The First "Not The Best Day Ever"

Well today was the first day Jen didn’t say “This was the best day ever!!” It started out slowly; we walked to a crepe place for breakfast just down the road. The proprietor was a rugged and very stinky Parisian named Jean Michel, he had a very interesting setup with what we think was his entire living arrangement serving as his creperie establishment. It was made up of a pontoon boat that was converted into a tiki bar; we ate on his lawn furniture that was made out of tree trunks. The food was pretty good, and he sat with us afterwards and gave us some of his travel stories, which were quite interesting. He was in serious need of a shower though. Afterwards, we went over what our plan was going to be – scuba and swimming with the dolphins today, this boat tour of the island with a buffet lunch Friday, and spa on Saturday. As it turns out, the IC had other plans. First, we found out that the scuba had to be Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, because they were booked at the other times. Worse, Jen actually had to do homework!! “Just the first three chapters and the videos with them” the lady at the front desk said. As it turns out, the first three chapters covered 175 pages and Jen was not skimming over anything that could affect her coming back to the surface in one piece! So she was not really that happy about having to do comprehensive reading and watching an instructional video on the honeymoon… She did eventually get through it, and as we found out later there’s no test for the first three chapters, so that alleviated some of her anxiety.

In the meantime, we booked a swim with the dolphins. Except after we did the math, we realized it was well over $700 USD for 30 minutes total with the dolphins. Jen did the comparison and realized how much fun she could have at the spa for that much dough, so T.J. went back and got us out of it. We’ll do the dolphin swim sometime this summer in the Keys for a lot less to make up for it. Then, T.J. went to schedule something for the spa for us for this afternoon, but they were all booked up both in the afternoon and all day Saturday (our second choice). Suppose we should have heeded the advice to book everything in advance. Oh well… what the hell. We are scheduled for Friday morning though, so it will be a good birthday present for T.J. And we found out that Friday’s dive will only be Jen in the pool to do her skills, so we won’t be out diving until Saturday morning, which makes Friday a pretty relaxing day. On the bright side we got all dinner reservations made – two restaurants we checked out on the scooter for Thursday and Friday, and the Polynesian Seafood BBQ and show here Saturday night.

Now that all the plans are set, Jen did a little more studying, and T.J. took a quick snorkel trip around the OW bungalows (even though the mask was partially broken). We made some drinks, showered up, and went down to the beach to watch the sunset. Again, the clouds hid the sun actually touching down below the horizon, but also again the sky was brilliant with colors; this time pale oranges and reds. Afterwards we set off to Te Honu Iti, a place we saw on Cook’s Bay we thought would be nice and that came recommended by both the front desk and the online site we got a lot of good recommendations from. Turns out the place was fabulous; as soon as we walked in, the smell was intoxicating. We got a great seat in the corner next to the rail overlooking the bay. Just below us there were fish, a couple of stingrays that kept passing by, and a big eel. The food was great; the mussels app was great with seasoning and sea salt (note – we’re trying this one at home), and T.J.’s seafood pasta was pretty damn good. However Jen’s sea scallops with rice and leeks in a buttery cream sauce was to die for, it rivaled the meal we had at Johnny’s yesterday (only a lot more expensive). And we can’t forget the bananas (which are the sweetest ever) flambaued in a cinnamon sugar butter – so good!! By the time we got home we were both tired, full, Jen was a little wine tipsy, and we stayed up long enough to look at the stars for about 2 minutes before calling it a night – our latest one here, at 10pm. Boy married life sure has changed us, huh???