Treasure Hunting Success

What a beautiful weekend we had in Freeport! Not to mention I got to spend time with my husband away from the books. That only happens after his mini's. And it was much overdue!

So, after Kim left early Saturday morning, we spent the rest of the weekend with the Womacks at the beach.

If this was your backyard, I'm sure you would, too.

Saturday we visited lovely Taino Beach. I'm not sure if the storm brought good treasures in, or if it was the time of day that made a difference. But the guys were very successful!

Yes! That's a starfish (good work, Jon!) three conch shells, seashells, coral and two sea biscuits. The brown thing on the left is one of the sea biscuits. You can compare it to the white one next to it. The brown one is still alive. They are covered in mini bristles that move around when they're alive. But once they're bleached, they are gorgeous!

And, the guys also found some conch shells that still had the conch in them. If you're not aware, conch is a major food here in the Bahamas. There are conch fritters, conch salads, conch burgers - just about everything conch. I even tried the conch fritters.

But after seeing an alive conch, I won't ever be eating those again. They look like slimy creatures from outer space.

And this is how they move. It doesn't get any better - trust me.

People eat that. I ate that. Never, never again.

On to a better topic...

Saturday night we got all dressed up and went out for a nice dinner to celebrate the completion of Mini 1. We were expecting to spend quite a few dollars at this lovely restaurant at Pelican Bay Hotel. However, we found the prices to be more comparable to those at the Port. In some cases, even more reasonable. So noted, a fancier restaurant doesn't necessarily mean more expensive food. Everything is just expensive.

I ordered my first fish entree! And no, it was NOT conch. Pan fried grouper, topped on fried plantains and steamed veggies.  Delicious!

I had never had fried plantains either. Those tasted like the state fair. Mmm.

Sunday we got up early and went to Banana Bay at Fortune Beach. This is hands down my favorite place on the island we've been so far. The views here are just spectacular. The water here is typically crystal clear, and the beach is normally empty. 

We watched a quick rain shower blow in and decided to use that time to grab some lunch at Banana Bay. 

After lunch, we went back out to enjoy the sunshine and the views. Banana Bay is great because they have lounge chairs, picnic tables, hammocks and tiki huts.

Can you spot the stud?!

Matt and Jonathon went out to snorkel, but the water was still a little choppy from the rain shower, so Matt's snorkel wasn't working too well. Jonathon braved it and came out pretty successful!

Two more starfish! They are pretty neat creatures. At one point, Jon put one on top of the other, and the one on top just glided off the other one. You can see from the last picture, that their bottom sides are filled with tiny suction cups that help them move around. Very, very cool stuff!

He also found some more conch. And more reasons why I won't eat conch again.

Can you blame me?! In no way is that appetizing. Maybe if I never saw what it was I could still eat it. Maybe.

So now we're back to Monday. Matt is back into his routine with classes and studying and more studying. Mini 2 is coming up on October 11!