Wednesday, 14 Sep 2005

First, I want to say that the Nikon D70 is an awesome camera. It's a little pricey for a hobbyist, but it's awesome and takes awesome pictures.

The ferry wharf

Today we went to Pinel Island. We had a leisurely start, so we didn't even get over until the noon ferry (I'd recommend an earlier start). The ferry, by the way, now costs six dollars, not five, but perhaps that's a result of the Euro being so much stronger than the dollar. We are paying .20 to .25 for a Euro now.

Pinel is a small island with a tiny beach off the north end of Orient Beach. The beach, though tiny, is very nice. The sand slopes gently into almost waveless, warm water. It's very relaxing -- the most relaxing time we've had so far. Lynn raved about how much she enjoyed it. I think it was also significant that most of the beachgoers spoke French -- locals?

The flip side is that it was also the most expensive beach. Six dollars per person just to get there, then three chairs were (as opposed to on Dawn Beach). We ate at Yellow Beach Restaurant, and there were mostly pricey items on the menu, though there were a few bargains.

A bird helping itself to Oasis peach tea (photo: Judi)

Speaking of lunch, we all had one of the bargains: BBQ ribs with fries for 12?. The fries were very good, as they are in most restaurants here -- it's the oil they're fried in or something. The ribs weren't anywhere near as tender, tasty, or meaty as the ones at Beau Beau's. They satisfied our hunger. The sauce had a fruity touch. The ice tea was Oasis peach in short cans. Not real, but if you have to drink fake, this is the fake to drink.

Pinel Beach

We had to catch the 3:00pm ferry back, so Judi and Lynn could shower and prep for the "beach party" at Beau Beau's. So we weren't on Pinel Island for very long, for the money we spent. But it was very relaxing, and would have been worth it if we'd caught an earlier ferry over. Maybe we'll come back on Friday.

The orange dance (photo: Lynn)

So at 6:00pm we went down to Beau Beau's for the "beach party" (which was actually the "on the deck at Beau Beau's party"). The party started with an "orange dance," which Judi and I got participated in my misadventure.

The basic idea is that each couple (there were six couples) has an orange. They start out with the orange pressed between their foreheads, and they have to dance while keeping the orange between any part of each other's faces -- eyes, nose, cheeks, ears -- as long as hands are not used and the orange is not allowed to drop.

It was hard. We sweated and the orange got slippery. We wedged it between our eye sockets. I looked as we circled and none of the other couples had dropped out. There was no way we could do this. Our orange worked its way around to the side of Judi's head and almost fell. For a while it was lodged against Judi's ear. We worked it back. It started sliding down Judi's cheek. She worked it back. Then it popped out and fell. We were out, eliminated, done. We looked around and...

...we were the only ones left on the dance floor!

We won!

What we won was a bottle of champagne and a "free" weekend getaway at our choice of resorts in the US. We'll have to see how free the getaway is -- I'm skeptical about attached strings -- but it was nice just to win.

Then came the results of yesterday's scavenger hunt. It seems there was a three-way tie, and Isabelle the activities dudette, who is fun and nice but not terribly organized, conducted an improvised and lame "tie breaker." We ended up in second place, apparently because we and only we had brought back green sand, though what that had to do with tie-breaking I do not understand. It was very confusing. Ask Isabelle. But anyway, we won what I thought was actually the best prize: A chance to come back here for a week anytime in the next year for just the maintenance fee. I'll know more details after a I pick up our certificate tomorrow.

Judi limbo (photo: Greg)

After all that there was an entertainer called The Dancing Diamond who walked on glass and swallowed fire and things like that. She also danced a lot. All while wearing a skimpy costume. Then we all did a wild "Carnival" dance and then Judi and Lynn (and a bunch of others) did limbo while I took incriminating pictures. Judi and Lynn had a good time.

Judi says I have to go back to work and tell everyone that I did the orange dance and show them pictures ,because if I don't she'll bust through Security and tell them herself, because it's so unlike me and she wants everyone to know I can do it. That is, have fun.

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