the dog. She’s a rescue dog, found abandoned on the side of the road. It’s an hysterical look at a dog’s life… the camera is one of the little GoPro jobs that alot of people strap to their bike, or helmets. The guy was looking after this dog for a friend, so he decides he’ll run a video to show his buddy that he took her for a walk. And it evolved from that!
Too funny. Love the bit where she’s looking at the deli counter!
Today we headed south to Mangel Halto, a place we’ve only been once before. You walk down a ramp into a grove of mangrove trees. Birds chirp all around you, and there are a couple of openings through the dense mangroves that allow you to walk along sandy, shallow water until you hit the open ocean.
The water is shallow for quite a ways, then you hit the coral. And what a coral forest it is! It’s a wonderful spot, filled with every kind of coral you can imagine, and it goes on for miles! It’s really quite a remarkable swim. The only downside is that the current is tremendously strong, and you must constantly swim against it.
The visibility was very good, and there were lots of fish to see, but it was just so much work to stay in place! Constantly battling the current really tired us out quickly, so we were not able to stay out there very long. We saw some cool stuff, but man, I’m not sure I’d come back here unless it was dead calm!
We came home for a quick bite to eat, then Mike and I headed over to one of our favorite, go-to locations, Malmok beach. Pam was too tuckered out from the swim at Mangel Halto. She’s been doing really great with swimming, and walking. Her physio coach is going to be impressed with her improvement! Even some of the ladies around the time share have commented on how much her walking has improved.
The ocean at Malmok was really clear, with great visibility. We saw some cool stuff, then we finally hit the jackpot! Yup, we got to swim with a turtle! First swim with a turtle this month! Mike had never been in the wild with a turtle before so it was pretty special.
He wasn’t a really big one, but hey, it’s the biggest one Mike’s seen! He cruised straight out into the open ocean, and we followed. After a while, we realized we were probably a kilometre or two off shore! It was indeed a tough swim back, especially after all the effort we’d expended in Mangel Halto earlier in the day. But it was worth it!
There is something special about swimming with a turtle. They move through the water with real ease, flicking one front paddle or the other. If you get too close, or he feels threatened, he kicks it into overdrive with both paddles flashing, and he can leave you far behind in a hurry!
We saw some palometas, a pretty cool looking fish, which we have seen many times. But these ones were so big! They were easily thirty per cent larger than any we’ve seen. The pic doesn’t really show how big there are, but you can see they have some orange color on their underside, which we’d never noticed on other palometas before.
Mike and I started the morning by swimming out to the wreck. It was very calm, and the visibility was very good. But you know something? There just isn’t that much to see, besides the wreck! The fish were all the usual suspects, and this is the first time I’ve been there where there were no barracuda. It’s tough to get in here, as the entry is very rocky and a bit of a pain to get in. It’s very shallow for quite a ways, so Pam didn’t come in with us. We only stayed a short while, then got out.
Then, we hopped into the ocean at Arashi Beach. The waves at Arashi have been quite high lately, but they were very calm today, so we jumped at the chance to try out this beach. It was a pretty darn good swim! Lots of fish to see, of course, but some neat stuff to see as well.
One of the neat things we saw was an ocean trigger fish. They are quite large, over 3.5 feet high and about as long. They look really neat swimming through the water, and always leave the area whenever a snorkeler comes near. The picture we have is quite grainy, because it is taken from such a distance away, but it gives you an idea of them.
We saw a couple of ceros who circled around below us several times. This is not a fish who worries about snorkelers! They are hunters for sure, and rove the ocean looking for tasty morsels. They are similar to a barjack, but much sleeker looking. It’s pretty rare to sight them, but in the deeper water, we’ve seem them a couple of times.
Then we saw a rather large octopus, who was an active swimmer! He didn’t just sort of hide under a rock like a lot of them do… this guy was out in the open and wanted to stay there! I’ve ended this post with a nice movie of him – check out the color morphing, and his brief little swim at the end of the movie.
Here are a couple of brief bird movies… the first is of the troupial – it’s a wonderfully colored bird, that has a distinctive voice… it’s too bad this bird is busy munching on a piece of bread, because it is really quite a nice song that he has. It is a type of oriole, and you see them pretty much all over the island. This was taken at Boca Catalina, and four of them were flitting from one divi divi tree to the next.
This second movie is of a pelican. Now, just how close do you think you can get to a pelican? The answer is pretty darned close! Check out how close Pam gets before he takes off!
This was taken while we were in the ocean just off of Boca Catalina beach.
We’ve just been relaxing the last few days. We have a nice breakfast, then head to the ocean. We usually spend three or four hours snorkeling around, seeing what’s what. The water has become clearer the last few days. It’s been sunny and warm, and the wind has been nice and light, so there have been no big waves to stir up the silt.
We’ve seen lots of really cool stuff, and it’s really been fun. The only thing we wish we’d see is turtles… We’ve seen everything else under the sun, and even stuff we’ve never seen, but we’ve been skunked on turtle sightings, except for one brief flash. Tomorrow we move to a two-bedroom unit and Mike arrives for one week. Hard to believe we’ve been here for three weeks already!
Aruba is a LOT busier over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday season than we ever imagined. The popular night time areas are just packed! It’s been a challenge even getting a parking spot! Our hotel pools and hot tubs are far busier than we’re used to as well. It’s been fun though, lots of people to talk to, lots of action.
Anyway, we’re doing great, enjoying the sun and water. Hope your weather is not too bad…
Here is a little movie of tons of little fish up near Arashi Beach.
Now here is a similar movie, but filmed by Pam with her new Nikon – it’s not very good at doing underwater still shots, unless the light is VERY good, and you are in relatively shallow water. But the film mode is pretty decent – I think this is a nice movie, better, than the Panasonic actually.
It’s been a long time since I sat down and put in a post. This year, we did a smaller Halloween display than usual. I’m still a little angry about the vandalism and thefts. The stealing of the skeleton I get… but to just kick and destroy all the tombstones I’d made was just so nonsensical. I just don’t get what prompts people to do that.
