Being Us

Today was us being us; explorers, awkward tourists, adventurers, and admirers of nature.

The day had our typical start, morning walk on the path way overlooking the ocean, a big breakfast and figuring out the day.

 

Our plan was to revisit the Columbus Monument down North, maybe get a snorkel in the bay by it and then just meander back. Last April when we visited here, the winds were blowing and there was no chance of getting a snorkel in.  The two mile beach road in was just as bumpy and crazy as we remembered.  Good thing our rental car has been seasoned with lots of Long Island scratches before we rented it, today we added a few more. The drive is worth the view.

After our walk about, we headed down to check out the water conditions. It was a little choppy, but we knew we didn’t want to make this drive again this trip, so into the water we went.

 

After drying off, Mike and I decided to drive to the end of the road. Last time we didn’t because we hadn’t done our research, well Mike researches, I just say “sure”.  He had looked on Google Maps for this trip and noticed that at the end of the road, you could park and walk over a busted bridge to a Newton Cay Beach.

What we didn’t expect was a bar at the end of the highway. The flaps were down when we stopped, but we decided after our adventure if the flaps were up we were stopping in.

We could see three men cleaning conch as they waved at us as we crossed the busted bridge to walk Newton Cay Beach.

We walked the bay and then Mike explored further on to the Atlantic side.  The place was beautiful, minus the piles of trash that had washed ashore.

 

Once we returned the flaps were up on the bar.  Mustering up our courage, we went up to the bar and one of the men asked what we wanted, we of course knew only to reply “two Kaliks, please”.

 

At this point, after drinking most of the beer, we became that awkward tourist, do we ask for food or not? People are eating plates of food, people are smiling at us, the kids running about are talking to me, one guy’s shirt reads” Busted Bridge Bar and Grill.”  We do an internet search, but nothing comes up (yes we had 3G service).  I muster up the courage and ask if food is available, I get a reply of a smile and a woman runs to get food of two plates. She plates up the rice, fish and coleslaw and apologetically says “island style”, to which I replied ” the only way and thank you.”

 

We were asked a few times if we enjoyed it and I think our smile conveyed we loved every bite of the fish, coleslaw and rice.  When our plates were clean, minus the bones, one of the ladies approached and told us that the bar just serves drinks.  This was a family picnic and would we like to try the conch salad.  Well it became awkward for us, but if they offered us salad, I guess they liked us?  It was the best conch salad we have ever had.

We thanked them many times over and asked for our bill, $10.00. They let us crash a family picnic, served us food, beer and it was 10.00?  We couldn’t stop smiling for having this amazing experience and then we frowned for being that awkward tourist.  We’ve read Long Island has the nicest people and today proved it.

Our plan was to find Adderly Plantation Ruins, but we were very tired from the walking, the snorkeling, the people watching, we skipped the ruins and instead drove around Stella Maris Resort Club, to see if any of the rental homes were appealing.  And none were, there was no beach to walk on, so that knocked that place out of the running.

We thought we could handle one more short beach exploration walk and stopped at “Cruisers” beach. “Cruisers” beach is a beach we see every day from our screened in porch on the other side of Thompson Bay.  The path to the beach is marked by buoys and there is even a fresh water well on the trail to the beach.

At home, we quickly unpacked the car and jumped into the water to cool off, after our five hour adventure.  I had to have a nap after all that and Mike lounged about.

Sunset was subtle, dinner was leftovers and it was a quiet night in the cottage by the bay. The quietness allowed us to reflect on our explorations, adventures and experiences of being awkward tourists, us just being us.