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| peace and tranquility |
We are truly enjoying ourselves in our new life as full time cruisers :) It is so nice to be able to take our house with us (!)...ORION is always ready to go and so are we :) This "no schedule thing" is working out pretty nicely and we are in the full swing of it. My captain is slowly but steadily learning to relax...not so easy for him after having been "on the go" for so many years, but giant progress has been made...instead of trying to work like a maniac to get something done he now actually takes a break or goodness gracious postpones it until later or even the next day! Unless there is an emergency our life is full of procrastination...how many folks can actually say that?...and we love it that way! There is no rush...no crazy appointments...no stress...especially now that our refrigeration issues have been solved satisfactorily! From time to time we are still pinching ourselves to make sure it's all real, hahahaha! Right now we totally enjoy our peace and tranquility away from everybody. We thank our friends for understanding...when we are ready we'll join the big party again...right now mother nature is all we need.
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| Dinghy ride |
Of course once in a while we have to join the real world again...like we did on Monday when we dinghied into Dewey to do the laundry and some grocery shopping. This time of year is a festive one and people take pride in decorating the streets and their homes...in Puerto Rico it is traditional to put a fresh coat of paint on your house and make everything look pretty in honor of the Christ Child...it is a tradition that has become very dear to us after having lived here for over 15 years, a special time of year amongst a special kind of people :) Even the poorest and littlest place is transformed into a beautiful sparkling one with a little paint and a lot of Christmas lights! Everybody gathers, plays music, sings, dances, and is merry...it is a happy time of year...and celebrated accordingly. Yes...Christmas in the Caribbean is quite different to Christmas anywhere else!
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| Vibra Verde |
So we went into Dewey and whilst we were waiting for our laundry to finish had a bite to eat at one of our favorite places Vibra Verde Health Food. They make magnificent sandwiches with home made bread and we each had one for lunch :) By the time I remembered to take a picture we had already devoured our sandwiches! Next time for sure :)
Then it was off to Milka's, the grocery store, where we stocked up on fresh vegetables and some other stuff. We like Milka's a lot...it's a small store but it's air conditioned and we usually find everything we need there...and the prices are very reasonable considering that they have to buy everything from the mainland Puerto Rico. This time we saw potable water there in 1 gallon jugs...the clear ones that can be kept for years without breaking! Rick went back the next day to buy 10 of them (we like to store spare drinking water on ORION just in case) and the friendly staff even delivered them to the dinghy dock for him! How cool is that?
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| ORION |
Anyways...we had a successful laundry and shopping trip on Monday and of course enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing on ORION at Melones beach. Tuesday we moved ORION (our house) to the next beach up, which is Tamarindo. Melones is a nice place to stay, but it is the next bay up from the main ferry dock in Dewey and therefore has quite a bit of rolling action when the ferries arrive and depart...on Monday night ORION was almost at a 60 degree angle from one of the ferry wakes (!)...must have been a new ferry captain or something, because we never experienced anything like it before! Luckily we always have things secure in the galley and everywhere else...but I still had two cups "flying" and the boat felt as if she was going to turn over...no joke! So no more Melones for us for a while! Tamarindo as you may remember has some day time activities with kayak and snorkeling tours on certain days...apart from that it is pretty serene here, and we love it. We could have moved to Tamarindo Grande, but decided against it, because last time we were there a million and one flies invaded us during the day time...no joke either!
So Tamarindo it is until we decide to move on again. Tuesday we did some cooking and went snorkeling. We took a different mooring ball this time that is a little further away from the beach, but nearer to the reef. To our amazement we encountered a completely unexpected underwater world this time! Maybe you remember from my last post that the coral reefs here are in the process of coming back after being struck by coral bleaching some years ago?...and maybe you also remember that I mentioned that they are "growing" corals here successfully? Well...we found the "coral growing place" for lack of a better description...it is amazing! There are iron fence structures on the bottom of the sea (tops are open, so nothing gets trapped in there) and each quadrant "grows" stag horn corals...it looks as if hundreds of stags came down there, scratched their heads and left their antlers (!)...it seems to be working...it is totally amazing! Even more amazing: a spotted eagle ray glided through the water right next to us and then disappeared slowly into the distance...(insert pinch here)...And yes...we will get the new underwater camera out of its packaging and use it soon!
Because of the unfortunate lack of underwater pictures I will...this time only...enclose pictures of various food dishes that we prepare and enjoy on ORION...can you feel the yum? :)
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| breakfast on ORION |
