Beauty and the Beast

Arising before the sun I was excited to get this day started. Today was turtle day and our favorite beach, Maho. The return has occurred, but today we will start on the relax and recharge.

After making what I would call a Sunday breakfast (love this kitchen) we headed to Maho. A quick stop in town for water at Dolphin Market we heard something that went straight to our hearts. During check out, I gave the attendant a $20. She replied, do you have the 35 cents in change? No, I said I have no cents, just dollars. Smiling, she said thank you for bringing your dollars. The merchants on island are reopening and well stocked, they are just missing the usual amounts of customers this time of year.

Driving up the North Shore road to Maho we could hardly wait to round that final bend and stop at the overlook. And there it was! Francis Bay, on the far left, Little Maho, and then Maho.

A couple boats had overnighted in the bay, and the contrast of the blue water and white hulls screamed, take a picture of me.

Parking at Maho had always been iffy. We used to just pull off the road into the ground cover of seagrape and mangrove trees, but they are now all twisted and ripped from the ground.

Not long ago they built a parking lot, but it was full of holes that would eat most small cars. Being early we were the first in the new lot. When we left, the lot was full. I think everyone on island had found Maho.

Janet went straight to work cleaning the beaches… The pile of donkey droppings next to our intended beach area was just not desirable.

The morning was beautiful and we immediately put on our snorkel stuff and headed out.

We could hear children excitedly announcing, look, another turtle. When we got to the grass field offshore they could easily be spotted. The beautiful sea creatures went about eating the grasses undisturbed by the one horn butt fish (snorkelers) who gawked from above.

We also snorkeled out and around to Little Maho. The one thing that is noticeably missing is the large sea fans that use to be out on the point. In fact, we only saw one fan. The noon had come and gone. The beach was filling up, and when a gaggle of young ladies waded into the water and exclaimed that if you stand still the fish move… it was time to go.

It was a great morning on the beach and the turtle adventure was all that we hoped for. There is very little shade on Maho, but Beerman, if you are following the blog, you would like some of the growth on the surviving trees.

Driving over the mountain to Coral Bay we were afforded a beautiful view however, the true devastation could be seen. Brown mountains and many damaged houses is overwhelming.

The power company from Missouri is still very busy on this side of the island. Boats still litter the bay and signs of the level of clean up still ongoing.

We stopped at the recently opened Aqua Bistro for lunch. The food was great and the drinks cold. Our friends Richard and Sally had lived above the restaurant for a year and by all appearances their rental survived in good shape.

After a wonderful lunch we headed back over to Hawknest Beach so Janet get a swim in before we called it a night.

Firing up the grill we cooked outside the entire dinner of tenderloins, potatoes, and green beans with a wonderful Benzinger Merlot, which was exactly double the price we get it at home. Oh well, it paired well with the meal.

Yes, today we saw the beauty of the turtles and the beast name Irma. Three wonderful meals, chatted with some great people and had some great Tom and Janet time. It appears the relax and recharge phase is working.