A little spit of beach

Almost at the very southernmost tip of Eleuthera is this little bit of beach that disappears altogether at high tide. I was quite content to observe and photograph it from above, but G felt impelled to see it up close, and, of course, decided I needed to see it with him. So we scaled sand ledges and sheer rock wall, frequently on all fours, to get down there.

It was tough, but we made it, and nobody got hurt.

How old are we??

Look what we found!

Today, while we were walking, and when we walked 10 days ago, we kept hearing stirring in the trees at the sides of the road. At first it was a bit disconcerting (remember we walked for 4 hours last time and didn't see another person), but eventually I convinced myself it was a bird or some small animal.

Finally, today, I could see crabs moving across the dead, dried leaves that packed the ground. Whew! That was a relief. Crabs are as innocuous an animal as I might have imagined in those jungle areas on either side of the road.

Later, when we we closer to the beach, I nearly stepped on this little guy. It was his misfortune go be walking (sideways) across the road at the same rare time someone was walking by, but we enjoyed the close up view of a crab (especially his eyes, which he could fold back against his head).

Yes, we did it again

Feeling that another 8 mile march was in order (the food has been WONDERFUL!), and blessed (not all the passengers would see it that way) with a cooler, cloudy day, we decided to walk to the end of Eleuthera again. We walked at as fast a pace as possible, and wearing sneakers this time (how did we ever do it in Tevas?), it took us 65 minutes to the Caribbean side of the southern point, and another 10 minutes to the beach on the Atlantic side. 4 miles over this terrain is a good workout.

In the second photo, you can see a large brackish lake that is on both sides of the 'road'. The southern end of Eleuthera is more swamp than anything.

Day 52: Tendering to Princess Cays

The deck at the top of the stairs is Deck 3. We then walk down the stairs to platform that opens out from the side of the ship and serves as a dock for the tender boat.
The boat in the second photo is used to transport the bar and dining crew and all the food for the BBQ that is prepared on the island. 'Cause there ain't NO place on the southern end of Eleuthera from which to get that food.

Sunset: Day 51 (Sailaway from Fort Lauderdale)

Tonight's sunset was the most beautiful of the cruise to date. It had been a sunny but cool (70ish...I guess the forecast from yesterday was correct!) day in Fort Lauderdale, and we walked over to Publix and Walgreens after we had passed through immigration this morning. We returned to the ship in time for lunch in the dining room, but by the time we were done, there wasn't enough time to leave the ship again for a longer walk. Instead we used a hot tub while the rest of the ship was at muster drill (we haven't had to go again since our first cruise in November), then showered and headed up to Skywalkers. Sailaway was chilly enough that Skywalkers seemed the best place from which to watch it. I talked to friends and my mom, enjoying the last few minutes of AT&T cell service until Saturday in St. Thomas.
Walking down to dinner, we stepped out onto the Deck 7 promenade to watch this sunset. And what a treat it was!! The skyline of Miami can be seen in the distance.