Moyer Family Visit

We haven't blogged in a little while because we've been spending time with the Moyer family (my parents and sister) this past week. They arrived last Saturday, and we decided to break them into the regular waterfront routine here right from the beginning. We tested out our masks in the pool and then went for a snorkel off the dock on their very first day here at the center. (They spent Saturday night in Provo.)

Mom and Dad suiting up for the first open water snorkel

Amanda's Boston tan

The next day we walked out to East Bay to check out one of the developments underway, and to snorkel from the beach.

Preparing for the snorkel at East Bay

Amanda hadn't had enough yet, so we took her to Shark Alley too, a favorite snorkel site just in front of the center, and introduced her to some of South Caicos' finest mega fauna. She even saw a huge reef shark (in addition to the one pictured below) that Brett and I missed because we were busy following a porcupine fish beneath us.

Reef Shark

Eagle Rays

Amandius moyeranthan

We got in a lot of good birding during the week too, particularly on the day we took a town tour and then walked out to the boiling hole in the middle of the salinas (from which, we discovered, there's a nice view of our mural at the primary school). We spotted flamingos, kildeer, plovers, terns, cattle egrets, a reddish egret, brown pelicans, american kestrels, and several different types of herons including a night heron and an intermediate phase (mottled) little blue heron.

Walk through the salinas

Stopping to pose for the cameraman

The mural from a distance

We did actually walk to the primary school on a different day so that I could show my family the recently finished masterpiece, and then we got in a few rounds of tennis on the school's court while we were there. Brett, Amanda, and I also went on a jog every day this week except one, which was always followed by a cooldown session in either the ocean or the pool.

Recently developed cheek-cooling technique

On Wednesday we took a trip out to Coastguard to snorkel around (in really wavy water) and walk out onto the cliff where Brett likes to inch his way towards the edge until I squeal and cringe to his satisfaction. This time, everybody else decided to join him at the point and I got queasy, even though I was several feet inland.

Thursday was stormy here, which is pretty unusual. It was even thundering most of the day. We played multiple ping pong tournaments in the morning, followed by some Hoopla, and then went out to lunch at Darryl's to get a taste of island cuisine (conch & fish). Then we watched our second movie of the week, The Time Traveler's Wife. (The first was Avatar, which sparked some interesting discussion on virtual realities, the "noble savage", 3D graphics, and more.)

We spent most of the day Friday in the water. First we snorkeled at Admiral's Aquarium.

Dad getting his feet wet

Off to the Aquarium

Snorkel buddies

Mom and Amanda with a school of French Grunts

The boat crew

We came back to the center to cook lunch (pasta primavera!) and then went out in the water again in the afternoon. This time, to Shark Alley. Mom, Brett, and Amanda tried out the Manta Tow, the technique we use to look for turtles where you hold on to a board that gets pulled behind the boat. This way they didn't have to fight the current, which happened to be at max flow. Then, Brett and Amanda both tried out the kneeboard and water skis.

Manta Towing at Shark Alley

Amanda preparing for liftoff

All in all, I'd say we've had a pretty active and jam packed week, but we also managed to squeeze in time for some reading, lounging, board games and even a few naps.

Scrabble

Me trying out the sign language Amanda just taught me, while she interprets

We ended our visit together with a boat ride back to the dock at sunset. (Brett's not in many of the above photos because he's often on the opposite side of the camera, so I've added him into the shot below.)

Last evening together

Now I finally feel like I've had the break I've needed since our Spring semester here ended. Hopefully we didn't tire out our guests too much and they feel like they've had a restful and relaxing vacation too!

Boatless

The boats have been out of the water for the past few days. Initially, they were taken out because Tropical Storm Erika was heading our way, but after it petered out we just took them out to clean them. So we've had to make do with limited access to the water. All the same, we made the most of it. On Saturday (after a long day of work for Jessee) we took the kayak across the channel to nearby Dove Cay. It's a one person boat, so after futile attempts to put both of us in it, Jessee just swam. We sat on the small rocky outcropping on it watching two resident Ospreys for a some time and then went for a snorkel with our new underwater camera.

Eagle Ray

Notice the (now healed) injury it had on its right wing - a bite mark, possibly from a shark.

Osprey

Banded Butterflyfish

Yellowfin Mojara

Flamingo Tongue

Yesterday morning we went for a walk (in the unbearably hot sun) out to the salinas with our new bird ID book. We didn't have binoculars, so it was pretty difficult to see anything, but we tried nonetheless. We saw several types of herons and egrets, the flamingos, some Killdeer, and plovers.

In the afternoon we drove out to Highlands Bay and went for a snorkel from the shore. The water is very green and murky over there (due to the prevailing current and extensive sea grass beds), but the there are really interesting coral formations with tunnels and caves all throughout. Here are a few of the pictures from there:

Eagle Ray

Eagle Ray

Eagle Ray

A large brain coral

This morning Jessee got up really early to head for the airport. She'll be spending the day in Provo, greeting the students as they arrive (!). They're coming already! It's hard to believe.