Diving for dollars

Sand dollars, that is! Today we were on the island of St. Kitts. We started off with our usual breakfast and were one of the first to disembark. Our goal today was to relax and enjoy some beach time so we took a taxi van to a remote area called Friars Bay on the Caribbean sea. There was a dive of a place called the Shipwreck Bar and Grill on the beach, where we rented some beach chairs, ordered some cold drinks and settled in for the day. The bar had facilities but as you'll see below, they were primitive. We did a little snorkeling and while it wasn't great for fish spotting, it was an awesome place to dive for shells. We now have quite the collection, including some sand dollars and a conch. I dove about 15 feet down in one area and came up with a huge conch that weighed at least 5 pounds. I dragged that sucker all the way back onto shore, only to be told by Jim that it was unreasonable to transport it home. I know he's right (plus the thing was stinky) but I sure wish I'd kept it. I did take a picture of it to remember. We had a lunch of local grouper and plantains and ordered a couple more drinks. There really weren't many people around to entertain us but there were monkeys! St Kitts is apparently home to tree monkeys who like to hang out at bars. I had great fun watching a couple of monkeys slap each other around and managed to get a few pictures. There were also some mongoose hanging around but they were a bit camera shy. We had a great day here and time flew by. We decided to share a taxi van back to town to do some shopping. The winding dirt roads leading away from the bar, combined with a rust-bucket type van and a driver who may or may not have been drinking all day, lead to an "interesting" ride to town. I kept seeing headlines "Tourists Die After Van Plunges Off Cliff" in my head. We did however, arrive safely in town and Jim and I set off to find a grocery store. If you want the real feel of an area, along with a great cross-section of local life, visit the market where locals shop. We've tried to do this in every place, and it's always good for a cheap snack and fun experience. Today's snack was spicy plantains (again, yay!) and banana soft drink, before walking back to the port. We plan on having a light dinner before turning in for the night. We are tired after all this monkeying around today! Goodbye until tomorrow!