Conch Diving

One of the highlights of our vacation was a half day boat trip where we got to snorkel and dive for conch.

The morning of the trip, Lyla was having a...let's call it a disagreeable moment...and refused to leave the hotel. We contemplated canceling the trip entirely but said, screw it, let's give it a shot. So we wrestled her out of the apartment and headed down to the beach to meet our boat.

We get on the boat and the music was BLASTING. To say Lyla was clinging on to me is an understatement. From the moment the boat pushed off, she had me in a death grip with both her arms and legs. I went through the possible outcomes in my mind. Best case: she holds on to me the whole trip but doesn't freak out. Worst case: they throw us off the boat because she is completely hysterical and irrational. We will see.

First stop: snorkeling. Our guide threw some food in the water and literally hundreds of black and yellow fish swarmed the boat. We pointed them out to Lyla and from that point on she. was. in. heaven. All she wanted to do was lean over the boat and look at the fish. Mark went to snorkel and she kept waving to him and asking "Daddy, what do you see?" I went out when Mark got back and told her about the Rainbow Fish I saw in the water. She told our guide she wanted to see Jojo the dolphin and he said he would call Jojo to come visit. Happy girl.



We left the snorkeling spot for our next dive spot. Remember that loud music that greeted us when we boarded the boat? Well now, she was dancing to it with a huge grin on her face. She told the guide to go "faster than Lightning McQueen" and put her arms out in the wind like she was on the Titanic. Happy girl.





While we are cruising, lo aand behold, there were two dolphins swimming alongside us. A mama and a baby dolphin. Did I say happy girl? Ecstatic girl.








Our next stop was conch diving. Mark and I planned to take turns, like we did for the snorkeling, but two older ladies (missing their grandchildren) offered to stay with her so Mark and I could dive together. The conch diving was awesome. In about five feet of water, we snorkeled until we saw a conch and then dove to pick it up. They had to be a certain size to keep and we only had a handful of keepers among the group. Our guide, on the otherhand, collected about a dozen conch for our measley four. (As a sidenote, swimming in flippers with virtually no abdominal support because of a pregnant belly is really hard work.) Lyla cheered us on as we brought our conch back to the boat.  She also adopted a new set of grandparents and sat snuggled in between them for the rest of the trip, telling them about her upcoming birthday and that she wanted a kitten.






Keepers


Lyla didn't want to touch the conch, but was pumped when our guide gave her a baby fish and a baby conch that were living inside one of the big conch.




We stopped at Half Moon Bay (known as Iguana Island) where our guide showed us how to pull out the conch from the shell.


Lunch


He stayed back to prepare our lunch while we went on an Iguana walk.




Lunch was served when we got back -- conch ceviche (I told you we ate a lot of conch)




We brought home a beautiful conch shell that is now on display in our apartment.  It is a great reminder of a great day.

Turks & Caicos Vacation

We had a great week relaxing in Turks & Caicos. It was our first real vacation with just the three of us. We taught Lyla the art of the lazy beach vacation and just got such a kick out of sitting back and watching our girl soak up the sand, surf and sun.





We began every day with breakfast on our screened in porch. Lyla and I were on the early bird schedule, so sometimes we went for a pre-breakfast walk before Mark woke up. We had a one bedroom apartment that was bigger than our NYC apartment. The night we got in, we went to the grocery store to stock up on food and other essentials ($24.99 for a six pack of beer!!) for the week.





This was Lyla's get-up for her walk to the beach: pink sunglasses, bathing suit and yellow flip flops. She refused the sunglasses at almost any other time of the day but always had them on for the morning walk.


Lots of bathing suit changes (and lots of goofy faces)












We made our way down to the beach by 9 am and shuffled back and forth between the beach and the pool. It was hard work.

































Belly shot


No more pictures, mom


Lounging


Sandy tush


Meticulous sunscreen application :). M: "Is it all rubbed in?" L: "Yup, looks good to me."


We usually had lunch at Hemingways, followed by a nap and more beach time as the sun set.  We took walks along Grace Bay and Lyla liked watching her "paw prints" (aka footprints) as they were washed away by the waves.  One night, we were walking about 1/2 mile from the hotel and Lyla told us she had to go to the bathroom.  We made a mad dash to the nearest hotel and frantically searched for a bathroom.  I'm happy to say it was a successful trip.









The first few days, Lyla napped back at the room. But she eventually learned how great a beach nap feels. We are teaching her well.


We found other places to lounge too.


Lyla wasn't crazy about the Hobie cat -- too windy and too wet. And she was disappointed she didn't see any sharks!?!?! But Mark got a sailing lesson and even went parasailing.















And speaking of sharks, there were, thankfully, none to be seen on this trip. But we did have our eye out for Provos' legendary dolphin, Jojo. We did get to see some dolphins on our boat excursion. The trip was definitely a highlight of the vacation. I'll post about it separately.


Lyla made a few friends on trip, each of whom she invited to her birthday party. As she told them, she is "still 2, but almost 3."





At night, we went to a few local restaurants and ate conch every which way you can think -- conch fritters, conch wontons, curried conch, conch creole. Do I sound like Bubba Gump?  Lyla was enthralled just to go out at night.  "We're going to a restaurant?  But it's dark out."  We don't get out much at night in the winter in NYC.  She loved to look for the moon and the stars as soon as we walked out of our room.  I think she could have stared at them all night.










Intense dinner conversation at the Gansevoort. "Daddy, what was your favorite part of today?"




Our last morning, Lyla and I were up really early, so we dashed down to the beach to watch the sunrise.




On the plane ride home, Lyla said to us "That was a great vacation." Yes, it was.