We has a unique day trip today. The resort helped us engage Cobra Tours, and we were lucky to have Cobra himself as a tour guide.
Not only does Cobra know his country well, he was really familiar with the plants. A few minutes drive and he pulled over to show us sensitive mimosa (the leaves fold up when touched) and also picked some lemongrass for us to smell. All this before he knew there was a botanist on board.
We headed to Red Rock, an area Cobra referred to as “Mars.” Easy to believe except Mars doesn’t have the beautiful blue Atlantic in the background. He led us over the area in a slightly adventurous scamper. What looks slippery and clay like is actually a little spongy and not as slick as it appears, at all. There is clay in the soil, but it is mixed with volcanic ash and volcanic soils and then the salt air adds its part. I’ve never felt anything quite like it under my feet.
Before leaving Red Rock we stopped at its bar and had sorrel juice (yummy, red, and tart) and gave juice (sweeter, green and a bit pulpy). We chatted with the bar owner who has had difficulty finding a chef so he can also serve food.
We had a brief stop at a chocolate making operation, and shared a tasting with a couple from Canada. With our appetites whetted, we were taken to a local restaurant with a view to the Atlantic. The restaurant is called Unique Restaurant, and we tried mahi mahi kebabs, fired plantains and fish fritters.
Next we were off to Indian River where Cobra’s young cousin rowed us up the river while pointing out plants and crabs and birds all along the way. The river is brackish— an arm of Prince Rupert Bay. There were lots of plants but the most interesting were the giant ferns. Even Mark had never seem tree ferns growing in a saline environment. Adding to the environment were the huge buttressed trunks of the mangroves.
The turnaround point for the trip is the Bush Bar, which serves “Dynamite punch.” This gave our rower a chance to visit with the bartender, who is about the same age. We were pretty relaxed at this point in the afternoon what with the trip to Mars and the rum punch. On our journey back we passed several other boat loads of visitors, from a cruise line. Our rower was lucky to have just the two of us as passengers. He said he’s earning well from this job, which is good because he is also a full time student studying architecture, psychology and learning five languages in his spare time.
It’s been very windy here, but we still dared to take a plunge in the pool. We had dinner in the open air pool bar, and gusts blew the cloth napkin right off my lap.
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