Sometimes in life things just come together. Big or small, complex or simple, stressful or stress-free, there are just those times that you want to burn into your permanent memory to be able to relive again and again.
Today is one of those times for me. Dave and I enjoyed our snorkel experience at Francis Bay a few days ago so we thought we'd go back again today and see if we would have the same kind of luck. First we tackled to rocky shore on the left hand side that we didn't get to the first time and we saw many fish here ranging from small bait fish all the way up to a large tarpon. This baby had to be at least three feet long and Dave estimates about 30lbs. He swam by us a few times and he certainly was not afraid of us as he swam awfully close to us and was a bit intimidating. Along with this behemoth we saw some really small centipede things that were pretty funny to watch as they crawled all over the rocks. We also caught a glimpse of a huge sting ray as it was passing by...awesome.
When we were done in this area, we headed to the right of the beach to hang out for a while.
Once we had sufficiently rested from our morning snorkel, we headed out to the right hand side of the bay. One of our first rewards is a small sea turtle sitting under a tree branch that had fallen into the water. As we inch closer to the rocky shore we start to see all the small fish as we saw the other day. No picture that I can take will ever explain the sheer number of these little fish. As you drift along, they part and swim around you and every way you turn there they are just hovering in the water with you. If you look closer to the rocks and corals you see many french grunts, jacks and yellow stripers. And watch out because here come the tarpon again...we see them a few times while snorkeling and at one point two of them are there together right in front of us. A few times I have to remind myself to breathe.
Continuing along the rocks we also see sea cucumbers, a small lobster, a green moray eel, barracudas, needle fish and some juvenile french angel fish that were a stunning black and yellow that just glowed in the water.
Towards the end of the rock wall here we ran into a large school of parrot fish, both large in numbers and in size.
Once we've had our fill of fish, we head out towards the middle of the bay to look for turtles and rays and we are not disappointed. Soon we see a large ray that is settled into the sand and only his tail and the eyes on the top of him are really visible and it seems like he sees us too so we hover, look and move on. A few more rays, some smaller and one fairly large one along with about four or five turtles all just hanging around in different areas of the grassy bay really make this one of our favorite snorkel spots so far.
Back on land we enjoy a beer while we continue to talk about all that we saw out there. It is so hard to described this spot and everything there is to see but we are glad that we discovered it and may even be back before we have to leave.
Back at the villa we get ready for dinner. We have reservations at Zozo's at their upstairs bar which has a great view of the sunsets. Unfortunately there are clouds in the way so we don't get a prefect sunset but my camera decided to work again so we did get a couple of a pictures nonetheless.
For dinner we had an appetizer of a sausage sampler of venison, boar and duck and they were each very good. We both decided on the rib eye special which had roasted potatoes and a demi glaze sauce. The steaks were done perfectly and tasted soooo good. Unfortunately we didn't have room for dessert but we enjoyed every bit of our meal, the view and the company at the bar.
At this point there is nothing else to do but head back to the villa and reflect on a wonderful day.
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