Day 5: Rain, Rain, Go Away (Hideaway Caye)

Today we woke up in the cabana to overcast skies and a rain shower. We wandered over to the restaurant to get our morning coffee. However, as we sat there, a squall came through. I quickly ran back to the cabana to close all the shutters! I was absolutely soaked by the time I got back to the restaurant. So to pass the time, Dustin, Ama, Brett, Barb and I all played some games. Well, actually, we played every game that they own. We played go fish with four of a kind, go fish with two of a kind, uno, chutes and ladders, close the box, and dominoes. The only one that we did not play was twister which Ama was pretty sad about. But once the rain stopped, Dustin, Barb, and I went out snorkeling again! Brett came too in the kayak as we snorkeled.

It was still a little overcast, but it was lightening up and the rain had stopped. Dustin took us to a different reef this time, off of the opposite side of the same island as yesterday. This reef was so different though. The beach was sandy quite a ways out, then the coral slowly began. However, the reef was much deeper here, and the coral farther out was huge! I enjoyed this reef a lot more because I like being able to swim above the coral without having to worry about touching it. Plus, because it was such deep water and the coral was so large, it gave great viewing of all the fish. There were all different types and sizes of coral and fish, even more variety than yesterday.

The coral was in colonies of all different types of coral growing together. They were probably 6 to 8 feet tall and we were in water about 10 to 12 feet deep. The tallest coral that stood by itself was this orange finger like coral that looked like similar to a bare tree. My favorite coral from today (which technically isn't even a coral) was the blue Stove Pipe sponge. It grows with the coral, and is a bright light blue that grows in a tube shape. We also saw all types of fish again. Even different ones from yesterday. Bright yellow ones, one little all that was all blue, little ones that are yellow with blue, black angel fish, red ones, purple ones, schools of fish, individual fish, fish hiding in the coral, fish swimming this way or that way, etc. One skinny long (but small) one that was black and white totally bugged me out because it swam right towards my face! My favorite fish from today were the Stoplight Parrot Fish in teal and purple, the Honeycomb Cow Fish which has geometric patterns, and we saw a Nurse Shark! Plus, there was also this red fish that had long "whiskers". He looked Japanese to me (although I know you can't stereotype a fish with an ethnicity). It reminded me of the red dragon from Mulan in fish form.

After snorkeling, we were all starving! Kim made us some delicious nachos. Then, we all had some down time. Kim and Ama took Caye out for a swim as they kayaked to the other islands. Brett and Barb napped, as well as Dustin. I relaxed for a bit, then decided to snorkel off the dock once more. There are predictions of a storm coming through tomorrow, so just in case we cannot go snorkeling again, I want to go at least once more. First, I went to the left off the dock. Only to come face to face with about a one foot barracuda. No thank you! So I turned around and decided to check out what is to the right side of the dock. Only here, I came face to face with about a two foot barracuda! I'm out! I jumped out onto the dock and decided I was done for the day. At least I went snorkeling one last time, I was satisfied with that. Dustin of course made fun of me, but that's fine.

For dinner we ate lobster that Dustin had caught earlier that day. It was delicious! Kim is such an amazing cook, and she is so talented. She is from Pennsylvania, but has learned how to cook all the different types of seafood that Dustin catches, and it's all delicious! After dinner, the six of us played trivia and then ring toss where there is a ring on a string and you throw it to try and hook it on the hook that is on the opposite wall of the palapa. Brett, Barb, and I had never played before. I only got one, but at least I made it on the board!

Tomorrow is supposed to be windy in the afternoon, so I'm hoping we get to go snorkeling in the morning at least.