Tide Pools

I know, I know.  I post, like, EVERY day lately.  But we're trying to do it all before we leave and I want to have a record of it!

On Saturday we went down to the cove.  I went with Megan's family to hike to the tide pools.  To get there, you have to climb over this rocky terrain that reminded me like something out of a space movie:

When Jaron saw my pictures, he told me we missed the biggest pools.  But the ones we saw were pretty neat. 

Some of them were teaming with life, including small sea urchins.  The sea urchins in the ocean grow much larger - with bigger spikes.

They were also full of these speedy fish that were darting all over the pool:

Megan and I also got the opportunity to snorkel a bit while the menfolk watched the kids.  The water was the smoothest I've ever seen it (it's tough to snorkel in waves).  I wish SO BAD that I'd had an underwater camera!  But Megan did so if she emails me some pictures, you know me, I WILL post 'em! ;-)  We saw big sea urchins, coral, fluorescent fish and Megan saw a sting ray right under me but I missed it.  It was AMAZING!

*  *  *

UPDATE:

Jaron and I took the kids back to the tide pools tonight, when the sun wasn't so hot and MY CAMERA DIED!  I just about died too - there was some be-eautiful stuff we saw.  We went over further towards the cove and found a ton more pools - I can't believe we didn't see them the first time I went.  But I did snap a couple of pictures before the camera died, just nothing too cool:

I actually got more pictures of this before the camera died than I did the tide pools:

It was the CLEAREST day I've ever seen here today!  Not only could we see the neighboring islands, we could see details on them like beaches and buildings!  And the ocean is still SO CALM!

Jo Bean's Glass Studio

Last night we took a trip to Jo Bean's Glass Studio to buy a little souvenier for Alden's cute little cousin, Katelyn.  Jo Bean's is the coolest place!  She and her employees make everything by hand.  She offers class but, alas, I can't get away for 8 hours to take it. 

 Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy - the lighting in there is not very good.  Yeah right - the real reason is I had three kids age 4, 2, and 9 months in a GLASS store!! :-D

Can you believe that all that was made from these and these?

Last Hurrah at the Cove (with Jellyfish)

Wednesday was  BEAUTIFUL clear, sunny day.  The top picture is a view of Upper Hell's Gate.  Below it are Statia and St. Maarten.  We can't always see St. Maarten because of the humidity, even though it's only 20 miles away!

We took the opportunity to hit the cove one last time as a group before people started leaving for the break or for good. :-(

The cove was covered in jellyfish again.  It's so strange - I've never seen jellyfish there until this last week and they are all over the place!

I love that I caught Amanda's face right when she dropped it!

They were all over the rocks.  Fortunately we didn't step on any because they say they can sting for a whole day after they're dead.

These ones were bigger than I've ever seen them but I suspect they were dead, even in the water.  I suspect this because 1. None of the kids got stung, even though they were swimming amidst them and 2. They seemed only to be moving wherever the water pushed them!

This one was as big as a small dinner plate and was big enough that I could see the four purple rings inside it that Jaron was telling me was in the larger ones.

But, jellyfish or no jellyfish, we braved the water and had a great time!

Saban Sunset

First off, this flower is one of the coolest flowers I've ever seen!

The horizon here is usually clouded by the humidity.  Yesterday it was crystal clear so we took the opportunity to go down to Well's Bay (home of the beach that is there 6 months out of the year but never came this year) to try to watch the sunset.  They say there's a "green flash" right when the sun dips below the oceanic horizon.  Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see much of the colorful sky or its reflection on the water.  But it was still beautiful and still good to get out as a family!

Jaron had 2 finals yesterday (and only 1 more to go!) and took the rest of the day off to be with us.  It was so weird to be actually going somewhere with Jaron and when I said that, we figured out that it has probably been about TWO MONTHS since we have left the house together!!  Geesh!  I guess that's what happens when med school demands 14 hour days out of Jaron.  Unfortunately, I think we have a few more years of this "Jaronlessness" to go.

But I digress, back to the sunset:

A lot of people don't go down to Well's Bay, even when the beach is there, because of these crazy steep cliffs that have been known to shed a few rocks here and there!

I like this picture.  It captures the kids perfectly (and yes, they're in their pajamas!).  Alden is telling us how it is because, well, he seems to know everything lately.  And Eli is completely oblivious, just along for the ride. :-)

Lastly, I am SURE going to miss being apart of such a great group as the SOS!!

Jellyfish and Barracuda at the Cove

We've been hitting the cove as much as possible lately to soak up as much of it as we can.  On Friday we went with our friends Amanda, Heather, Sidney, Sally, Danielle and Emma.

Amanda took pictures of the kids and I can't help but post all of them.  She has such an eye for candid moments that capture the kids so well.

In that first picture, Eli is making his "CHEESE!" face.

Alden and Emma get along great.  They're only a couple of months apart in age and they are both precocious - full of knowledge (they believe, anyway :-) and inquisitiveness.  It's hilarious to hear them playing together.

Poor little Gracen got quite the tar-stained face.  When they did the airport runway (which is right up the hill from the cove), they buried the extra tar at the cove.  Whose idea that was, I can't imagine.  Everytime it gets hot, the tar boils up from under the sand and rocks.  Somehow it always gets everywhere!

To liven things up, there were a bunch of local teens there, blasting away their music for us.  They were spearfishers as well and caught this 3 ft barracuda right before we got there.  Alden and Eli were so curious about it!

So I took their picture by the fish once the teens got it strung up.  At one point, Alden wouldn't smile so, trying to get him to smile, Amanda said to him, "Make a face like you'd make if you just caught this!"  And this is the face Alden did:  (Eli, of course, was quick to do the same)

To make the trip even MORE adventuresome, the cove was full of jellyfish!  We saw a few small ones washed ashore and Heather caught one in a cup.  They sting if you touch them, but jellyfish the size of these ones (softball size) only feel like a pinch when they sting you.

When Jaron came home that night and I told him about the jellyfish, he told me some of his adventures with jellyfish.  He said he's seen them larger than dinner plates (and I believe him - he once came home with a 2-inch gash on his shoulder from a jellyfish that he said was paralyzing for a few seconds!) and they're not completely opaque when they're that big.  He also said that he once swam through a whole cloud of quarter-sized ones.  Being that small, they didn't sting but just felt like a wall of sliminess.  He's sure going to miss his adventures in snorkeling when he leaves this island!

Also, on Saturday we garage-saled a bunch of our stuff down in Windwardside with Amanda and Danielle since we're all leaving this semester.  We had a lot of fun but the kids didn't last very long before they were ready to be done!