Bulk Gourmet – Mermaid on a Raft

04/05/2015 Happy Easter everyone. Thanks Cheryl for the blog title. I’m going to attempt to finish the adventures of Cicily, Cheryl and I in this post. One thing I forgot to mention was that Friday evening, after a day on the beach we went to Cal’s Cantina for dinner. Not only is it right down the road from us, it is also the BEST food and restaurant view on the island. I had to add that because what kind of hosts would we be if we didn’t take our guests to Cal’s?

OK, back to the adventures. Sunday was an off and on rainy day. We decided to go for it and headed east. So far the girls had only been west of our house, except for the boat trip with Sam and Chelsie. We stopped at the store in Oak Ridge for drinks and munchies then did a road tour of Oak Ridge and stopped by to see Miguel and Winston.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Narrow road past BJ’s and on the way to the taxi stand.

From there we headed east to Camp Bay and Roger and Jeanie’s house. It cleared up on the way and turned out to be a nice day. We visited with Roger and Jeanie for awhile, ooohhed and aaahed over their view and the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks. Bill discussed some cabinets that Jeanie wants for the kitchen and took some measurements of the wall space.

10861122_994831547194574_1675706992323364406_o (1) — Roger and Jeanie

After that we went further east to La Sirena, AKA Jimmy’s. Just as we got there we saw our friends Francis and Karen. We stopped to chat with them and I recognized the one guy from the previous day at Pigeon Key. Turns out he is Francis’ brother. Small world, small island. We had rum punches and lunch at La Sirena.

We covered new ground by driving the road over the mountain (sic, this is Roatan, they are big hills compared to where I come from) to Port Royal. It was a really pretty drive, during parts of it you forgot you were on an island, it looked like any other forest. Sort of.

Next stop was Punta Gorda, actually, we just drove through there to show them the area.

We made our way home and went down to John’s pool for a late afternoon dip. The pool water felt great, not cold at all.

On Monday morning we drove down to Sandy Bay to check out Blue Harbor Tropical Arboretum. This is the place that hydroponically grows the fabulous lettuce that we eat here on Roatan. They also grow a variety of herbs that are also sold in the grocery store. FROM THEIR WEBSITE: “Welcome to Blue Harbor Tropical Arboretum, Roatan’s working ”Tropical Eden” covering over 160 eco-friendly acres. Here you will find uniquely spectacular tropical displayed gardens, seasonal fruit and nut orchards, the only tropical botanical “Conservatory” with a 12 ft waterfall in the Caribbean and over 70,000 heads of lettuce and herbs in a working hydroponic produce and herb farm.” We did the self guided tour and it was amazing. You can take your own tour by clicking HERE.

West End wasn’t very crowded, people were just starting to make their way to the island for the Semana Santa festivities/craziness. We shopped for a few hours and on the way home stopped at the Bulk Gourmet for lunch, which was delicious as always! Once we got home I gave Nancy a call to see if they would be home. They had just gotten there and she said to come on over. I really wanted them to see their house.

We had a nice visit with them, toured their gardens and looked at the awesome flowers and plants they have. I’m going over once Sebastian returns and get some cuttings!!

The next day was the Pirate Party out in Calabash Bight. We were making rum balls in the morning to take, seemed fitting for a Pirate Party. This is the link for the Rum Balls, they were a huge hit. I made a sign and amazingly even had little pirate swords to stick in them. The sign got wet along with everything else on the ride to the party. Nothing like being at a party with a soaking wet ass. Oh well, once I got some Bandit in me (and yes Nathan and Scott,) I was drinking out of the BOX, I forgot I was wet.

We got to BJ’s around 11;45 for a ride to the party. The first boat came and went, we said we would wait for the next one, big mistake. BIG BIG mistake. Pudens son came soon after the first boat left and we climbed aboard. Part way to Big Rock the sky opened up and it freaking POURED BUCKETS!!

11071613_994834130527649_6060364989800788924_o (1) — I am the wench who got drenched!!

11116247_10205599370959248_4274916746828371868_o — The party in full swing. Photo by Cindy Darby Macy

11082272_10205599369639215_7156976124298317526_o — Brenda and I chatting, Marilyn and Alex next to me. Photo by Cindy Darby Macy (I think)

11078084_10152883247588822_1130626474281111902_o — The fabulous hosts Francie and Franklin Chrstopher. Note the Pirate Flag flying in the background!

11012759_10205599356518887_3534493833631025808_o — Cheryl and Llyn and ?? Photo by Cindy Darby Macy

They made so many different kinds of pizzas and they were all fabulous. There were other foods too that people brought, it was all delicious! I took a box of Bandit wine with me. Jeanie noticed that it perfectly matched my ZORIES. (AKA sandals)

11037507_994829783861417_6362470614334814470_o — Jeanie took this photo of Cheryl, me and Cicily as we were waiting for the boat to take us home.

The boat ride home was mesmerizing. At least it mesmerized the 3 of us into a trance like state, which was fine except I had to still drive from Oak Ridge home. It was interesting for sure and a whole lot calmer and drier going home. I think we all went home and passed out.

Their next to last day here we were going to Little French Key. Before we went there I gave them a tour of Parrot Tree Plantation, such a beautiful spot on the island.

I had told Cicily and Cheryl (and everyone else) so much about Little French Key that I held good on my promise to take them there. Personally, I will not go there anymore, too many things bother me and I won’t get in to them on my blog but it’s not someplace I will visit again. It was overly crowded on Tuesday, crazy busy and the prices were jacked up, even for local admittance. Enough said, I won’t go on and on but I could easily.

We wrapped up out day at LFK and headed for home and a last dinner at Cal’s Cantina. Once again, we were not disappointed in our meals, it was superb!

The next morning the girls were packing up their stuff to get ready to head to the airport for their trip back to the land of the cold.

They made it home but it was not uneventful. Cheryl decided to wander around in Houston and ended up missing her flight to Newark. Cicily was on the plane, Cheryl was not in sight. They were arriving in Newark late so they planned to stay overnight at a hotel and drive back to PA in the morning. Cheryl was lucky enough to get on the next flight and made it to the hotel at 2:30 AM. Crazy girls!! They are now back in Pa, freezing their butts off and both wishing they were still here.

Whoever said “Time flies when you’re having fun” knows their shit! I can’t believe a week has flown by and Cicily and Cheryl are on their way home. I hated to see them go. We were very busy the whole time they were here, so much so that I’m whooped!

Their flight was two hours late arriving in Roatan due to mechanical problems. I always check flight tracker so I was aware and watching the flight online. I arrived at RTB moments after the plane landed. They got through immigration pretty fast and we were on our way. First stop, Eldon’s for groceries. After that we went back to the Bulk Gourmet for a few things and headed home.

Once they got settled we went down to our neighbor John’s pool for a dip. It felt fantastic and the water was nice and clear. (unfortunately not always the case) We floated for a while and then came back up to the house. Bill was making pizza for dinner with fresh pineapples and mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Yummy stuff!

The plan was to hit West Bay Beach early on Friday. There were no cruise ships in either port and the insanity surrounding Semana Santa hadn’t quite kicked in. We got there before ten and went snorkeling right away. Cicily has snorkeled recently but it’s been years for Cheryl. It didn’t take long for them to get their sea legs. Cicily has a messed up snorkel so we were going to get a new one on the way home. After snorkeling we put that stuff in the car, got our rafts and plopped on the chairs at Banarama.

The three of us floated on the rafts for a while with some cold cervezas. It’s all great floating until your beer is empty and you need another. They seriously need surf delivery. We ate some lunch there then decided to call it a day. On the way home the car miraculously drove itself to Umbul Umbul. So funny how it does that, talk about auto pilot!! I was pissed because I forgot to bring a check and I only had a little cash with me, which fortunately limited my spending. Probably a good thing. Cis and Cheryl were having a blast and each bought some cool things. We hit Barefoot Key on the way home for a new snorkel for Cis and came back to the house. Bill had supper cooking for us when we arrived.

Bill got the roof furniture finished while we were at the beach and carried the 4 chairs up to the roof. He just built the table today. We spent many nights on the roof looking at the view and the sky and all the junglish beauty that surrounds us.

On Friday evening I got a message from my friend Sam Arch about going to Pigeon Key on Saturday. We were worried about the weather and I said to Sam in a message, “if the weather is bad we can always turn around.” His response was that he never turns around, he always goes where he is headed. Gulp, OK, calling for thunderstorms but, we’ll trust Sam. We met him at 8 AM at the Iguana farm. Most of the iguanas were still in the trees sleeping but there were still quite a few wandering about. Once he got the boat ready, the 5 of us were off. Sam brought his girlfriend Chelsie along for the day. I’m so glad he did and we got to meet her, she is such a sweetie and they are the epitome of young love. So much fun to be around them. Sam was born and raised in the waters around Roatan, he reads, writes and speaks perfect English and Spanish and he knows these waters. I was totally confident in his boating skills and we were in the new boat he and his dad built, Miss French Key. We left French Key a little after 8 and went to Los Fuertes to get gas. On the way east after filling up the sky got darker and darker.

Near Calabash it really started raining. Chelsie was chilling in the bow of the boat so the 3 of us stood out of the rain in the cabin with Sam. We went through the mangrove cut and came out at Rocky Point, going right past my friend Perry’s house. Once we cleared Rocky Point the sky started to clear up and the sun came out. Sam was right, it was going to be a beautiful day on Pigeon Key.

We wandered around the island and met some people who came in a boat right after us. They were from Canada, turns out they were relatives of our friend Francis, small island, small world. We found this out the next day at La Sirena.

Sam was going to show us the snorkel area so the 4 of us set off. It was easy swimming going with the current and once we got there it was magical. Really, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was a huge underwater garden of every kind of coral you could think of with a vast amount of unusual fish swimming in and out of the huge coral heads. At one point Cicily motioned for me to go up and when I did she said, “I think this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” It was ahhhhmmmaazzing. Many thanks to Sam Arch and Arch’s Aquatic Adventures.

It was really hard swimming back to the boat because we were swimming into the current but we made it, exhausted but excited over what we had just seen.

I’m going to end this post after only two days. It’s already long and I’m tired and want to eat and go watch The Voice.

I was supposed to go to a pool party today at Llyn and Wendy’s and I had every intention of going. Until I got home from the airport and grocery shopping and made the mistake of laying down on the bed. That was all it took. I think I need a few days at home for R & R and to assemble my thoughts for the rest of the post of Cicily and Cheryl’s visit to Roatan. I hope they enjoyed being here as much as I enjoyed having them!

Tag: Bulk Gourmet

Before the wench got drenched.

They came to see what I was doing down here.