April 3 - moving from the cliffs to the beach

Another clear morning dawned on our last day on the cliffs. I woke early and wandered the gardens with my zoom lens and cup of coffee, seeking out birds for a bit.

After a leisurely group breakfast, we all gathered our belongings back up into our suitcases, put them in a central location, and spent a last bit of time around the pool or gardens as we waited for our driver to pick us up. Mark, one of the drivers from Idle While, soon pulled in with his massive van, loaded us up, and we made the short drive over to the beach. My sister's room was ready, so we all dropped our luggage inside her living room and went down to the bar to say hi to the staff and duck out of the afternoon rain.

Few things have changed here... the restaurant's deck has been expanded, and they have new chairs and bar stools, and one huge picnic table-bench seat. The buoy lines have also been changed... the line horizontal to the beach has been brought in closer, and there are now side lines which visibly divide each beach front in front of each hotel. The staff say you can, of course, swim wherever you want to... the buoy line seems to have changed with the addition of having a lifeguard on duty. Perhaps they are just increasing the safety? I notice a few new palm trees on the property as well, but the sand is just as soft to walk on as it ever was, the ocean is a beautiful crisp blue, and the hammock on the deck is a fantastic place to take a nap.

I love the creative use of towel sculptures :)

Our Welcome Home gifts... I'm claiming the coffee mug, orange is perfect for me.

It was wonderful to walk onto the deck and see the look of recognition on the staff's faces as we walked up. There were hugs all around as we said hello and I introduced my sister and her family. Everyone talked about how much G had grown in the last 3 years, they are all now expecting her to be taller than I am by next year for sure. D immediately broke out the dominoes and settled in to a game. After a short while, our room was clean and ready to move in, so I shifted our luggage to our room and unpacked.

For the most part, everyone snacked for lunch during the transition from the cliffs to the beach... we had a lot of leftovers which did not go to waste. For dinner, I ordered food from the bar, a dish called “Snapper Supreme”, which came with snapper, shrimp, veggies and rice and peas.

 D gave his rum punch recipe to the bartender and we enjoyed a taste test. A lot of us were quite tired by the end of the evening and I ended up turning in early to the sound of the crickets singing outside.