This morning was fairly calm and sunny. A few scattered clouds to the east but not much. Breakfast was pastries left over from desert last night, and I also had a left over pork chop.
We were slow to get moving this morning, but finally decided to go to Alabaster Beach. Now the beach may be better at low tide, but at high tide it was not alabaster but black from all the seaweed. Not much of a place for the kids to play in the sand. We punted and went back to Twin Beach. We snorkeled out for a ways. Joel tried to take underwater photos but they didn't really come out. I've been too lazy to try. We ended up deleting about 25 of them from the camera. We didn't stay here for long. We had a date with some meat pies. C-- wasn't feeling too well. Her stomach hurt and her legs looked like they had the measles from all the gnat bites. She reacts to the bites somehow. They annoy me, but at least they fade after a day. So we dropped C-- off at the house so she could rest for a bit as the rest of us went to the bakery for lunch.
The bakery seems to do a brisk lunch trade. We ordered one meat patty and all tried it to see if we liked it. We declared it quite yummy. Also affordable at $1.50 a patty. So we ordered 10 patties and 2 hotdogs.
We walked down to the water and sat on a wall watching the seagulls make noise. It didn't take long for us to broil in the sun so we headed over to the grocery store to get some drinks. Scott had to carry Amos part of the way since he had no shoes.
At the store Scott pulled out the shopping list. We seem to need something everyday. I got some Sunny Delight and Ben got an Eclipse. Boy I wish I had gotten his. The tropical flavored one was a wonderful mix of fruit juice. We also picked up some more Goombay Punch, which is sort of a tropical fruit soda that everyone loves.
Scott left us in town to wander around while he went back to the house to pick up C--. We went over to Pammy's and ordered fries for the kids since they were still a little hungry. We waited forever to get them. I kept walking down to our designated meeting spot to see if Scott was waiting. On the second trip down I found him. He had dropped C-- and Amos off at the library. So the rest of us went over there. It is a cute little library. Amos checked out a book, not some island book but Goosebumps. He didn't have to pay anything and didn't need a library card.
Then it was off to the Club Med Beach. We went the wrong way first, but finally found access off the good road just past the entrance to Club Med. Later we were told that there is a closer access just a little way down that road. This was a gorgeous beach. Maybe a mile long. In the afternoon there was shade and it also had a little bit of snorkeling. There was a small patch of coral just off shore from where we were sitting. I went around it once by myself and once with Joel. When I went with Joel he brought the squeeze cheese and tried to entice some of the fish out. The parrot fish tried it, spit it out and ran away. The little stripped fish and the Blue headed wrass would fight over it. Large swarms came out to eat. You had to stay very still or they would run away. C-- said when they went out the little fish came right up to her for a handout. I'm surprised they are tamed so easily.
The kids (and Joel and I for a time) played in the waves trying to body surf. It was fun, but the waves really were way too small for it.
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I also walked down to see what Club Med looked like. It was closed down still and not fixed after the hurricane. Many roofs were missing still. We were wondering if they were ever going to open again since so little of it has been fixed. It wasn't especially pretty either, but that could have been just the damage.
We left the beach just before 5:00 pm. We showered up then braved the bad roads by James Cistern to get to the Rainbow Inn. The Inn Restaurant was perched on a hillside and we got to watch the sunset while we waited for our food. Our table was the ship table. It was shaped like the bow of a boat. The food was very slow to come out, but the drinks came quickly. 
The Bahama Mama was good, but the rum punch was just OK. As for the food, I would rate it all ok, nothing great nothing bad. I had the Seafood Newburg, C-- the crepes, Joel the shrimp, and Scott the steamed grouper. Ben had the grouper fingers and Beth the cracked conch. The cracked conch was the best of the lot followed closely by the grouper fingers, but none of them were great. We also tried the conch fritters, which were good (better than the fritters at the New Sunset Inn) and the conch chowder (marginal and fairly tasteless). For dessert we tried the key lime pie and the rum cake. They key lime pie was very creamy but not very limey. The rum cake was good, though I have had much better. And the service was slow.
Despite the just OK food and the slow service and the price (our most expensive meal yet), it was still worth going. We went on Wednesday and Dr. Seabreeze was singing. He sings island songs. Many of which I had never heard before. The kids loved him. There was a bass with one string connected to an upside washtub. The kids used this instrument to play along with him. It was quite a pleasant evening. The kids liked Dr. Seabreeze so much they both bought his CD.
Since the rest of us had been drinking, Joel was elected to drive us back again over the bad road in the dark.
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Text and images © Copyright 2000 Joel and Daphne Gould. If there are any problems or questions email Daphne Gould.
