Day 16

We hit the included breakfast like carnivores. To typical American fashion the breakfast was centered around sweet and sweeter items, like muffins, and strudels, and donuts. Then you wonder why this country has a weight issue... gee! Waffles was the name of the game for us. I think we even ate few apples on the side.

Half an hour later we had already thrown on the sunblock and were at the beach. It was a good day for that, the semi-cloudy day kept the temperatures from getting too hot. That was evident from our aquatic monster's activity level as well. Wilmer made it known from the beginning that he is going for a swim in the ocean, with or without adult supervision. Well, I volunteered to be the second wheel in that fun. We (read he) jumped against the waves for 1.5 hours straight, I was reduced to holding his hand and occasionally pulling him back up from under the waves. He probably laughed about an hour straight. ...I think he liked the waves. I, on the other hand, started almost cramping on one side of my back. (Why can't he be about a foot taller?) Finally, just before I was about to pass out, he graciously allowed for a break and we sat in ankle deep water and started piling wet sand on each others legs. That was so much fun that after a while it looked liked we had taken a mud bath. At that point the responsible adult, Maaret, came in with orders to stop the fun and wash ourselves, it was time to go get some lunch but we looked like no sane restaurant owner would ever allow us in their establishment.

Half an hour later we were all cleaned up at Harbor Town, in the west corner of the island. We found ourselves in a recommended and quite well-known establishment called Crazy Crab. If you want the honest opinion, my god, stay away. Unless you prefer fried this and that fish and chips type of menu. It was unfortunately quite far from good seafood. My father-in-law's smoked salmon would bring a happy tear to your eye when compared with my Salmon Kabob at the Crazy Crab which was completely tasteless piece of salmon with some veggies, and pitiful rice mix. Maaret had a little bit better luck with her Crab Cake Sandwich but really nothing worth writing home about. Wilmer ate only half of his portion, that should tell you something. Well, we stayed a while admiring the big boats and the nice suroundings that allowed for a few quite nice photo opportunities. I like the colorful kayaks and the sky behind them.

On the way back to the central island, I had a deja-vu feeling that dated back several years to our previous visit when Maaret was training for her marathon. Another family was there with us and one half of them had the same goal, so the two marathon nuts went for a 13 mile (21 km) jog on the island. Of course, I had to go with them even though I was running only 5-10 km once or twice a week to stay in shape for my competitive tennis in North Carolina. Well, I finished the 13 miles with them but the next day and a half I had a high fever and was completely exhausted from my brilliant brain fart type idea. Maybe that run was the reason I finally ended up running and finishing my first marathon last April. Now I have the bragging rights as well, I belong.

The evening was spent at the South Beach where we wanted to hunt for some seashells and hopefully catch a glimpse of dolphins that frequent the area. We were walking in the water ankle deep and saw few parents with kids approaching us promptly. They wanted to make sure that we knew that someone had spotted a shark few feet away from the shore where we were, just minutes prior to our arrival. The bull shark was supposedly a 4-5 footer. Well, that ended any thoughts of swimming there. However, it did not stop us from seeing the dolphins that were out in full force. W had finally a chance to see "Kiiltopaa" in real life (a dolphin in Moomin books). It was a quite nice evening stroll, except that the rain cut it short a bit in the end. That did not stop W from taking his promised dip in the hotel pool. In a cold rain, at 9 pm in the evening! I loved it too...