18 Mar, Tues

COOLER, CLOUDY, WINDY

...and i enjoyed it  :)

so i guess they were right about a 'storm coming in' .....
Half Moon Bay was not very 'friendly' looking, nor 'inviting' today ...

Stormy Half Moon Bay

    
i'm not usually a fan of this kind of weather, but i grabbed my camera and rain jacket and went exploring and acted like a tourist  :)     .... it was great weather to walk around an explore, without the hot sun, and windy with no bugs.

... since it wasn't a good beach day at West Bay, West End town was very crowded ... these cruise people obviously signed up for a kayak trip .... the weather wasn't ideal for it, but out they went ... i heard one guy 'grumble:' ....  'you can tell we don't live here' ... can't blame him, i hate it too, when it rains on my vacation ! ...

Kayak-ers braving the weather

i even went to shop and bought a dress ... 70% off ... i really was a tourist ...i couldn't walk away from it :)

walked to the far north end of the island and checked out the 3 'resorts' up there ... this is as 'resorty' as it gets in West End ... they are all next to each other along the shoreline... and the waves were really crashing against the rocky coast ...

Iron Shoreline at Sea Grapes Plantation

cabin at SeaGrape

the salt-water pool at Lands End ...

Salt Water Pool at Lands End

Cabin at CocoLobo

Deck at Coco Lobo

Pool at CocoLobo

it started raining on my way back to town ..... i stopped to take a picture of this tree, and it's fruit ... do you know what it is ?

it's a Cashew tree !    .... i recently learned about how Cashews grow ... not like most nut trees ... .... that piece on the top of the fruit ... it's the cashew nut ... it is inside a shell that contains a poison which causes terrible burns if you get it on your skin .... it needs to be roasted and ... even the fumes from the roasting process can make you sick ... then it's ok to eat .....

it's a huge tree with large leaves ... the pear-shaped fruit is called the Cashew Apple and turns red when ripe, and is the bottom part in my photos, which you can eat as well; but they don't 'travel' well, so it is not exported :( ...i guess it makes great juice

i walked past one of my favorite restaurants, The Lily Pond  .. it is also a bed and breakfast ... it would be a lovely place to stay ...

Lily Pond

with 3 sweet dogs .... this one has severely deformed hind legs which appear to be fused together below the tail and walks kind of like a sea lion   :(   ... his owner said he will get an operation to fix them .... lucky little dog  :)

lots of pretty flowers on my walk today ...

Hibiscus

i walked to el Boske for my favorite place to have a sandwich ... US$2 ... can't beat it ... and very tasty !

Tenderloin Beef Sandwich -- Salad Included !

... its quiet an impressive place, word is, it's 'drug laundrying money' ... they spared no expense building it ...

Nice Layout of Eating Area at el Boske

el Boske is next to Georphi's where i stayed on my last visit ... as you can imagine they have not been happy about having their garden paradise turned into a huge restaurant night-club atmosphere ... plus the construction noise going on all the time ...

Over the fence is/was the 'jungle-like-setting' and the building where i stayed last year ... i'm sure the view from there now is not the same  ...it was so peaceful and quiet  :(

my 'home' two years ago

i've heard that 'they' may try to shut them down ... will be interesting to follow ... lots of lawyer-fees will be made on this one ... i imagine the pockets of the 'drug lords' run pretty deep ... they certainly spared no expense in building this place ... in their defense ... they are employing a lot of locals and at a good wage  ...



i met Andie and a new friend, Suzanne, for Taco Tuesdays at Monkey Island ... it was REALLY packed, the line for the taco's was out the door and down the street ... but it moved pretty fast... the problem was finding a table.   while in line i noticed there were a lot of intoxicated guys walking the streets ... an older non-drunk guy who'd been serving for 18yrs,  told me that the USS Navy ship docked today ... they'd been at sea for 2 months ... so they were partying :)     ...i thanked him for serving our country, and he was appreciative of the recognition.

then we went to the Softball Tournaments just down the road from where i live ...  many of you know i'm not a fan of watching sports, and i've likened baseball to 'watching grass grow'  ... but this was different ... the score was 18-19 ... lots of action and went into extra innings ... the one team had the bases loaded with no outs, and the opposing team did an amazing job of getting 3 outs with no runs scored .... i was impressed !

and that was the end to our cloudy rainy day ... and it never really rained ....