May 2, 2017 Exploring Royal Island land and sea

 Dave wanted a maintenance day on the boat.  Torben, Anne-Marie and I took the dinghy to shore in Royal Harbor.  We hiked around the ruins on the island.  Other boaters had told us about them.  There were some deserted stone buildings.  Both homes had plumbing, so they weren’t as old as I had pictured.

Torben trying to capture the spirit

only place I have seen these butterflies.  about 6 inch wing span

frog on the wall

frog was about 4 inches long

 
 
 

unexpected visitor

boat entering the harbor.  to the left is too shallow

our boat at anchor in Royal Island harbor

We hiked across the island to the ocean side.  We were near a man made cove when a small fishing boat came in.  The guy on the bow threw out a casting net to catch bait fish.  It was fun to watch.  They are so smooth.

 

 
 

Back at the boat, we had lunch and took off to snorkel.  The 3 of us went to the ocean side of Royal Island to snorkel.  We drifted with the dinghy over the beautiful coral in this area.  Torben carried a spear, but no luck.  He did find 2 conch, which we brought back for conch salad. 

sea fans

sea urchin under coral

school of little fish over the coral

On the way back, we stopped at a little beach on the west end of Royal Island in the cut between Royal and Egg Island.  Torben and Anne-Marie had fun exploring and picking up pieces of dead coral or shells on the beach.  Torben even snorkeled right off the beach.  They love to explore. 

Torben snorkeling

Torben checking out a sea biscuit

 

the conch queen with queen conch

Torben digging up a sand crab

found the crab

We had a nice evening in the cockpit that lasted long after sundown. 

Anne-Marie getting a lesson on cleaning conch

the conch meat

Anne-Marie and Torben

Dave and Mary