Bird Island
I went for a hike yesterday. We piled our gear and the dogs into the truck and drove to the Bird Island trail head.
We headed down an incredibly steep path. Just before getting to the flat section of forest that led us to the beach, we had to scale down a steep section with the help of a length of thick gray rope.
It's kind of hard to see in the photo (the sun was so extreme).
We emerged from the tree line into the baking sun, and were greeted with an incredible view.
The tide was low, so we waded around some rocks and cliffs to the far end of the beach where the water was a little bluer and a little deeper.
The view of Bird Island from our beach camp was great.
I slathered on sunblock, being extra careful to get the backs of my legs. I wore my t-shirt in the water. The sun is strong here, and I'm doing my best to avoid getting burnt to a crisp.
John and Vince beat me into the water. So did their dogs, Shelly and Ume. The dogs don't love the water, but I guess they love it more than being left alone on shore. They would paddle out to Vince, say hello and then paddle back to shore. Then they'd do it all over again.
I joined the crew in the water near a big flat platform of old coral that the dogs were relieved to firmly plant their paws on. We doted on the dogs a bit, and then I decided to start my snorkeling in earnest.
Both physically and mentally I floated away in the underwater world. I watched little fish chase each other or duck for cover when I approached. I peeked into holes to spy sea urchins and sea cucumbers. I kept an eye out for the glimmer of a shiny cowrie shell (I only found one, and sadly it was broken, but the surface was still pretty).
Out of nowhere I felt something frantically clawing at my back. I laughed as it occurred to me what it was. Ume had taken off after me and must have decided that I'd make a good island on which to gain purchase. I flipped over and held her steady for a while. She caught her breath and decided she'd better make a beeline for Vince again. She took off, and I continued my floating and observing.
I found the broken cowrie shell and a bunch of broken sea urchin spines. Some little sea creature had recently made lunch out of an urchin, so some of the spines I collected were quite pristine. I found two empty small giant clam shells. They both fit easily into my palm, and one fits right inside the other. The best find was a little empty sea urchin shell. Actually the pattern on it looks like a sand dollar, so I'll have to double check with John about what it actually is. It's small and bright white and in perfect shape without even one chip or crack.
After a little while we made our way back around the cliffs and back up the trail, which for me was no small feat. Using the rope to climb up was even more fun than using it on the way down. I sent John and Vince ahead of me, and I took my time to get to the top of the trail. It's a good hike, and one that I'm glad is not very long.
We drove home in near silence because we were all pooped.
We had a quick lunch of leftovers and proceeded to relax for most of the afternoon. We rented some movies and watched "My Name is Bruce" which is a terrible movie, but also kind of funny.
We also got some tequila for the mango margaritas we planned to have with our evening bbq.
I decided that I wanted to figure out how to juice the mangoes. I started by peeling one, and then I used a spoon to scrape the fruit. The variety of mangoes that we have growing in the yard is tasty and sweet, but rather "hairy" with a lot of tough fibers holding the juice. The spoon scraping worked like a charm. Only a few loose fibers ended up with the juice, but I strained those out so the juice was smooth for the margaritas. It was a messy job though. I had mango juice dripping down my arms and off my elbows. I got squirted in the face a few times as I scraped down the fruit. It was worth it though. In the end I had two medium sized bowls full of juice.
Since I'd scraped them, I was in line to actually make the margaritas. I've never made margaritas from scratched, so I winged it.
Along with the mango juice, I squeezed in the juice of one lemon (from the lemon tree out front, naturally), added some ice and a few spoonfuls of raw sugar. I ground it all up in the blender and added the tequila. I didn't realize that we already had triple sec, so I never added that, but the margaritas turned out to be fantastic anyway.
They went perfectly with the bbq chicken and spareribs that John cooked up and the cucumber and potato salads that Vince prepared.
We headed down an incredibly steep path. Just before getting to the flat section of forest that led us to the beach, we had to scale down a steep section with the help of a length of thick gray rope.
It's kind of hard to see in the photo (the sun was so extreme).
We emerged from the tree line into the baking sun, and were greeted with an incredible view.
The tide was low, so we waded around some rocks and cliffs to the far end of the beach where the water was a little bluer and a little deeper.
The view of Bird Island from our beach camp was great.
I slathered on sunblock, being extra careful to get the backs of my legs. I wore my t-shirt in the water. The sun is strong here, and I'm doing my best to avoid getting burnt to a crisp.
John and Vince beat me into the water. So did their dogs, Shelly and Ume. The dogs don't love the water, but I guess they love it more than being left alone on shore. They would paddle out to Vince, say hello and then paddle back to shore. Then they'd do it all over again.
I joined the crew in the water near a big flat platform of old coral that the dogs were relieved to firmly plant their paws on. We doted on the dogs a bit, and then I decided to start my snorkeling in earnest.
Both physically and mentally I floated away in the underwater world. I watched little fish chase each other or duck for cover when I approached. I peeked into holes to spy sea urchins and sea cucumbers. I kept an eye out for the glimmer of a shiny cowrie shell (I only found one, and sadly it was broken, but the surface was still pretty).
Out of nowhere I felt something frantically clawing at my back. I laughed as it occurred to me what it was. Ume had taken off after me and must have decided that I'd make a good island on which to gain purchase. I flipped over and held her steady for a while. She caught her breath and decided she'd better make a beeline for Vince again. She took off, and I continued my floating and observing.
I found the broken cowrie shell and a bunch of broken sea urchin spines. Some little sea creature had recently made lunch out of an urchin, so some of the spines I collected were quite pristine. I found two empty small giant clam shells. They both fit easily into my palm, and one fits right inside the other. The best find was a little empty sea urchin shell. Actually the pattern on it looks like a sand dollar, so I'll have to double check with John about what it actually is. It's small and bright white and in perfect shape without even one chip or crack.
After a little while we made our way back around the cliffs and back up the trail, which for me was no small feat. Using the rope to climb up was even more fun than using it on the way down. I sent John and Vince ahead of me, and I took my time to get to the top of the trail. It's a good hike, and one that I'm glad is not very long.
We drove home in near silence because we were all pooped.
We had a quick lunch of leftovers and proceeded to relax for most of the afternoon. We rented some movies and watched "My Name is Bruce" which is a terrible movie, but also kind of funny.
We also got some tequila for the mango margaritas we planned to have with our evening bbq.
I decided that I wanted to figure out how to juice the mangoes. I started by peeling one, and then I used a spoon to scrape the fruit. The variety of mangoes that we have growing in the yard is tasty and sweet, but rather "hairy" with a lot of tough fibers holding the juice. The spoon scraping worked like a charm. Only a few loose fibers ended up with the juice, but I strained those out so the juice was smooth for the margaritas. It was a messy job though. I had mango juice dripping down my arms and off my elbows. I got squirted in the face a few times as I scraped down the fruit. It was worth it though. In the end I had two medium sized bowls full of juice.
Since I'd scraped them, I was in line to actually make the margaritas. I've never made margaritas from scratched, so I winged it.
Along with the mango juice, I squeezed in the juice of one lemon (from the lemon tree out front, naturally), added some ice and a few spoonfuls of raw sugar. I ground it all up in the blender and added the tequila. I didn't realize that we already had triple sec, so I never added that, but the margaritas turned out to be fantastic anyway.
They went perfectly with the bbq chicken and spareribs that John cooked up and the cucumber and potato salads that Vince prepared.