Royalty

February 3:  91 degrees

Parrots, parrots, parrots!   These birds are all over the place.  They are beautiful, vibrant, noisy and travel in pairs.  In the morning while we are sipping on coffee we can spot them flying above.  So cool!

One of the bits of information shared during our Dolphin tour was that the forests around the gulf contain their own ecosystems.  You can often find clouds only hovering over land. This made so much sense, since we could have sworn it was raining over a distant island a couple of nights prior while we were eating dinner.

Looks like the local ecosystem is at it again!  Rain is definitely on the horizon!  Thinking it will pass quickly, we continue to play cards on our side porch.  The rain pours and comes with a vengeance. It also comes with Dave, Katrina, Rum and Coke.   We all agree to hang out on our private porch and just watch the rain fall over the gulf.  It feels refreshing as it is cooling the temperature and calming the humidity.

After a while, we run into the Czech guys and they tell us that they are planning to get the community grill going that evening if we want to join them and cook dinner.  Sounds great but we have nothing to cook.  I know the Czech guys were on the hunt that morning for local fishermen to buy their fresh catch.  It is much later now, and all the fisherman have come in for the day.

I decide to go to the front desk and take my chances that the owner might know where we can get some fresh catch.  Low and behold, he offers me some catch he just bought a half hour ago.  He offers to sell them to me for the same cost he bought them. Mi amigos are going to shit!  I just bought three lobsters for $16.

Before dinner

They can't believe their eyes, nor can they imagine where I just got the lobster from. Since the community charcoal grill is off to a slow start (due to the rain) and we don't have any sides to go with the lobster, we make our way toward the restaurants on the waterfront to see which one will be willing to cook them.  Ahh, we found one  to cook and prepare it for a $5 charge. We pick our sides wisely knowing that all our food tonight will be family style and shared by all.  For roughly $12 per person (including cost of lobsters) we all ate like kings that night.

After dinner