Grand Case Beach Club
Creole Rock, on the left
Grand Case Bay
Well, today did not turn out quite as expected. It started off with a flare up of John's eye infection. Apparently, sometime yesterday, my eye became infected and made it difficult to see, especially on the beach. It went away in the evening but when I woke up this morning, it flared up again; so much so that Lisa went down to the pharmacy to get me eye drops (and some baguette and pastries from the French Bakery next door of course). Meanwhile I popped in some Ibuprofen which helped with the inflammation, and the eye drops helped with the redness. We'll "keep an eye on it" when we get back to the States. Yes, I make myself laugh too, sometimes...Meanwhile this meant that we were unable to make the 12:00 boat out to Creole Rock. So when my eye improved we did some snorkeling here at our beach for about an hour. My eye was doing fine now so we caught a cab out to Grand Case Beach Club where the boats go out to Creole Rock for what is billed as some of the most impressive snorkeling on the island. But first, before we get to that, let me tell you about today's cab driver Michel Gumbs Bute. Easily in his late sixties or early seventies, this man was a true philosopher. He started us off with this (please read aloud or in your head with a Caribbean accent):
"There are only two thing in life. If it is not right, it must be wrong. If it is not true, it must be false. It is a black and white world. There is no gray area. Except on my head, where I have a few gray hairs."
He went on to tell us about his wife of 49 years:
"See, when I met her I said "I love you." But that was a lie, because I only wanted to have sex with her. But now, 49 years later, when I tell her I Love You it is true."
And when he dropped us off, he gave this piece of parting advice for our relationship:
"Remember: he is not Mr. Perfect. And she is not Miss Perfect."
When we got to the desk to book a couple of spots on the boat out to Creole Rock, we had to wait five minutes while an attendant with ADD went flying around helping people with their beach umbrellas. When he finally got to us it was to tell us sullenly that there would be no boat going out to Creole Rock today. Apparently only one guy operates the boat, and since no one else apparently booked anything for the 2:00 sojourn, the guide decided to bag it and pick some people up with his boat from the airport. Now I was under the impression that this company was dedicated to taking people out to Creole Rock--hence the name Creole Rock Water Sports. Not so! The only guy on hand to pilot the boat also moonlights as a water taxi service for those folks unwilling to stoop to the level of taking a land taxi (where they would have met the likes of Michel!). We were told by the boat guide/taxi driver that we should have booked in advance. It would have been nice if he had mentioned that in his email response. And besides, we planned to take the 12:00 session, but we would've had to cancel and postpone to 2:00 anyway because of my eye. By then our friendly guide would have made his switch from Jacques Cousteau to Travis Bickle. We inquired as to the availability of another boat (seeing as the rock was only a mile or two from shore), but our friendly guide was the only game in town. And to further emphasize just how in demand he is, he showed us his day planner! Yes, indeed, it was full! I guess that's what happens when you're the only person around involved with nautical transport. So--this brings me to a travel tip that I always try to hammer home, and hopefully someday I too will get it: never presume ANYTHING. And never book an excursion on your last full day. Always book an excursion at the beginning or the middle or your trip, so you have the flexibility to prepare for the unexpected--and not have to worry about looking at someone's day planner.
So once again we had to be content with swimming and lying on the beach. :-D
The beach at the Grand Case Beach Club was not too impressive, but any beach in the Caribbean is nice. Lisa and I parked ourselves under a couple of trees and tried some snorkeling but there was nothing to see. So we headed in to the Sunset Cafe and had some Jamaican scampi for lunch (pictured above). Yeah, it was good.
After lunch we had the reception desk call Michel, who was able to come out and take us back to our hotel. He was not as talkative but he did manage some more philosophical musings such as "If God bless you, no man can curse you." Not being a religious man myself, I will leave it to my religious friends to verify that. Once he got us back to the hotel we let him go so he could go home to his wife for, as he called it, "a kiss and a squeeze."
Lisa and I did some early evening snorkeling around the coral reef behind our hotel, and spotted another eel, some anenomes, and many schools of colorful fish. Then we went into town for a tremendous French dinner at La Provencal. Lisa had the Queen Snapper, a fish which blew her mind. I had lobster linguini. An old hippie two tables down gave us his bottle of wine to finish. I am not a drinker, so Lisa had to take care of it. As she would say if she weren't already asleep, French wine is the best.
Tomorrow our flight leaves at 2:30, which puts us into BWI around 9:30. And then John has to get up bright and early Monday morning and do a beach party-themed storytime for the kids--sunburn and all.
Au revoir! Next stop--?
John
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