Picking up from the last chapter, I returned to our suite victorious, having won spots for us at that night’s Turtle Walk. The cast members in the lobby had given me a paper with information on the Walk, and I had to call the Caribbean Conservation Center (the CCC), the group who would be leading the walk, to confirm and pay for our spots. I was required to call by noon, and of course I called as soon as I got back to the suite because I didn’t want to get busy and forget.
We all changed into our suits for the beach and got sunscreened out on the balcony. Wait, let me rephrase that. We all changed into our bathing suits in private areas such as bathrooms and bedrooms, and then moved out onto the balcony to apply our sunscreen. There, that’s better.
While waiting for the others, I took a picture of the kids’ shells and the shark’s tooth that James found.
We all grabbed some of our beach gear and trekked down to the beach at about 11am. Judy is pretty sensitive to the sun, so wanted to rent a cabana and a pair of beach chairs. We figured that two chairs would be enough, since most of the time people would be in the water. We rented them at the Green Cabin shack (which you’ve seen in pictures in earlier chapters) and met Trey, the cast member who works there. He was super-friendly and ran our chairs and cabana out to our spot on the beach and then ran back and got a shovel to put sand on the corners of the cabana to prevent it from blowing over.
Soon we were all set up, and everyone went down to the water. I decided to hang back at the cabana long enough to get a couple of pictures with my phone because I knew that later I’d be sandy and wouldn’t want to handle it. After these pictures it was going into a ziplock bag to keep the sand off of it, and then into a beach bag.
Boy, the quality of cell phone pictures really deteriorates when you zoom in. Oh well.
After a little while, I walked out to take a picture of our spot and the Inn behind us, and then I put my phone away to enjoy the water myself.
Here are some pictures that Judy took when she was in the cabana and I was in the water. I enjoyed the waves a little bit, and then came back and got our kite. We got it over ten years ago at
Kitty Hawk Kites and it’s been the best kite purchase ever. It’s a parafoil-style kite and is super-easy to fly. It wasn’t expensive, but the best thing is that it’s made of nylon and doesn’t have any sticks or anything, so when we’re done we can literally fold it and roll it up and store it in a little bag.
I was out in the water flying it, and I had it waaaay up there, when I looked at the beach and noticed that the cabana had blown over and Judy was wrestling with it. Trey came running down and helped get it back into place and put some extra sand on it to keep it sure. Whoops.
Another thing that happened while I was out there was that a guy came by and asked me if I’d seen some red sports goggles float by. He’d lost them when a wave hit him. I hadn’t. I asked him if they were prescription and he said they were…they’d cost about $300. But he didn’t seem as upset by it as I would’ve been. I looked some, but didn’t see anything other than ocean water and seaweed.
Judy took a picture of me as I brought the kite in. Warning: Pasty white guy alert. Put on your welder's mask if you have one. Or at least some sunglasses.
I came out of the water and relaxed at the cabana for a little bit. Then Judy decided to go back and start getting lunch ready, and the rest of us would follow in a few minutes.
I basically just relaxed, stared at the surf and wondered if I'd have an opportunity to say, “that’s some bad hat Harry”.
But it was a very tranquil moment and I decided to capture it:
After I took it, I thought “I’ve gotta send this to somebody” and decided to text it to a co-worker who was back at the office. He actually didn’t see it until later, but the next day he sent me this (he was working from home that day):
I thought that was hilarious.
Anyway, back to the beach...
As I sat there, I noticed that the girls were doing some weird dance moves out in the surf. I tried to capture some of it.
I have no idea what they were doing.
We went back to the suite at about 1 o’clock and had pizza (frozen, not Orchid Island) and some peaches and strawberries for dessert. I’m not sure how he discovered it, but while sitting there at the table, James found that he had seaweed in his bathing suit pockets. Hopefully, that was all.
After lunch, I enjoyed the view from our balcony for a little while and decided to take some pictures to stitch together into a panoramic. I think it should actually be wider than how it seems in this picture. It looks like the stitching-process squashed it together a little too much, but it still gives you a sense for what a nice afternoon it was and the lovely view we had.
When we’d checked-in, they told us that we could have free mini golf on this afternoon, and I asked if anyone wanted to go. Only Lauren and I decided to take advantage of it; the rest were going to go back to the beach. So we walked over to Eb and Flo’s and got our putters and golf balls. When we got to the first hole, Marlene showed up and decided she wanted to play too, so we told her where to get her putter and she joined us on the next hole.
Check out Lauren's grip. Somebody needs to teach her how to hold a club.
Here's the final hole...you shoot your ball into a treasure chest.
I kicked the girls’ butts, by the way.
It’s a short course, and not very challenging. The first picture was taken at 3:08 and the last one at 3:24. Yep, 16 minutes from start to finish, and we weren’t trying for any speed record. I guess it’s nice if you’re lounging around the pool and want to take a couple of minutes just to do something different.
Before we left the pool area, I took a couple more pictures.
The pool and waterslide.
This is the kids water play area.
Well, that's a recap of our recreational activities for the day. Tonight we'll have another shot at a sea turtle walk. Will there be
?
Up next: Sonny’s BBQ and Turtle Walk part deux
Link to next chapter
and I wouldn't do that.
He's reading my replies to you before you are. 
