dive lessons, dink, and dinner

I keep plugging along with this stupid head cold.  I can't remember the last time I caught a cold.  Geesh. 

Donnie got a new quick release for our 60' hose.  Now it's super easy for him to set up a tank and leave it on the boat if he's doing a shallow dive, or working on the boat under the waterline.  He brought the gear up to the pool to give Stephanie a dive lesson.  She wanted to learn how to breathe on a regulator.

After Stephanie's lesson was over, much of the gang came over to hang out
at the pool for the afternoon.  It was Alexa's last chance to win Adolph
outright before she flies home tomorrow.  She was curious about the
dive equipment and wanted to give the regulator a try.  The girl
immediately took to scuba!  She was clearing her ears, giving the
"OK" signal, and diving like a fish.  Before long, she was going to the
bottom to pick up her Grandpa's loose change he threw in the pool.
I know what she's going to want for her 12th birthday- scuba lessons!

The bougainvillea colors are gorgeous here...

Spring has definitely arrived!

We played chickenfoot, sunbathed and swam the afternoon away.  I tried my best to sweat out some germs, and Alexa tried her best to win Adolph back.  It was not meant to be; Donnie won him again, so the bird stays.  He was happy because he heard everyone talking about scuba diving tomorrow and he wanted to go again :)

After the pool party broke up, we hopped in the dingy for a ride to Jurassic Park.  This is the haunted lighthouse at Faro Blanco.  If you remember, the marina was taken out in Hurricane Wilma years ago, and it was left in ruin.  As a result, the iguanas have taken over the place, and some of them are huge.  Stephanie loves a good lizard, so we took a dink ride over there to see what we could see.

Marriott has bought the property, and a hotel is going up on land.  It looks
as if they are restoring the marina, too.  The busted up docks have all been
taken out, and what iguanas are left are all huddled up around the lighthouse.

In the marina all that remains are the pilings, and this
floating orange net that has been installed around the lighthouse.

The great big iguanas are all gone.  I wonder if they became someone's dinner?

We also dinked into Keys Fisheries to see if we could catch any lobster boats
off loading their catch of the day.  All the boats were already in for the day
It's not surprising since their workday begins at 4am.  The pelicans were
being fed the leftover bait for dinner as the workers cleaned the deck.

 

As we turned out of the fisheries, the pilings were being taken up by
pelicans and seagulls waiting their turn for their free dinner.

Me and my honey :)  Man, the Cap'n is looking like a crusty old salt! LOL

We stayed out to watch the sunset, but the low lying clouds on the horizon
blocked the view.  It was still a gorgeous evening.
 

After we got back to Marquesa, I worked up a feast fit for kings...we had marinated mangrove snapper fillets, fried potatoes, and bacon wrapped lobster bites on the grill!  Donnie had five lobsters that he caught from a few weeks ago in the freezer.  I took the meat out of the tail, cut it into chunks, wrapped them in bacon, and stuck a tooth pick in it.  I used up a pound of bacon, cut in half- so there were over 30 bites.  I'd like to say I have a picture of the finished product, but we devoured them all.
Oh. Em. Gee.  You couldn't eat any better than the best restaurants on the island.   They were DELICIOUS! 

So, what did you have for dinner tonight?  G'nite, y'all!