Pink Ice Cream and a Blue Sting Ray

I had a wonderful day yesterday, a day of exploration, fun and firsts.

It was date day, also known as the "Get the HipCrip the Heck Out of the House Day," and so the HipHubby and I piled into the care, rolled the windows down, turned up the radio, and headed off to explore.

Our destination for the day was Frederiksted, the smaller of the two towns on island. Frederiksted is located on the west end of the island, just north of Sandy Point, the largest breeding ground for leatherback turtles in the world.

We had no real agenda for the day, so we made our first stop at the waterfront. Just north of Frederiksted, there’s a large family friendly area called Rainbow Beach. In addition to being a great place to swim and snorkel, Rainbow Beach also has a large playground with swings, slides, and monkeybars -- it’s one of those places where I really wish I wasn’t stuck in my wheelchair so I could run about and get silly with my husband. But since we couldn’t play on the toys, we sat in the shade, held hands and watched the seagulls. The water was so sparkly it looked like it was covered in diamonds.

As we sat, we noticed that there were a few people out on the pier, so we decided to go check it out. This pier isn’t your typical fishing pier -- it’s 1526 feet long, and was designed to moor two cruise ships at the same time. It’s also one of the most spectacular dive and snorkel sites on island because the new pier was built on top of the remains of the old pier, which was destroyed in 1989 when category 5 Hurricane Hugo leveled the island -- and the pilings from the old pier are slowly being absorbed by the coral reefs that abound on the clam west end of the island.

We had a chance to see firsthand why people flock to the pier to snorkel. The water there is dead calm and crystal clear -- we were easily able to see urchins and other small critters, including a small sand robin, on the sandy bottom, which we estimated was at least 15 feet below the surface. Then, as we walked along the right side of the pier, the most incredible thing happened -- a large blue sting ray came swimming along the edge of the pier, not more than three feet from the surface. The ray was at least five feel long from his snout to the tip of his tail, and he had a wing span of at least four feet. I just don’t have the words to describe his brilliant blue color or the incredibly graceful movements he made as he slowly cruised by us. It was awesome, and made me more determined than ever to find a way to get in that water!

The rest of our time on the pier was a mixed bag of good new and bad news. On the positive side, we learned that fishing was allowed -- all we needed to do was to get our own gear and head on over. One the down side, getting out to the end of the pier might be challenge -- the only handicapped access seemed to be through two gates that appeared to be kept locked. And even though there were ramps on both sides of the pier, they clearly weren’t there for crips to use because they lead directly to a small flight of stairs.

Even though we were unable to walk the full length of the pier, it still offered us a terrific vantage point from which to view some of the local attractions. Unfortunately, the photos we took of Sandy Point and Fort Frederiksted just don’t to justice to what a gorgeous day we had, nor how truly beautiful the scenery on our little island is.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream at a little shop that I discovered the first day we landed on the island. All of the ice cream is hand made, and most are flavored with local tropical fruits. Let me tell you, pink ice cream plus a blue sting ray equals one perfect afternoon.

JACKPOT - Cabin Fever Comes to an End!

I have been cooped up in my house for way, way too long. It’s not for lack of desire to get or, or for trying. It’s just one of those things that you have to adapt to when your body becomes as unpredictably uncooperative as mine (and occasionally, the HipHubby’s).

Having the cast on hasn’t exactly made getting out of the house any easier. With the cast in place, I can no longer sit in my favorite position, which happens to also be the most comfortable for long periods of time. Without being able to change positions, get wet, get sand down the cast, it’s been a bit of a challenge trying to get the heck of out dodge.

Today, though, all the barriers were mowed down and my desire to break free finally triumphed! The HipHubby and I went out and spent a fun afternoon at the casino.

Our local casino is no Atlantic City or Vegas, that’s for sure. It’s a tiny little place on the desert-like east end of the island with a dozen gaming tables, a few hundred machines (all slots except for eight video poker machines) a small (and as yet unlaunched) sports book area, a snack bar, and a bar that hosts live bands on the weekends. But if you enjoy gambling (as we do now and again), it’s more than enough to have a good time for a few hours.

Which is exactly what we did today.

The drive over, which takes between 20 and 25 minutes (it’s a 15 mile drive, far closer as the crow flies), was GORGEOUS. The sun was shining brightly, and the only things breaking up the endless blue sky were a few widely scattered cottony clouds. With the arrival of spring, everything is in bloom again, and there were flowers everywhere you looked.

But most beautiful of all was the water. The majority of the drive between our house and the casino runs parallel to the coast, and the views of the water can be breathtaking. They were nothing less than that today. There had to be half a dozen different colors visible, including fluorescent turquoise near the reef shallows, pure white as the water breaks over the reef formations, and the clear deep blue of the open water. Just seeing this was more than enough to shake off any traces of cabin fever.

Since we hadn’t been out in so loong, I wanted to commemorate the occasion by getting our picture taken in front of the dolphin fountain at the entrance to the casino. The HipHubby recruited a sweet man who works security to snap the photo -- our photographer du jour thought it was great that after four years of living here, we were still silly enough to play tourist now and again.

The day just got better from there. We enjoyed a tasty lunch of popcorn shrimp (a snack bar specialty), then hit the machines since the HH’s game of choice, roulette (which he has cleaned up on in the past despite it being the table game with the worst odds), isn’t up and running in the afternoon. No big wins to speak of, but we did play a couple of penny machines for a few hours on about $7.50. Cheaper than going to a movie, for sure.

We stayed under our budget for the day, I came home in no real pain, and we managed to get out of there before the heavy smokers arrived. In my book, that’s a jackpot win all on its own.

Sharing a basket of popcorn shrimp, fries, and a soda: $9.50.
Two hours of play on the penny slot machines: $7.50.
The gallon of gas that got you to the casino: $2.89.
An afternoon out of the house, having fun with the love of your life: PRICELESS.