A Day at the Beach

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I didn't explain it in the first Puerto Rico post, but Steve is working near Aguadilla, PR, for a few months before our move to Scotland. My last day at work was 29 April and that night I flew down to Aguadilla with my friend, Christa, for a vacation. Christa returned to her real life yesterday and I'm here through Sunday afternoon.

We spent our first three days here playing tourist. We went to the bio bay (see previous post), toured some caverns, visited Old San Juan, and took a short hike in the El Yunque Rain Forest. I used my DSLR for the latter three excursions, so I won't be posting those until I'm back home. On Tuesday, with Steve back at work, Christa and I decided to spend a few hours at the local beach. We walked a kilometer to the site we wanted (the sand at the beach near us is painfully soft and deep), and erected a little shelter to protect us from the intense sun. 



Unfortunately, the shelter and it's ridiculously inadequate tie-down stakes were no match for the wind, even with the added security of a big piece of drift wood. After about 30 minutes, it took off down the beach at a rapid clip. I was impressed with our construction skills because the tent retained its shape. But that just helped it roll even faster. It was easily a quarter mile away when a nice couple caught it and brought it back. They helped us erect it next to a large boulder. We climbed inside and dozed for about fifteen minutes before the wind caught it again. This time I was able to grab it before I took off. So we surrendered. We dismantled it and skulked, defeated, back to the apartment.

We were near several rocky spots.



The larger waves near this outcrop of rocks drew a few surfers, but they didn't stay long.

A panorama of our chosen spot. The rocks created a nice tide pool that I hoped to swim around in. But the tide was coming in and the current was pretty strong. I was worried about accidentally smacking into a rock, so I didn't stray beyond knee depth.

The boulder against which we erected our tent was covered in these snails.

These plants were growing on the rocks under the water. I don't know what they are, and the photo isn't very good, but they intrigued me.

Christa found this large hunk of brain coral on the beach. It was about ten inches long.

I shot this on our walk to the beach. I've seen dozens of these nests around the island. I'm assuming they're some kind of wasp nest. They're made out of what appears to be mud. This one is close to three feet long.

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