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After the brusque treatment we received yesterday for showing up late for our first dive we didn’t want to incur the wrath of the owner of the dive shop a second time so we got up an hour earlier and arrived at the shop an hour ahead of time. The girls dropped us off and then headed for Maho Beach to catch the low-flying planes. *A word about the woman who runs the shop. She and her husband a Dutch citizen from the island bought the dive shop back in 2007. Clearly, the experience has embittered her. She is quite cold and has no problem telling you if you did something wrong. She runs a tight ship and does not like anything to interrupt her flow. Her husband or significant other, is, on the other hand, a serious but pleasant guy.
The divemasters for our two days of diving were Rob, from the Netherlands, and Liam, who I think might also be Dutch? They are really good young guys, very helpful and friendly and they take great care of us. Their attention has made our diving absolutely stress-free. The third diver on the boat, a young man named Karl from Sweden, was already there so we loaded up early and were out on the water by 7:30 am. It was a beautiful, clear, calm day, almost glassy on the water. When I remarked on this, Liam, one of the divemasters, said that the conditions were unusual and that we were very lucky to have gotten such perfect weather.
The first dive was “Porpoise” a sunken fishing vessel and reef. It was deep. We dropped down to 87’ to the bottom. Almost immediately we were greeted by a pair of sharks. I think that they were the same pair as yesterday. They checked us out. The wreck harbors countless numbers of fish in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I even spotted a Goliath Grouper cruising around. Also spotted lionfish, a lizardfish, a few spiny lobsters, and many big barracuda. We did a multilevel decompression dive so as to avoid a surface interval.
Next, we went to Explorer’s Reef. It’s a wide, shallow reef with not much coral or color, but a lot of life. Saw clouds of silvery fish, a lizardfish, lionfish, feather dusters, and millions of conchs on the ocean floor. The reef was similar to Pitufo from the day before so it got a little boring after our first pass. We turned around eventually and did it all again. 40 feet and 50 minutes of bottom time.
Susan’s Comment: After dropping off the guys we drove to Maho Beach to experience the jets flying low overhead and landing. I was a little hesitant to drive after seeing the crazy traffic but since it was early in the morning the traffic was not quite as crazy. It was not a far drive and once we got to the beach we saw that literally no one was there - a stark contrast from the previous day. We parked at one of the beach restaurants and asked if they served coffee but they weren’t open until 10 am. We asked if we needed to move our car, but they said “No, you can park anywhere you want.” So we walked along the beach to the other beach bar that opened at 8 am had coffee and waited for the planes to come in.
Now, there aren’t as many planes as there are later in the day, but we got to see it from a relaxed vantage point. I'm really glad we got to see it.
We opted to return to the condo for lunch and stopped at the Carrefour grocery store to stock up.
A couple of observations: despite the insanely congested streets of Phillipsburg, there are no stop lights or stop signs. It’s every man and woman for themselves. It’s a constant game of chicken as drivers from side streets attempt to break into the traffic with aggressive feints until they get in. The protocol when you are ready to insert yourself into traffic, is to honk your horn as if to say, “Here I come. Deal with it!” Pedestrians are also at the mercy of traffic and risk their lives crossing busy streets. So between trying to navigate and get home alive, it’s always a white-knuckle ride. Perhaps the epicenter of traffic mayhem is the roundabout in front of Carrefour grocery store. Three different busy streets converge as well as a couple of parking lots. It takes nerves of steel to venture out into the maelstrom.
We came home and made a delightful lunch of French wheat bread, Dutch cheese, Mexican tomatoes, grapes from Argentina, and hummus from White Plains, NY. It was a veritable UN of foods. Nicely full, we all settled into a lazy afternoon out of the sun. That meant naps and reading.
At about 5:00 we went out to eat at BZH Creperie, a French restaurant just up the road. Getting there early is a plus. We had the whole area of the restaurant to ourselves. We got served promptly and took our time. This was pretty authentic French which featured, naturally, a lot of seafood.
We had a couple of tasty apps, foie gras (Escalop of foie gras, Jerusalem artichoke blintz) and champagne (fried mushrooms with parsley) along with some nice cocktails and wine. Susan and the Harmons had a Duo of Scallops and Shrimp, squid ink risotto, bearnaise sauce, and vegetables. I had the snapper filet with citrus and champagne sauce and fresh puréed sweet potatoes with veggies. It was a food adventure, with many new combinations and flavors.
Although we were all full, we just had to have dessert. After all, we are on vacation. Susan ordered the Normandy crepe, apples with caramel ice cream, and roasted hazelnuts with cream and calvados. I had the parfait with chocolate ice cream and bananas. Clay got tarte tartin glace vanille (hot apple pie with ice cream). Do you remember the “Mr. Creosote” segment of Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life”? That’s how we felt when dinner was finally over.
Susan's Comment: After dessert, our waitress gave us a carafe of "Calvados". It is a brandy from Normandy that is made from apples or pears.
Half-crocked and fully stuffed, we headed back to the ranch. It didn’t take long for us all to hit the sack.