Part 17

Rest of Wednesday

Leaving Turtle Cove marine, Jeff drove us (on the left side of the road!) back to Windsong.  We had lunch in the condo and rested.  While the boys were asleep, Sarah and Jeff went to the gym.  

We were off to the reef to snorkel before supper. Everyone got into the act.  Yep, Miss Judy did fine and saw many colorful critters.  Jeff even saw a Lion Fish.   That's my goal for tomorrow. Best I keep my distance since the poisonous spines can be deadly. 

The Lion Fish is a sad example of an ecosystem in havoc.   In less than a decade, the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois miles and P. volitans) has become widely established along the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. Lionfish are presently invading the Gulf of Mexico and South America. Recent estimates of lionfish densities indicate that lionfish have surpassed some native species with the highest estimates reporting over 1,000 lionfish per acre in some locations. Lionfish are capable of permanently impacting native reef fish communities across multiple trophic levels. Lionfish occupy the same trophic position as economically important species (e.g., snapper and grouper) and may hamper stock rebuilding efforts and coral reef conservation measures.

Here are a few shots of our afternoon on the ocean.

We ate supper later in the evening at the Magnolia Restaurant that overlooks Turtle Cove. 

 

 











Judy and I had the grouper served with potatoes and arugula. Twas yummy.

The deserts were great. We shared the poached strawberries and Banoffee.   Banoffee is a graham cracker crust topped with homemade toffee, slices of fresh bananas and finished with coffee whipped cream. Do you get the idea that there is some real eating going on during this vacation?

 

Tomorrow's blog - Thursday's excitement.