July 19th - Grand Turk


 

The ship was only scheduled to arrive in Grand Turk at noon so we slept in and had a lazy morning. After disembarking we walked along the beach to the meeting point where we met the guys who would be taking us out snorkeling and then proceeded to wait for an hour or more in the heat for the family that took forever to find the place. There was a little bit of shade but it was really hot, so extra annoying that these people took so long to get there while the rest of us waited.

We were disappointed to learn that because of wind we wouldn't be going out to the "wall" which is a 7000 ft drop off, but instead to another spot where it would be calmer.

Halfway there the boat stopped so the one guy could dive down for conch shells to eat later. It was neat to see him do it (the bottom was about 40 ft down), but the boat was bobbing and swaying and most people onboard got at least a little bit seasick. We weren't too affected by it, but it was definitely uncomfortable. A couple people "fed the fish" because of their seasickness.

When we arrived at the snorkeling area Jason put on a life vest which was probably a good idea as the water on the surface was fairly choppy. The visibility below was really good and there were lots of colorful fish and other things to see. The bottom was around 30-40ft below, so it's not like it was possible to dive down anyway, so the vest wasn't really a hinderance. 

After the snorkeling we went to a nearby deserted island where they demonstrated how to break into the conch shell and get the meat out. While they made a ceviche with that there was some time to snorkel around some wild stingray that live nearby and it was really neat as they were fairly tame as they get fed by people fairly regularly. The one guy caught one and was showing it to people. Jason spent the hour there snorkeling around and looking for fish and stingray. They were often close enough to get a really good look and Jason was able to touch them a couple times.

Tina got really sunburnt as there wasn't really any shade other than a beach towel. Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. Jason's old underwater camera got a lot of use so hopefully some of the video turned out well.

We came back and onboard the buffet was serving German food. We had schnitzel, spatzel, wurst, and sauteed saurkraut. There was also cheese strudel which was really good - it gives cheesecake a run for the money. 

Tonight there's a Madonna tribute band for their "80s night", so we'll probably check that out.

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