Got the front lawn mowed and most of the vacation laundry done before attempting to enjoy a movie. Slowly making the transition back to health and reality.
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Gratitude – 5/21/2012
Stopped over to visit The Family after a too-long day at work. Specifically it was Alex’ birthday. He was excited to show me the newest Halo Lego sets he acquired. He and Erik also got to show off their new bikes. Spent a few minutes in the studio with Norm going over some things he’d put together on Cobalt while I was gone. Great stuff. Looking forward to working through it, even re-discovered a lyric and vocal melody chunk I’d added very early in response to his initial guitar riff.
Gratitude – 5/20/2012
Grateful that I planned a transition day to relax at home before having to go back to work. Also grateful that a sudden and intense bout of gastrointestinal distress didn’t strike while I was traveling (and that I had previously-mentioned transition day to recover). Appreciated the quality care while I spent the majority of the day under the weather.
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Gratitude – 5/19/2012
Grateful for an amazing vacation, overall safe travels, and to be back home. Got in a bit of lyric writing and a last walk on the beach before checking out of Sibonne late this morning.
Interesting conversation with “Sir” Charles (the taxi driver) on the way back to airport while he was doing a great job as a tour guide. He’s probably in his late 30’s, from TCI, and has lived in the Bahamas and Florida growing up. He came back to TCI for a visit in 1996 and explained there were no paved roads, no motorized vehicles, no running water, and very few women. Understandably, he had no interest in staying. When he came back in 2004, it was a completely different place, with all those things. He decided to stay and has been there since and loves it.
Fortunate for some extra helpful people at airport check-in (I’ve never wanted to tip airline counter folks before) and things were smooth through security. Like our arrival, the tiny airport was packed, thankful we got to sit in the rooftop open air lounge while waiting for the flight out.
Shared a cab from the airport with some interesting folks from Oslo, Norway that were in Madison for the IDF Cheese Ripening and Technology Symposium. It was their first visit to Madison. I was happy to recommend a few places and answer their questions about the community. While I’m sure I can not yet match the skill and enthusiasm of my good friend, Portland Heather, I aspire to to her level of ambassadorship.
What this morning's lyric writing session looked like
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Tagged LLTAM, Portland Heather, Sibonne Beach Hotel, Turks and Caicos Islands
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Gratitude – 5/18/2012
Early morning stroll on the beach and then beach-side,breakfast buffet at Grill Rouge. Really enjoyed my first time paddle boarding with a rental and some basic instruction from Mike at Abuv-It-All. My canoeing and kayaking experience came in handy. Closed out the last full day with an evening beach walk and great dinner at Mango Reef.
My first time paddleboarding
Last evening in paradise
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Tagged Abuv-It-All, Grill Rouge, Mango Reef, paddleboarding, Turks and Caicos Islands
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Gratitude – 5/17/2012
Lazy, ocean-side breakfast at Bay Bistro. We then trekked about five miles to Conch World where they farm-raise conch, a staple in the local diet. The place was hit pretty hard a couple of years ago by a hurricane so it wasn’t in the best of shape, but the people were nice and it was pretty interesting.
Did a quick lunch at Cabana Bar & Grille before renting a small Hobie Cat Wave catamaran from Abuv-It-All. Really fun to sail again, as I haven’t been out since working at camp almost twenty years ago. Even got to see two bottlenose dolphins while sailing!
I made a yummy salmon and asparagus dinner at the apartment with provisions from our Graceway IGA excursion earlier in the week. Finished off the day with gorgeous evening walk on the beach.
Onshore pond being drained and cleaned. The stone looking chunks are conch. There are 80 onshore ponds and 200 offshore ponds (in the background).
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Tagged Abuv-It-All, Bay Bistro, Cabana Bar & Grille, conch, Conch World, dolphins, Graceway IGA, sailing, Turks and Caicos Islands
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Gratitude – 5/16/2012
Grateful for amazing marine life! Did a two-tank dive today with Caicos Adventures on a big wall off West Caicos. We dove between 50 and 80 feet, the reef wall drops off to about 7000 feet. SPECTACULAR diving. Among the more memorable aquatic life, we got to see several reef sharks (up close), a stingray, a sea turtle (above and below the surface), a long-spine porcupinefish, and an extraordinarily friendly grouper that didn’t mind being petted. With the exception of the turtle, these were all things I hadn’t previously seen diving. Apparently humpback whales migrate along this wall in December and January and are seen regularly on dives.
Interestingly, the highlight of the trip was actually from the boat shortly before arriving at our first dive destination. A pod of about a dozen bottlenose dolphins caught up with our boat. We did a couple of large circles to watch them and they were quite playful swimming along with the boat and jumping out of the water, putting on an amazing show for us. It was the first time I’d seen them in the wild and so close! They are truly wonderful creatures.
Capped off a memorable day with an excellent dinner at Coco Bistro and then a bit of lyric writing back at the apartment for the LLTAM project.
Buoyancy check before descending - just off West Caicos
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Tagged Caicos Adventures, Coco Bistro, dolphins, LLTAM, scuba diving, Turks and Caicos Islands
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Gratitude – 5/15/2012
Grateful to be back scuba diving! Took a refresher course through Caicos Adventures this afternoon as I hadn’t dove for nearly ten years. Even though I was only in the water for about twenty minutes it was great to experience all the aquatic splendor of a small but vibrant reef. Princess Alexandra National Park (Coral Gardens), is just off shore and is cordoned off so you can swim around it but not through it. It attracts lots of snorkelers from the nearby resorts. In addition to a couple of small barracuda, I was also incredibly fortunate to see a spotted eagle ray. They have amazingly detailed markings and longer tails than most rays. Dan, my instructor, was gracious enough to point it out to me during the dive. When we surfaced, he was nearly as excited as I was. He’d never seen one at Coral Gardens before.
Also did a run/walk on the beach this morning and a bit of tango practice on our deck after sunset.
NB – This post marks my 600th published on this blog. Looking forward to the next 600. 🙂
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Tagged Caicos Adventures, eagle ray, Run, scuba diving, Turks and Caicos Islands
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Gratitude – 5/14/2012
Grateful for another day in paradise and to wake up with an amazing ocean view.
Refreshing morning beach walk and then breakfast in our apartment. Couple hours reading on the beach, stretching, and swimming in the ocean to cool off. Napped during an afternoon thunderstorm. Late afternoon walk to check out some shops and got a bite at a local pizza place. Watsu session in the hotel pool.
Gratitude – 5/13/2012
Grateful for my first full day in paradise. Slept in and then had a casual breakfast at Bay Bistro before a walk to the grocery store for some provisions. Another gorgeous beach-side, sunset dinner at Hemingway’s.
Ended the evening with a fun walk and run on the beach and then crashing the bar at Beaches and listening to some live music. By crashing, I mean actually stepping on two martini glasses carelessly left on the floor by guests. I am quite thankful to have avoided serious injury as I was not wearing any shoes.