The Green Flash

When the sun sets over very blue water on a cloudless day, the very last tip of the sun turns a brilliant green.  In the Caribbean, this phenomenon is known as the green flash.  No matter how crazy the day or when the next exam is, we try to take a few minutes to pause and watch for it.  I've seen it twice so far and Cramer a few more times since he lives at the beach and gets to watch more sunsets :-)  We've tried to catch the moment on camera and it simply can't be done, it is one of those moments you have to live instead.....if you ever make it down to St. Kitts, I'll show you.

Birthday Blast

Sunset at the Beach with a bucket of Caribs + Good Chinese food + Chocolate cupcakes + Unknown at Movie Theatre (starring Liam Neeson, who as you can see personally wished ME a Happy Birthday) + totebag of smuggled candy at the movie (lots of Cadbury) + Several Amazon giftcards :-) = PERFECT BIRTHDAY, 24 here I come!

Kayaking

This weekend I had to fulfill my promise of educating some novice kayakers

Julie has kayaked on rivers before and so got the hang of the ocean kayak very quickly

Michelle on the other hand was relatively newer....

I had a bit of fall on the walk down to Rockies involving a rolled ankle...typical Rach

We only had a handful of near misses involving rocks and a stout buoy line before we became synchronized 

By the end of the day, Michelle graduated to champion Kayaker!  (well, with no rapids anyway:-)

The Bat Cave

One Sunday morning, a group of adventurous souls set out to find the bat cave.  The entire hike took about 3 hours and so wasn't supposed to be too strenuous....except for one part.  

All in all the hike was wonderful and has been my favorite of the hikes we've taken so far on the island.  We followed a deep dry creek bed up the mountain and so were in damp shade scrambling over rocks the entire time.  The cool temperatures and plant life reminded of WV.

The worst part of the hike involved a rock face that could only be navigated  through one crevice with the aid of a rope.  The athletic Cramer and Dan were able to get up unassisted, but as for the rest of us, it was akin to a second birthing.  Thank the lord Dan was strong enough to pull and Cramer is much stronger than he looks and was able to push from the bottom.  It was a humbling experience all around but at least we can say we didn't turn around!

The boys thought they were so cool climbing a tree, so I had to show them a girl could do it too!

After the hike we all trudged sweaty and dirty to a local bar and grill and revived with Caribs and burgers...perfect Sunday in St. Kitts.

Lobster Fishing

Cramer's newest endeavor is one that I'm completely happy with...LOBSTER FISHING!

The first attempts involved a pair of gloves (our lobsters don't have claws but are the spiny variety) and free diving.  As you can imagine the lobsters caught in this manner were either very little or very sick and so the technique had to be modified.


Cramer decided a snare was needed and so Dan designed one, Cramer gathered the supplies from island junk piles and they built a snare (you can't imagine the trouble these two get into.)

The snare produced better results but left the largest lobsters still eluding the mighty hunters....enter the lobster pot.


Cramer actually designed the pot on his own as Dan was busy with the same midterms that overtook my life a while.  The pot always catches a lobster, but as of yet, no monsters; just little guys.  


Experiments are currently under way involving different casting sites, day vs. night casting, and baits varying from fish to chicken to potatoes.  


Don't worry, I will let you guys know when Cramer catches dinner that is more than two bites and in the meantime I'll be enjoying my midday lobster snacks.