Little Corn Island Day 3

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We slept like babies last night. Sooo tired from 3 dives in one day. It really wears you out. I woke up & spent some quality time on the deck staring at the sea. I had a delicious cup of coffee. Real coffee, brewed, not the instant stuff that has become a staple in our lives in the coffee center of the world. Oh well. It still does the trick.

After Geoff was up we walked into town a bit early to find bread for our PB & bananas. Everyone here talks about coconut bread. They all love it & we went searching for it. Several stores & houses have signs that say they make/sell coconut bread, but all of them were sold out. It must be really good stuff... Along our walk in town we met a guy named Whikey who was walking along carrying freshly cut palm trees & he asked us what we were doing. We told him we were looking for coconut bread & he said he knew some places. So we walked all over the village with him but still nobody had bread, not even his secret few houses that we stopped by. We've noticed in our travels that if you just say things like good morning & hello wherever you are, people treat you better & they smile & they like that you are there with them. So, that is usually how we end up talking with locals like Whikey. We said good morning & that started our conversation. Especially in the Islands & Caribbean towns, these people just love to talk once you get them started. I love it. So, as a parting gift since he didn't find us any coconut bread, he grabbed us a couple coconuts off the tree by the last house we stopped at & popped them open for us. We drank the fresh juice & were pretty happy about it. Yum. We ended up with some plain bread from a pulperia. We'll keep trying for the good stuff....someday!

At the dive shop we enjoyed our PB & banana sandwiches. They were good. Then off to dive! We are very lucky, it's another day with super duper calm seas. Not a bit of wind & a very flat ocean. The best for diving, visibility, boat rides, everything!

Dive #1 was with Simon, us, & Cheryl (another DM, they're everywhere!) at Tarpon Channel. The sole purpose of this dive was to see a Hammerhead Shark. So, per Simons instructions we sat on the sandy bottom of the channel between two large reefs & waited. Eventually a large Hammerhead swam over us. He was probably 6 ft long & he looked much much bigger. We sat there longer & he kept coming back & circling over us about 5 times. One time he turned his head & got a little closer to get a good look at us. It was really awesome! When we finally started moving again we saw our first juvenile queen angelfish. She was beautiful and only 2 or 3 inches which is always a treat. Then we went along & swam under overhangs & into a couple small tunnels. Simon passed a RN shark that was sitting on the sandy floor & we 3 sat & watched her for a minute. She got annoyed, got up, looked at each of us & swam right in front of us & into cave. We all looked at eachother with big wide eyes after that. That shark looked angry. After swimming out of one of the tunnels we came upon 3 Eagle Rays swimming just overhead. So we sat on the sand & watched, & one slowed down & turned his head down & looked down at Geoff & I. They were swimming in a V formation & turned around & came back over us again. National Geographic moment!!! Amazing. One of them was missing a long part of his tail. Probably a Hammerhead snack? Yikes! We saw a school of Lookdowns that have a big Dog Snapper who apparently is always swimming in the middle of the group. Maybe he's confused about who he is. Back on the boat we were all pumped up again! It's so fun to share in these moments with other people who just love & appreciate diving & the life in the water. It is such an adrenaline rush.

Back to the dive shop for our surface interval. We headed to Bridggettes & ordered fried chicken but when we still didn't have it in 1 hour, we had to leave without it to do dive 2. She wasn't happy with us when we told her we had to go but we said we'd eat it cold when we got back! What can you do?

Our next dive was at Shark Hole. We completed the tri-fecta by seeing Reef Sharks here. 3 types of sharks all in one day. Check! We went through some swim throughs with lots of natural skylights in the reef. It's neat to look up through the openings in the reef & see the bright blue light from the ocean & the sun. We saw several Reef Sharks & a ton of Red Lip Blennies. Those guys are funny to watch with their googlie eyes that look like they put on eyeliner & their big red lips. Back on the surface Simon was stoked that we had such a great day filled with shark sightings. Super fun!
Back to Bridggettes where we ordered a 2nd fried chicken plate because now we are starving! We had lunch with Jason from SD & talked more about Colombia & SE Asia diving & teaching pros & cons & challenges. Geoff's thinking about a career change....Who knows what is in store for us in the future. I think he was sold when Jason said he works 185 days a year & travels the rest of the time. Intriguing for sure.

Back at Casa Iguana I completely konked out in our hammock. So tired from diving. I tried to read but couldn't even keep my eyes open. It is really amazing how much energy diving uses but it seems so effortless underwater usually. Although here most of the dives we've done are drift dives & you definitely work a little harder in a current. Even if you're going with the current you have to work a bit to not get swept up in it. So, sleepy time was a must.

After nap time we got ready for dinner & headed to Ensueno's. We expect the walk to take us about 40 minutes. We'll definitely work up an apetite for dinner. On our way to Ensueno's we stopped by Derek's to set up the plan for the rest of the weeks lodging. We are excited to stay at Derek's. It's so isolated & secluded & incredibly beautiful. Plus Geoff's been looking at their website for months before we left home & dreaming about being here.

We continued on with our walk to Ensueno's. Now it's dark & we're walking along the beach watching the stars come out & looking out for crabs. They're all over the beach & all over the trails through the island. We arrived at Ensueno's & sat outside in the dark with a bunch of candles lit & chatted with a couple from Quebec. Soon after we arrived the couple we met from NY showed up & another couple from Calgary. We sat around & drank wine (we brought our own boxed wine, he he he) & talked. Dinner was incredible. Andrea', the chef from Italy, made us an incredible 5 course meal all for $18 a person, which in this part of the world is spendy. But worth every last penny. This meal might have been the most flavorful meal I have had in a long long time. He started with sesame flavored Kingfish sashimi, then ceviche with Snapper, celery, olives!! (you never see those anywhere), & tomatoes. Then he brought out a bowl of fried yucca chips that were so perfectly crunchy & seasoned & wow!! For dinner we had a Kingfish & Snapper baked filets with rice & salad. For desert, a cake that they eat here I can't remember what it's called but it has banana & mango in it. All I can say is wow! We were so full & so flavor overloaded. Everything tasted different & yummy. We said our goodbyes & thank yous & began the long walk back to Casa Iguana with the Calgary couple who are also staying there.

Our walk back was very dark & still fun. You can just hear all the crabs scuttling by in the bushes as you walk by. It's kind of funny for some reason. Once we were back in town we saw Whikey on the path talking with a woman. He was cracking us up & kept asking us to tell him "the difference between me & she" as he would stand next to his girlfriend & put his face next to her. Geoff finally said, that's easy, she's good looking. Smooth. Whikey loved that & so did Petronella, his lady friend. The Calgary couple just kind of stood there staring at the whole thing because Whikey was waxing philosophical & hugging us & talking away & I think they didn't know what to think. It is a typical moment for us. We just love to talk to people we've come to learn about ourselves. Apparently Whikey didn't recognize me from the coconut bread day probably because I didn't have my hat on & I was wearing a dress with my hair down because he asked Geoff, where's you partner? He'd obviously had a few beers & his accent was super thick. It was a treat really.

We said goodbye to Whikey & continued along the path through the village. We saw a couple from Barton's Creek (where we stayed many moons ago in Belize) & joined them for a beer at Tranquilo's & talked travel (of course). We finally made it home & quickly to sleep. Zonk out fest for sure. All this walking combined with all the diving is definitely wearing us out & getting us back in shape & helping us sleep solidly through the night.

Random sidebar: Pretty sure I haven't mentioned that Geoff is now 10 pounds lighter than when we left home & I'm 5 pounds heavier. Rude. I think all the extra physical activity will help me out but Geoff might waste away & sail away in a gust of wind. Skinny boy. Or he'll be like the Lookdown Fish that when they look at you head on you can barely see them because they're so narrow. I might lose him in the forest....tee hee hee. I'm cracking myself up.

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