Our first full day at Tensing Pen
dawned warm and humid. I woke around 7:00 and wandered out onto the
patio to take peek at the activity in the gardens. Birds were busy
hopping around in the trees, so I headed inside for my camera gear.
Unfortunately I forgot about the condensation problem... I'd left my
gear in our air-conditioned room all night, so as soon as I walked
outside the lenses fogged over. I had to wait about 20 minutes for
the zoom lens to fully warm up enough to shoot. I stepped down to
the restaurant area for a cup of coffee while I waited, and then
spent about an hour or so wandering the grounds seeking out wildlife.
I found several birds and many lizards. I had a close encounter
with a Doctor Bird, the national bird of Jamaica, however he zoomed
past me and along down the path far too quickly for me to get a shot.
Stepping out the front doors of our house, this is the view... a round table on the patio just above the path, the cove and the bamboo bridge are directly in front of us.
A bald pigeon gathering sticks for a nest
I love how this lizard blends into the background
Our clan woke a few people at a time,
wandering down to the restaurant for coffee and continental
breakfast. After finishing a satisfying breakfast of toast, fruits
(pineapple, papaya, and watermelon), yogurt and orange juice, we
lingered at the table and chatted, waiting for our food to settle.
Some of the kids headed for the pool to cool down. A few of us went
over to the ocean side instead and geared up to snorkel for a bit.
I haven't been in the ocean in nearly 3
years, so my first dip in was a little tense for me. I did have a
couple moments of panic when my snorkel plugged up and when a wave
hit me on the side of the head... I had to spend a few minutes
concentrating on slowing my breathing down, since I was too far from
the ladder to just get out of the water.
My feet, the bridge, and the house we are renting (viewed from the water)
As the water wore us all down, our crew
regrouped in the house to clean up and head out to find lunch. We'd
read a lot of great reviews about a little restaurant down the
street, so we took a walk down to Sips and Bites, just about a 15
minute walk down the road.
The food was excellent... I ordered the
snapper, which was served in a browned gravy along with rice and
peas, a slice of breadfruit, a piece of festival (fried bread), and
some veggies on top. I was so hungry and busy visiting that I
neglected to get a shot of the food. The cut of fish was
interesting, it was a very boney piece of fish and took some delicate
flaking to have bites without toothpick-sized bones.
After lunch we walked back to the room
and immediately wanted to get into some kind of water to cool down.
I spent a little bit of time in the pool, which gave instant relief
to the heat, then gathered up my snorkel gear to head over and find
some fish.
My second run of the day was far better
than my first. I felt no panic, and I even managed to find some
really interesting fish. I ended up swimming out much further than I
ever have before due to being in pursuit of a decent photo of a
little stingray I spotted skirting along the bottom.
This is the stingray I followed for a bit
Some of the colorful fish near the side of the cliffs
Can you spot the flounder in this picture?
The terrain in the cove
We had a late lunch, and felt all
waterlogged, so the evening has consisted of mainly showering off the
ocean salt and generally chatting and relaxing around the house. We
ordered dinner in from the on-site restaurant, a couple of ackee
pizzas and jerk chicken pizzas to share, as we visit and play games.
The yellow chunks on the front pizza are ackee, the pizza behind it and to the left is jerk chicken.
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