Wow… what a day! There was so much to squeeze in, despite all we've already done!
The dryer at the house is broken, and at first we didn’t know what was wrong with it, but then the other day Jeff investigated and found out the belt was broken. SO, he took it about yesterday and got the belt, hoping we could replace it and get their dryer fixed for them before we left. He called the appliance store on the island, and it sounded promising, so we planned our day with a stop there in the middle of the day.
We started out with a short drive followed by a short hike to Drunk Bay. It is the only beach on the island not protected by a reef, and the surf was crazy! Huge, pounding waves on the big rocks – quite a different scene compared to the other beaches here. It’s a beachcombing beach, and it was so fun! We found some drift wood, but the cool part was all the “art” folks do with the coral and rocks and other fun stuff that washes up. We took lots of pictures; there were animals, people, messages, you name it. Very cool.
From there we drove over to Francis Bay. On the way, we stopped at a smoothie place that we’ve driven by EVERY DAY since we’ve been here, but never at a time that was a good time for a smoothie. Today, it was just about lunch time and we were on the way to the beach. It was perfect! Matthew had a strawberry smoothie, Maddie’s was chocolate and OREO (surprise, surprise), mine was pineapple and coconut (the best of the group’s), and Jeff got the island special (lots of different fruits mixed in). Even Matthew slurped up every last drop. He has really started eating ice cream and enjoying it!
We made it to Francis Bay, and iIt was another great, uncrowded beach. We planted our chairs in the shade and then went for walk along the beach. Then we swam for a while. We didn’t take the snorkeling gear today, but we did have our little goggles, and even with those we had some fun watching fish. I saw several different kinds – two kinds that I hadn’t even seen before. After swimming, we walked along a little piece of the Francis Bay Nature trail. We were hoping to see some birds, but it wasn’t the best time of day.
After that, we headed to the appliance store. Wouldn’t you know… they didn’t have the right size belt. The one we need will there tomorrow, but we won’t be here to fix it. Bummer. We sure wish we had looked into the dryer situation sooner… we really, really wanted to fix it! Our laundry is done, but a pleasant surprise it would’ve been for the Kincer’s! Oh well. We tried. We found a neat little bakery next door… that helped ease our disappointment.
From there, we came home and played a while. Well, he kids played while Jeff and I got some things done around the house. We did manage to squeeze in some UNO.
One of our goals for today was to get cleaned up BEFORE dinner (for a change) and try to get some family pictures taken. For the first time since we’ve been here, I dried my hair and Maddie’s hair! We were looking GOOD! We climbed in the car – camera and destinations in mind – and wouldn’t you know it? The bottom fell out. We’re talking down pours… and not just scattered showeres, it rained from our end of the island all the way to Cruz Bay. No views, no pictures.
SO, we just headed straight to dinner, trying to come up with plan B. Our waiter took a nice picture of the four of us. It stopped raining while we ate (we went back to Café Roma for some more of their incredible pizza), so we buzzed out of there and headed to one of the pretty vistas before the daylight faded. More light would’ve been better, but I think we still got some really good shots.
Then back home to begin the packing process. It’s so hard to believe the 12 days here are coming to a close. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime for us… I’m still having a hard time believing that this is US… HERE… experiencing all of THIS. It’s a tiny taste of heaven right here on Earth. As we've been driving around today, we've been talking about our favorite things about this trip. Us all being together and sharing these experiences - from the incredible to the simple - TOGETHER is at the top of the list. We are so proud, too, that NO ONE got sunburned while we were here!! We may not have packed enough bug spray, but the suitcase of sunscreen came in handy. :-)
Tomorrow is the traveling day! We will leave a piece of ourselves here, but it will be good to be home.
