Boating

 

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Thursday was our other excursion; unlike the Tuesday adventure, this was one we hadn’t tried before.

We were up bright and early for a 40-minute shuttle to Rodney Bay Marina, where we were given our own speedboat to drive. Being a brave and generous man, Jason let me drive the whole time.

At no point was I asked whether I had a driver’s license or any other credential. The entire instruction consisted of: “This is a button…you won’t need that. Here’s a lever…you won’t need that. Stand up for a minute, open the bench you’re sitting on, and look under some stuff to the bottom. Those are life jackets…you won’t need that. Close the bench. Here’s the throttle. Follow me.”

We started by motoring out of a very full marina with all kinds of catamarans and fancy yachts parked all over the place, only one of which did I run into with our boat, and that so minorly. I have no idea what Jason was getting worked up about.

After navigating out of the marina, we hit the open sea and it was full throttle ahead!

Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge.

Jason couldn’t even complain about the speed we were going or the fact that we caught air going over a few of the waves, because I had no choice but to follow our guide up ahead.

There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their utterances to the end of the world.

We went all down the coast, picking out tiny deserted beaches where we said we’d build our fantasy house and never wear shoes again.

Rain showers rolled over as we approached the Pitons.

The guide had us stop and we drifted for a few minutes to take selfies in front of the peaks.

Then he led us partway back up the coast to the snorkel site in a lovely little bay.

It may or may not have taken me five minutes to figure out how to park parallel to the guide boat without breaking anything, and I may or may not have ended up with our boat parked backwards, but we got close enough in the end and everyone probably felt better when I cut the motor.

Jason found this cool flounder rippling along the seabed, both of his Picasso eyes facing up.

I found this icky, pokey worm thing blending in with the branches of this coral.

Below, a polka-dotted sea snake, or, I suppose, an eel, winding its way between the rocks.

He squiggled on the bottom just like a regular snake does on land.

These guys looked just like the silver fish in Finding Nemo.

I wasn’t sure if this was the same kind of flounder (if they can change color, like chameleons and cuttlefish) or a different kind, tossing up sand on the rock.

In them He has placed a tent for the sun,

Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;

It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

We were back from our boating/snorkeling adventure in time for a late lunch, during which it was at first beautiful,

and then let loose and poured again before we even got our bread course.

Not eager to go out in the rain, we stretched lunch out with dessert.

Then we stayed and visited with this little guy who seemed to know when we were done and was eager to clean up our crumbs.

Its rising is from one end of the heavens,

And its circuit to the other end of them;

And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Rainbow just before dinner

Frustratingly, it spent the afternoon raining, again. We did have lots of fun at our Japanese steakhouse dinner, and afterwards we found a hidden-away hammock on the clifftop that had miraculously stayed dry.

The rain persisted all evening so we found a sheltered place to play billiards next to the pool, within earshot of a well-populated indoor bar. The entertainer could sing and play the piano passably well, and the crowd, probably relieved to have a dry place to be, was uproariously appreciative.