Yesterday Julie the taxi driver picked us up in time to get us to the Ash Wednesday service at 8. It was only a communion service, not a Mass, although I'm not sure why since there was a priest there. The opening hymn was one of my favorite Lenten ones, "Again We Keep This Solemn Fast." There was a host on the ground beside me, so I picked it up and gave it to the priest afterwards, since I assume it was consecrated. He himself was white, but he seemed incredibly grateful that some white tourists had bothered to come for Ash Wednesday. Not that many people were there, but a couple of other white tourists also came. I think a lot of people were going to the evening service, which wasn't even a communion service but just a prayer service, and it was being held jointly with the Anglican church next door. There are two main roads on Bimini, the King's Highway and the Queen's Highway, and all the churches seem to be in a row on the Queen's Highway.
We went back to the Fisherman's Village to wait for Jay the taxi driver, and Travalon took a photo of this giant chair.
Jay took us to Nate's Bakery, where we had ordered guava duff, but the woman there said we had never called to confirm, so they hadn't made it. We got some guava bread instead, and that was really good. Then Jay took us to Shipwreck Beach, where the water is an incredible shade of greenish blue, and there is the wreckage of a Haitian ship. Travalon says Jay told him it happened in 1923.
Then Jay took us to Radio Beach, where the locals hang out. Travalon took this photo of painted coconuts with his cell phone.
We sat in the shade of these trees for a while watching the waves and the clouds.
Here is our shuttle at the dock.
We took a very arduous walk along the beach, since we sank deep into the sand with every step. It was almost like quicksand. Then we went to a tiki bar on the beach, and I had coconut water right out of a fresh coconut!
We walked down to the Craft Market and bought brightly-colored tie-dyed souvenir T-shirts. This museum was right across the street.
Then we went to Ebbie and Pat's, a seafood restaurant right over the water. Here was our view during lunch, which was amazing deep-fried lobster.
We saw a seaplane land right in front of us!
These are gulls. Some of them have a laughing cry.
This shuttle picks up Silver Level patrons of the hotel from the airport on South Bimini.
This bird stood so still on a pile of discarded conch shells that I thought he was a statue. I asked the waitress about this, and she laughed. She said he is waiting for little crabs to come out of the shells, and then he eats them. I asked her what kind of bird this was, and she said a goolie bird. Of course, the waitress the day before said that mysterious long-tailed bird eating my French fry was a little chickie chick.
I think this might be the antennae of a crab hidden in the conch shell.
We also saw these cute little fish from the dock. And when I was using the restroom, there were gaps between the floorboards, and I saw a nurse shark swim beneath me!
There were some murals around the restaurant. Ebbie is a champion fisherman, and he catches everything made at the restaurant. His wife Pat runs a convenience store, and we got a postcard for Ma Hat there. I'm curious to see if it ever arrives; I also sent one to the gang at work, so we'll see if that one ever arrives.
This is the convenience store.
We went back to the hotel and explored the harbor, then we went up to the top floor to see the sunset. Here are more photos of the infinity pool. I took the first one with my cell phone.
The tram came to take us to the port, and there were so many of us that Travalon and I were practically sitting on top of two sixty-something ladies. At the port we had to stand for an hour, waiting for the ferry, because it had gone to Freeport first and was running a bit behind. There was no bathroom there, but somehow I survived. I did ask one of the customs guys if there was a bathroom there, and he said no, so I asked, "Is there anything I can duck behind?" and he doubled over laughing. One of the ladies we had sat with on the tram told us she ducked behind the building.
Once we were all safely on the ferry, I got into line to buy some water, and the other lady we had sat with on the tram said she had bought a voucher for three cocktails but only wanted one, would Travalon and I each like one? Would we? As far as I know, there is no prohibition against drinking a Bahama Mama on Ash Wednesday! So then I was buzzed while praying the rosary, and the rocking of the boat was very exhilarating. Hardly anyone seemed seasick this time, but someone did throw up in one of the sinks in the women's bathroom. I have to hand it to the ferry crew - they quickly cleaned it up. For some reason a teenage boy from Argentina who was sitting across from us kept asking me questions. Also, there was an insert on the seat ahead of me advertising a commemorative Balearia cup (free refills), and it was a beautiful turquoise, so I decided I wanted one. (Balearia is the company that runs the ferry.) I went up to ask for one, but the crew are more fluent in Spanish than English, and I realized I didn't have the vocabulary to ask for a turquoise commemorative cup. They said that they were $4 each but they didn't have any, so I went back to my seat and got the insert, and then they said they had the display one, which I could have for free because it was dirty. Sorry, no photo yet - soon.
We landed only a little later than scheduled, but by the time we got settled in our hotel, it was nearly midnight, so we just crashed. This morning was crazy because a bunch of people were at the hotel for a cruise that was leaving this morning, so the breakfast area was totally packed. We ate at a table in the pool area. Then we set off for the Everglades, and we passed the Hard Rock Casino, that looks like a guitar. At night it is lit up red, but we were too far away to get a photo of that. We passed right by it this morning.
We got to the Everglades, but the Shark Valley Visitors' Center was so crowded that there was a long line to get in, and a sign said the parking lot was full, so we parked outside and walked in. They charge $35 a car and $20 per walk-in, but when I pointed out that it was unfair that we had to pay more when we had to walk further, the guy kindly charged us the vehicle rate. There were so many people that we couldn't get on a tram for three hours, so we walked on the boardwalk, but in the heat of the day not many birds were around. We did see some egrets and little blue herons together in a field.
We didn't stay long, so that we would still have the energy to get back to the car. According to my FitBit, it was almost an hourlong walk for our whole visit. I said we might have more luck in the swamp than in the marsh, because the swamp has trees so it has shade. Indeed, when we got to the Big Cypress Visitor Center, we went along their boardwalk and saw egrets, anhingas, alligators, and all sorts of fish.
This is a cattle egret, which is much smaller.
Here they are together so that you can see the size difference.
This female anhinga was drying her feathers.
And this one was sitting in a tree right by us. We could almost reach out and touch her.
I know these fish are alligator gars.
This is another cattle egret. Later we did see a bunch in a field with cows.
As we continued along Alligator Alley, I saw a large, pink bird land in a tree. Travalon offered to go back to find it, but we didn't see it. We did see these bizarre storks.
I've never seen anything like that in Wisconsin! Here's a cattle egret.
Travalon said the pink bird was probably a spoonbill. As we drove along, we saw the most incredible bird party: it had spoonbills, egrets, ibises, and those weird storks.
Look at that crazy beak!!
I want to hear whatever joke the spoonbill below is laughing at!
A young couple in a sports car pulled over to see what we were looking at. They spoke English, but it was not their native language. (I'm not sure what was.) I let them look through my binoculars, and they were delighted with the beautiful pink spoonbills.
We kept driving along Alligator Alley and stopped at the boardwalk we had discovered on an earlier trip to Florida. It never disappoints. We saw alligators, a great blue heron, and a snowy egret. We saw an anhinga swimming, but every time Travalon tried to take her photo, she dove below the water.
We stopped for lunch at the Cuban restaurant in Chokolashee, in the Ten Thousand Islands, where we had eaten last year. It was so lovely in the shade, but they stopped playing Cuban music because some guy with a guitar sang and played Grateful Dead and Johnny Cash, which I'm not totally opposed to, but it doesn't go with the ambiance. We had the red snapper again, and I had a watermelon liquado, the same color as the spoonbills. The owner (?) told us he had been kayaking earlier and was about ten feet away from some spoonbills, and he had seen a number of panthers, including a black one. I've heard of black leopards and jaguars, but not Florida panthers, so maybe what he saw was an escaped black leopard from a zoo. Anyway, here's my fancy (non-alcoholic) drink.
Next we went to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, where we had gone hiking with Richard Bonomo on his birthday last year. It looks like a jungle!
We didn't see any panthers, but we did hear something interesting - I'm not sure if it was a bird or an insect. I didn't think to make a video of the sound. After that we drove north, and we found somewhere to pull over to take photos of the sunset.
Travalon said I could tell this story: we got to our hotel, and his key wasn't working for our room. Suddenly a guy opened the door, and we were very confused - had they given us the same room as him? But I asked Travalon to double-check the room number they gave us, and he had gotten it wrong. Luckily the guy just thought it was funny - he wasn't freaked out at all that we tried to get into his room.
It was late, and we hadn't eaten yet, so we walked to the bar and grill conveniently located next door to our hotel. A live jazz band was playing, but then the hostess said they were closing in five minutes. We ended up just going to McDonald's, which has taken all the healthy options off the menu so I just had a cheeseburger. I asked if I could have a kids' sized shamrock shake, and I think the girl felt sorry for me because they no longer had the three things I had tried to order, so she said that wasn't on the menu either but she could make me a tiny one for no charge. That was perfect - just a small taste of shamrock shake.
Time for some DuoLingo bragging!
The green owl doesn't give me time off, even when I'm on vacation.
Famous Hat
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