Dania Pier Pompanos and Jack Crevalles 3-16-14

March 17, 2014 by cudamanadventures

A get together was planned by Joey AKA Grunt King of http://www.Boatlessfishing.com a site dedicated to those that do not own boats and fish mostly from land. The site was created around 2006 with the idea of getting people together to help each other with fishing strategies from land. If you haven’t check it out yet you should, there are many non boaters and boaters that share their knowledge and help others as much as they can. After the meet I decided to pass by Dania Pier which was only a few minutes away I wanted to see what was being caught at the pier.

Some of the members that were there as I was getting ready to leave.

Members of http://www.boatlessfishing.com trade fishing stories while our wives talk.

It had been quiet a while since the last time I visited Dania Pier. The last time I was there was at a memorial for the legendary Zebco a boatlessfishing.com member whom passed from this life to his resting place due to health problems. My thoughts are always with him when I visit this pier. He used to work there and was always helping those that he considered were worthy of help and with others he would just make their life a little difficult but non the less he was a great fisherman and great at building rods himself and catching pompanos. Any time there was an Easterly wind he was at a fishing pier where the pompanos where running.

A look at Dania Pier, Florida

A view of Dania Beach, Florida from the parking lot.

A look at the entrance of Dania Pier, Florida

A look at some anglers fishing mid pier for Pompano fish.

A look at the “T” of the pier. There is a small hut to help cover a few anglers from the elements.

The rods are line up to catch Pompano in the afternoon. A few schools of fish showed up around 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. after that it was a waiting games and a few fish in between.

My lovely wife watching the horizon from the pier.

An angler has fish on and his fight begins. On the first try he lost it due to tangles with other fishermen lines. Some people just won’t move their rods out of the way for others.

The angle got his second chance and this time he had no trouble as others cleared their rods out of the way or let their lines slack so there would be no tension on the line with the fish. Below a picture showing the angler trying to avoid other fishing lines by lifting his fishing rod as much as possible while keeping pressure on the fish.

The bait used by many anglers, a Threadfin Herring

The angler with his catch, a nice size Jack Crevalle for the area.

Killeen Texas to Miami Florida Roadtrip- Stuck in Mardi Gras

March 1, 2014 by cudamanadventures

The flight to Dallas was one of those winter time bumpy fasten your seat belts at all times kind of ride and as thousands of other flights we got there in one piece just with many passengers shook up in their head. In Dallas I was to run, dash, and skip stairs to get in my seat of a puddle jumper (many of you know the feeling specially when they always seat you in the tail of the first connecting flight). Well, I got there last but I made it and when I got there I had to bend my head in the airplane and still bumped into one of the exit signs . Why was there no mention of the inside roof height on this darn thing? Well when the flight was over I got another bang on my head making some people laugh at me, so yeah, the joke was on me, LOL. My bad this time around! The reason for the flight is that my son just finished his 4 years in the U.S. Army, again making me a very proud parent as my other two daughters have made me proud as well. I have flown to their graduations in Maryland, Boston, Fort Benin, and I have gone with my wife to prepare them to fly back or send their belongings via freight to Miami. This past weekend was to be a quick fly over to Killeen, Texas take my son’s wife’s car to her family in Dallas and start a 2 day road trip to Miami to unite him with his son. I said it before I am a grandfather :).

An aerial view of downtown Dallas as we approach the Airport.

Our drive to Dallas started Cannon Ball style, we had to check our options quick, plan fast and run for the time we had in our hands. We also had to multitask and started at the same time to clean the rental house (I watched), check what we needed for the run, go to Wally world, get bungee cords, reflective tape, back to the house throw trash away give the neighbors some furniture, load the Jeep and go. UUUUFFFF! just got tired of thinking of all that. By the way I did help on everything except the cleaning 🙂

Ready for the road trip.

On our way to Dallas.

There was a small forest fire on the way, no traffic jam was caused, looking good.

We arrived at Dallas

In Dallas we were greeted by my daughter in law’s beautiful family, we had some Mexican style sopes (look it up they are great) and after many greetings we were on the way with a nice full belly. Thank you Ssarai and Antonia! Back on the GPS game, I love technology!!! We rode and rode until the tank got to 1/2 empty (the glass analogy does not work in this case) as I have a rule to always drive on road trips with the tank no less than half full (wait the analogy works here or not?). Anyways we stopped at a Texas Petro stop and paid 20 cents less per gallon than I would pay in Miami, happy wallets this time. We got back on the road wishing we would have boarded the made up star ship across the street.

On to the highway we went.

The star ship and some worm look a like silos? Interesting.

Dallas’ roads kept going and going as if it was a battery TV commercial then we finally saw the Welcome to Louisiana sign and the welcome center exit. Boy oh boy was Louisiana to welcome us! It just didn’t feel right fog, tons of woods, dark at night, more fog, almost empty gas tank, you get the feeling. If not, we were wishing we filled the tank some more to have a sense of security. Bathroom was not an issue as we brought toilet paper and paper towels with us, you road trip travelers know the ropes, LOL. Food was not an issue either as we got some protein bars,water, and snacks with us from the last stop. As we drove it felt like days had gone by and then suddenly some signs of civilization came up and a beautiful gas station sign was in sight, but what we do? Ahhh we decided to stop at the next gas station, yeah why not we still had a quarter of a tank. We could make it we thought and so we kept driving listening to barely audible radio stations switching back and forth between old school rock, pop music, and country music. In the end country music was king and funny as hell with double meaning words. You know birds and the bees kind of talk but dirtier than dirt kind of thing and funny at the same time with a broken heart talk in between all of it wishing you went fishing and drinking some hard stuff to forget it all. If I lost you I apologize the songs lost me as well but I understood them later on. We barely made it to a gas station, filled up the tank and on we went thinking we only had 70 miles to New Orleans to make a sleep stop. OOPS! not the case we still had 3 hours left. Crap! After driving along and through many smoke stack factories we finally got to some neighborhood with plenty gas staions and lit streets.

UUUUHHHH Lord! We made it to I10! we were happy, it was nice to see more cars in the road. As we saw the signs to LA PLACE city we felt the Jeep shake and then we heard a weird noise, CLANK! CLANK! SCREEEKKKK! Crap we lost velocity so I pulled over the side of the road. My son gets under the car and asks is that a part of our car? I’m like, I do not think so it looks like a bottle in a bag (it was dark) so I told him to use his cellphone and check it. OUCH! he gets burned, it was the rear drive shaft, it broke off. Well I told him we still have the front wheel drive lets go to the nearest exit and call AAA. There was a waffle restaurant and so we went there and had some food while we waited amongst a few cheerleaders on their way home. We were told it is Mardigras so there weren’t so many tow trucks available and we had to wait a couple of hours.

We met a Muslim

The tow truck came and with it the driver was a nice person ,we though he was a Hispanic, maybe Mexican as his speech suggested. As he loaded the Jeep in the tow truck he told us that most shops would be closed until Monday so he would take us to a major repair shop in Matairie city and so we agreed. As we started to drive he figured one of us was in the Army as we were coming from Killeen and started speaking about the Middle East and the war there. He asked my son if he had been my son said yes he had been to Iraq he replied with a big smile oh I have friends there, my son asks in the Army? he says no they are Sunni (I believe). He started saying that they were always fighting the Shia. He stated stories in some people believing that they would be met by 40 virgins in heaven and that their families would be taken care of when they sacrificed their lives in the cause. He said it was all not true, that the families would just disappear and people believed they were taken to a better place. That many of these people were just forced to do as they were told. He went on to say that their religion was not about that and that if the rich in those areas would give their 2.5% that all Islamic nations would not be poor and there would not be a war. Since he said that I asked “and what is your religion?” He said “I am Muslim, a real Muslim, not the ones that believe in war or blowing themselves up. We believe in peace.” As I understood it, it was the rich controlling the religion and not giving their percentage as mandated that kept the war going and it was simply for control of power as the rich may have been giving the money to those they wanted in power. Previous to that I had said that is a war that has been going on for thousands of years and so it will continue, he said yes, the USA will have to send their military back again. We all felt a bit uncomfortable speaking the way we did. I for one believe on not talking about religion and politics since these are the biggest makers of wars. As we were dropped off at the repair shop the driver showed us a website that showed the news in the Middle East. He said I am always informed.

We went to the Motel and found it to be a place close to a horror movie crossed with a drug dealer heaven. Cars coming and going in the parking lot talking to a guy in a corner, you get the feeling. We were tired so we decided to stay anyways. The rooms was well, there were two beds and that was enough for us plus they had a TV with the Disney Channel on? LOL. The next morning we left to the repair shop and saw a Major chain hotel that incredibly was only 30 bucks more so we stayed there for the next 2 days. Yes two days because at the shop we were told that only the car dealer would have the part and they also recommended us to go to another shop since they were not so good with 4×4 Jeeps. I am glad they were honest! We called the shop and were told to bring the car at 7 a.m. that they would have us out by noon. Well the parts were not salvageable and we had to wait another day to receive the parts.

As we were walking down to the repair shop.

You might have some of these in your state, we sure don’t where we live in Florida.

Drive through Daiquiris? Computer Gaming Store? Kewl!

No one can say I don’t stop to smell the flowers. Well at least I look at the wild ones.

Back to Sunday!

We had to wait anyways so we decided to go and check Mardi Gras in the daytime while it was still PG13 all around 🙂 We wanted to avoid all the drunks and craziness of the night time (a recommendation from the tow truck driver). We asked at the hotel desk how much a Taxi Cab drive to the French Quarter and we were told $30 bucks. They called us cab and so we went and this part is better explained in pictures:

Upon arrival a look at some balconies.

Some streets.

We stopped to look at the river and the cruise line and found a lot of fog covering the horizon.

My son

Afterwards it started to rain so we decided to get back in the streets, where for the most part the sidewalks have cover.

Liked the colors on this bike.

On the way we stumbled upon the Krewe Of Barkus Parade

After the Barkus Parade we went to take a look at the main parade but a truck broke down so we decided to just go back to the hotel and relax a bit. Right before we got our cab I found a local beer and had a taste.

The taxi dropped us off at the 4 Corners by Sheraton hotel where we stayed two nights.

The next day it was all about waiting, at the hotel they had a beer tasting bar so we tasted both Abita beers and liked them both. The Mardi Gras one had a bit of a kick in it, very good stuff.

On the last day of waiting for parts it was the same waiting and tasting more Abitas, this time at a New Orleans burger joint.

The sunset was giving us a last good by at the hotel, and we were grateful for that moment.

Well, my point and shoot camera died so it was now just cell phone pics for the remainder of the trip. We went to pick up the jeep at GT Automotive, these guys worked very hard in trying to get us back on the road. We appreciate their hard work so much!

We got back on the road and said good by to New Orleans.

We said good by and we loaded some quail eggs for extra protein 🙂

We entered the Mississippi area and then passed by Alabama’s downtown tunnel along I10.

As we drove pass Alabama and entered in to LOOOONG Florida we were getting too sleepy and the road became to hazardous for us to drive as we only had about 30 feet of visibility with the fog. We decided to crash in Tampa where my brother in law and his wife prepared us a bed and gave us a nice breakfast. We are so grateful to Edward and Rose for their hospitality. We kept on driving home after 3 hours of crash and burn sleep, it was more than enough to keep going.

We passed Punta Gorda and Naples Everglade areas.

In the end it was a very nice road trip. I got to spend time with my son and hope to spend even more time with him and my grand son before he heads back to Killeen Texas where he is to continue with his studies.

I have to take a moment to say thanks to all my friends and family that called us or sent us messages offering their help. It is nice to know that we do not need to worry about bad times when we are surrounded by good people.

Cozumel Snorkeling Adventure February 15th 2014

February 19, 2014 by cudamanadventures

One of our stops on the 4 day Cruise was Cozumel. We had no idea on what to do here. I had been there before but had gone to the mainland to Playas Del Carmen and then we went to visit Tolum. On this trip we were 25 people including my grandson, yes I have a grandson 🙂 So we decided to wait till we got there and figure out on what to do. To go to Playas Del Carmen it would have been $45.99 per person just to get on the ferry and get dropped off at Playas Del Carmen for some shopping, history, and then go to a resort’s pool and beach access were we could also snorkel for an additional cost. I had read before that Cozumel was a great place to snorkel and I remember small man made beaches where we could go and adventure by our selves but when we got there these little beaches by the Cruise Ship docks were gone. Well, I had to do what us males hate to do, I had to ask for directions to the nearest public beach. The minute we got to the docks I asked some of the local tour guides waiting on their customers. They were very helpful and told me that a Taxi cab to the nearest beach would be about $5 per person and showed me the way to go get them. As we approached the exit out to the Welcome Center of Cozumel we saw drivers dressed in white and with ID tags hanging on their necks. They were from a Taxi company, it seemed to be the only one in the Welcome Center area. We were offered a fare of $25 per person and this included $7.5 to go to a resort, $7.5 to get back, and access to the resort and it’s amenities. When we got there we had access to the pool which looked nice, chairs, beach chairs, hammocks, ladder access to the water, and surprisingly a free Tequila tour in which you are basically obligated by your taste buds to purchase a bottle. We haggled the price to $20/person 🙂 and off we went in two packed fairly new vans.

First things first, got a local beer. Victoria, very refreshing semi dark beer.

Below is a panoramic view of the resort.

The Tequila thought might make you see a second image 🙂

From inside the restaurant (they charged in Dollars not Pesos) and the pool.

The beach area.

Getting ready to snorkel and in the water we went. By the way we were told that snorkeling was included but they did not tell us we had to rent the equipment. Luckily I brought a few sets of my own for everyone to share.

The water was amazingly clear so we were able to enjoy it to the max.

The corals were healthy but not much variety in this area.

There were a lot of artificial reefs being populated by corals, seafans, invertebrates, and of course fish 🙂

I just went back to these rocks, had to do a second pass.

Can you see the ballyhoo in the pic below? Great camouflage. Click on the picture to make it larger.

A beer bottle rock?

After the beach we had no time to pass by Maragritaville, very disappointing on that but we had a big group so I did not dare to ask the driver for a quick stop and so we went shopping instead. Word of advise, the shops right in front (flea market like) give you free tequila shots when you shop but the prices are a bit high. Just walk a few blocks down and you will get great discounted prices but no free tequila shots. If you are on a budget take my advice if not take the tequila shots, they are included in the price.

All good things must come to an end and so back to the Carnival Victory ship we went. We missed our dinner at the main dinning room but we were surprised with a midnight Mexican buffet (USA Restaurant Style). It was good and the fruit carvings were nice to see.

The next morning it was brunch instead of breakfast and for dessert a nice piece of banana cake.

I never had the chocolate melting cake so I ate a piece and it was great. So I brought the recipe with me 🙂

Here is the whole family.

I did say you force yourself to buy the tequila from the “free” Tequila History and Taste Tour. 🙂 And when you go they do sell some $5 a bottle of tequila in the shops by the Welcome Center. Inside the shops they also had some good ones at 2 for $16.50. But “Doña Jose Licor De Membrillo” Tequila Liquor was a winner to my taste buds and the family almost unanimously agreed and bought their own bottles of it. This is not a drink to mix, just a drink to savor each day 1/2 ounce at a time after dinner so we can remember Cozumel Mexico with great taste in our mind.

Key West February 14th

February 18, 2014 by cudamanadventures

On this trip I went with family to celebrate my father in law’s 50th wedding anniversary, yep they have been married for 50 years! They were married by church, by law, and now by sea. They say three times is the charm. I wish them many more. On this trip we went to Key West which is normally about 3 to 4 hour car drive from my house in outer Miami. After Key West we were to set sail to Cozumel Mexico where I would go snorkeling. They say that there is nothing to do in Key West except Drink, Fish, Snorkel, Dive, and DRINK, and maybe smoke a cigar. Well in this short visit I just walked, took some pictures with my honey, had one drink, well 2 drinks, and watched others drink some more. The first stop was Sunset Square where it usually it is packed with street entertainers. This day “Valentines Day” it was empty and still looked nice. Too bad we did not stay to watch the famous sunset as we went back to the ship early to get ready for dinner.

Below is Sunset Square Key West, Florida.

Below are two lovers in Sunset Square.

From the docks at Sunset Square.

This little fellow just kept walking back and forth.

The Historical Military Memorial in Sunset Square Key West.

Lots of birds in the scenery.

Some of the islands from a far.

Below with my valentine sweetheart.

After Sunset Square we walked towards Duval Street, what I call the Bar Mile and in the same street as the bars a nice looking church.

We passed by the original Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville and raised a glass of this adopted Margarita tradition.

The next stop was fat Tuesday and also passed next to the Flying Monkey and the Lazy Gecko where the drinks are cheaper but we did not take advantage of.

Once we finished we got on the trolley and back to the ship we went. On the right we passed by the quiet area of the town.

We got back to the ship and took a panoramic pictures of Key West.

We did buy some fine hand rolled Dominican and Nicaraguan cigars.

Then it was back inside the ship where I took one more panoramic picture but this time of the shops “The Promenade”.

Below a pic of the much smaller lobby of the Carnival Victory, smaller than any other I have seen so far. There is no dance floor.

And after dinner the usual towel figure was waiting for us in the room. They always surprise you no matter what cruise company you go in.

As always we had fun. I never imagined going to Key West on a cruise, this is because I live so close to it but this time I did not go fishing there and actually walked the streets and appreciated the old architecture. I did not go to the usual most famous bars like Hog’s Breath bar and Sloppy Joe’s but intend to visit again with my wife.

“St. Thomas Skyride to Paradise Point” 01-2014

February 8, 2014 by cudamanadventures

Yet another beautiful view awaited us at St. Thomas. We woke up and took some nice pictures with our cell phones and cameras to share with our family and friends on the social websites. The great thing is we had cell reception and not charged international fees since St. Thomas is U.S. territory. Not sure on what to do we decided to enjoy that wonderful view a bit more, we bought tickets to the “St. Thomas Skyride to Paradise Point” and sure did enjoy it. After a short ride on the well-aged equipment which seemed to be well maintained we strolled our way to the shacks as mentioned on many website reviews. I was expecting one shack with straw roof and bushwacker drinks sold along with Asian market goods as described on many reviews over and over. I really dislike when people do not tell the truth about the places they visit grabbing onto the bad and smearing an entire country or place for a single bad experience. There was no shack, what I did find was a well-organized minimarket of about 12 shops on the upper floor one of which had a small bar and the famous parrots next to it which by the way they do let you take pictures of after you have paid for the walking tour ($10), of which I did not take part of. I instead opted to go down one floor to the big bar/restaurant and enjoy a Bushwacker drink and my wife enjoyed another mix slushy drink. We sure did enjoy the view even more while sipping our refreshments watching a rainbow form right in front of our eyes as the rain passed through the mountain area and have pics to tell the story even further. The rain was over and $34.50 later we decided to go back down. I did get to taste a St. John Summer Lager, it was great and was told by the bar tender that there was a mango flavored lager that for some reason was not sold at most bars but I could find it at a gas station or stores outside the tourist area. I did not ask questions about why and proceeded to go to exit.

We met a nice older couple that had been here before and told us we should go to the 99 steps historical place. As we went down the steps a taxi driver was waiting for passengers and offered to take us to downtown shops at $4 each so we took the offer. As soon as we got off the taxi and started to take some pics we were offered tickets for a free gift if we walked into the jewelry shop, I did not go in but my wife did. There really was no free gift as you had to purchase something to get the so called gift. Well as my wife was inside the shop I spoke with the gentleman that gave her the ticket and asked him about the local beer. He recommended Carib and Elephant beer, hmm? I asked him “where are you from?” he said, “well, I’m from Dominica” and he smiled and explained that those beers were brewed there. I told him I had tried Carib and Amstel Bright and did like the Carib much better so I congratulated his country for making a fine refreshing beer.

As we walked the strip recommended in the map by the ship we saw and heard the same offers all over and over again, some offering a gem, a gift, a discount, originality, etc… We decided to venture out of the map and started to walk along the sea docks watching the beautiful waters and island that once housed the Blackbearded pirate. As we were walking we stopped for a few pics and walked some more while being scared by the honking and not so nice hand gestures of locals driving on the docks with their cars? Well, we passed by a fruit stand I smiled at them and instead of being offered with fruits just got stared at? No words from the vendors and so we realized we were to just head back to the tourist area. We carefully crossed the street just to get honked at some more and I understand we were in U.S. territory where they drove on the opposite side of the road, LOL. I sure was not expecting that one of course we were getting honked at we were looking at the wrong side of the road when we crossed and off course I got stared at the stand, where were my manners? I did not say hello or good morning and only looked and so they must have looked back at me. As we kept walking I saw a man feeding chickens and their chicks and so I joked about him fating them up, boy o boy was that the wrong joke. He cursed at me for as far as I could hear, I just did not say anything to him and kept on walking. We passed by the lottery places where people just sat outside hoping their numbers would be called? I don’t know that was a weird thing for me to see I guess they play an ongoing lottery or something, perhaps I should find out more about it. I might be one of those people sitting outside waiting for a number to be called to get rich quick.

Back to the tourist area!!! Alright I was back on the hunt for the St. John’s “Virgin Islands Mango” Lager. In between the shops there were small alleys to go back and forth in between the streets as we were walking a man stops us in wonder and says to my wife “Oh my God, I cannot believe you are wearing those sneakers! Opra says that those sneakers have the perfect colors to wear with any jewelry! Please enter our shops and be wondered by our prices”. LOL, it is amazing what they would tell you just for you to get into their shops. We continued and just decided to get to the famous 99 steps. We got there,and saw a bar/rum museum but it was not on the Ships provided map or in the island Visitor’s Center provided map. So we figured it was some sort of a private place. We went up and asked for the local beers, “WHAT? Oh no, we do not sell local beers!” we were told. We were also told that if we took the self-tour to the top of the steps there might be local beers sold at the place. We found the steps and went up, we did it and found a man selling sodas and water; we kept going following the street signs to Black Beard’s castle. A couple was on the way down and just told us “not worth it, what you see from here is what it is” we got closer and realized they might be right and were too lazy to walk upwards again so we skipped the $10 per person entrance and proceeded to go down the steps.

This little fellow was climbing up along with us. Blackbeard’s castle is on the right.

This is the view on both ends of the street where the 99 steps end.

Once we went back down we decided to again go pass the map for a few blocks and found a nice little friendly restaurant. Bingo! They had both of the St. John local beers so I tried them and the Mango Lager was well worth it. The beer was very fruity and very refreshing, one was more than enough for me as I still had to find the Elephant and it happen right next door where a lady from the Middle east was the store attendant, we got the Elephant beer which felt more like a malt at 7.5% or so alcohol content, it was also refreshing. We also purchased a Mabi nonalcoholic refreshment drink which is brewed from a tree and has a taste of bitter sweet honey. It is said that it was brewed by the Taino Indians of the Caribbean. This particular bottle was brewed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and did taste almost as good as the hand brewed one we purchased in Puerto Rico but not quite as good as the hand made brew.

The bar owner took a pic of us, the background was painted by a local artist whom just happen to be drinking her own concoction of natural juice and soda water right next to my wife

To our surprise the walk after that store ended right by a Moravian church which is a church I have also seeing in the Caribbean side of Nicaragua and some of my family members are part of. We took some pics and as we started walking what do we see when we get to the sea wall? Well, we see our ship and the other ships within walking distance and so we walked to the docks in a maze of high end stores and not so high end stores and liquor shops. We stumbled into a Cruzan shop and purchased two of their delicious daiquiris. We continued to walk and decided to stop at a rug shop recommended by some guys selling beer on the side of the road; they had really nice handmade rugs and ceramic items. Right next to it was the good old Señor Frogs, where the balloons resemble private parts and most people can barely walk when they get out. We got some chicken nachos and saw the couples that eat dinner next to us on the ship, it was fun to see them there we wished we could have stayed but were very tired and decided to head back to ship for a nice shower and a well-deserved nap.

Iguanas are all over the island, you just have to look closely and you will find them

One last view on the way back

People walking back to the ships, $4 bucks for a Taxi is worth for one way. If you walk you might find the guys on the right selling refreshments along the way.

We stopped for a fun pic moment

At the Turkish Bazaar

At Señor Frogs

Yes the balloons are private parts the lady is wearing a wiener and the man is wearing a hooha. On the right our fun dinner partners.

Here is a closer look at the pickup trucks converted to passenger trucks, this called my attention so much. I thought it was kewl.

At dinner time the pair of couples next to us told us that they went to the beach on the other side of the island where they snorkeled and saw so many kinds of tropical fish they could not identify. They had the opposite experience with people as they found many joyful faces and received many nice greetings and also noticed that many people there where from other islands and not natives to Saint Thomas or Saint John. Well, I missed out on this one so if the next itinerary takes us back to Saint Thomas we will skip the local markets and will go straight to the beaches to enjoy the sun and the sea of this magnificent looking set of islands.

I keep saying all good things must come to an end and so it was the same with our vacation. No more exotic destinations, we would now have two days at sea before we headed home. It is now time to just relax at the balcony, do some reading, and sit by the pool enjoying the sun. The night ended with a big bang of fun at the dining room as we saw our waiter Vijay danced off with many others to the beat of Gan Nam Style. We then went for some Karaoke where our dinner table acquaintance Steve took the stage and blew all the singers away with laughs and good music, after that we went to the Electric White Night 70’s club where we danced till we could no longer dance and we called it the night. We woke up the next day just to get ready for the end of our trip “PACKING and to see the damage our wallet took”. All in all Grand Turk “Ultimate Snorkeling Adventure”, Puerto Rico “Canopy Adventure” Ziplining, St. Maarten “Tiki Hut Relax & Snorkel”, and “St. Thomas Skyride to Paradise Point” were all great and amazing in their own form, which would I do again? Puerto Rico Canopy Adventure Ziplining would be the one. It was tons of fun! All of it was fun but the zip lining took the center stage for us.

I snorkeled in two places and was not able to fish because of the winds and the lack of people wanting to do so, but the trip was a total success and absolutely enjoyed it! I can’t wait for my next one.

St. Maarten “Tiki Hut Relax & Snorkel” 01-2014

February 8, 2014 by cudamanadventures

What a beautiful view we were greeted by in the morning we arrived. We had purchased a “Tiki Hut Relax & Snorkel”, adventure from the ship. It was set to leave at noon but since the ship got there at 7 am we decided to explore the shops and walked around. We saw the bicycles at the roundabout but no one was there to answer questions on renting the bicycles. We asked and we asked and were pointed in all directions but did not find a single person that could answer our questions and so we just walked and took pictures here and there. We got a bit bore so we got a map of the island sat down and waited for the first Tiki Excursion to arrive, hmm, no one was passing by with a sign that said Tiki Hut & Snorkel so we went back to our cabin got a few more things and got ready for the 11’ o’ clock excursion. We went down aand were told they wouldn’t leave until 12pm, but we decided to wait anyways. As we were waiting a lady came by and strapped the sign to a pole and told us she would be back at 12 p.m. and at around 10:45 a.m she comes back and we realized that at the dock they were all working on island time! Oh wow! Well, atleast we did not have to wait for another hour. Off we went to the Water Taxi that was to take us to the Tiki and to our surprise we had to wait on another group from another ship. This was now a recurring theme of bad luck in Sint Maarten. Finally!!!! We were on the way as the captain told us a few safety things about the craft and told us we were going to take 8 minutes to the Tiki and not the 20 minutes we were told. Seas were a bit rough and wind was about 25 knots, the water looked very sandy in color not a good thing to look at when all you want to do is snorkeling. The lady said it was about 12 foot visibility and they normally get 30 feet visibility at the Tiki. We arrived! First impressions were not so great, the place looked on the small side and a bit crowded, but as we boarded others left of the water taxi making lots of room for us. We were given a small safety course about the sea urching and the fire coral on the ropes and rocks, a small explanation of the area was given letting us know where the sunken sailboat, sunken helicopter, and sunken cannons where.

Below we are at the snorkeling location, location, location, just great views

I started snorkeling and was plagued with bad luck because visibly was only about three feet and so if I wanted to see anything I had to free dive to it and so I did. I then went closer to the cliff and the snorkeled around the rocks, there was some visible sea life and saw dozens of black sea urchins. As the included rum punch and the hours went by I went back in and this time visibility was better, I could actually see the sunken sailboat from our chair. My wife got me a piece of bread and another rum punch as I prepared to go back in. The bread attracted dozens of black and yellow Sargent majors, a few yellow tail snappers one of which seemed to have escaped the hook of a fisherman and it had a huge gash that did not allow it to swim upright, but it did not stop it from getting some free bread. I took a small video of it, hope you all can see it when the video is ready. I then took the bread to a rock that was submerged about 2 feet from the top of the water and went down to about 15 feet. I scattered the bread to bring some of the sea life to the camera and then free dove to the bottom with the bread scattering it towards the top bringing in some more yellow tail snappers and this time some bar jacks with it. There was not much sea life but was glad to see some brain coral, some horned corals, perhaps some black coral, and other types growing on the rocks it seemed like a new beginning in sea life around the rocks a good sign of health in the ocean.

Below are the sunken sailboat, cannon, and helicopter. There are more sunken items but were not visible to to water clarity.

After a while I decide to just lounge on a chair and eat a nice grouper sandwich with my wife and of course some more of the included rum punch that had many people happy and jumping off the platform doing belly flops and cannon balls into the ocean. I just had to do it too and my wife joined as well, then a lady a former Diving Team of some place showed off her skills with a triple vault that left every jaw on the platform and no one dared to jump again or maybe their bellies were just hurting.

Time to go! We washed off the salt with the fresh water wash-down they had and changed in the bathroom. Up the water taxi came and off we went. We asked him to take us to downtown, but he said it was too late since he had to go back every half hour to the docks. Oh well another piece of luck that runs out for us. We got to the dock and decided to walk to downtown ourselves; it only took us 10 minutes by foot. We got there and got a few refreshments, walked around a bit and checked out the beach which was nice and had sailboats and other boats anchored within 20 or 30 feet from it. We took some snap shots of Petersburg ate a roti and went back very tired to the ship. As we got to the ship we took a shower changed our clothes and woke up the next day in St. Thomas. OOPS!

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