Took Tour of Coral Reef on High-Speed Catamaran Today; Way Cool

Chuck, Patti and I took the high-speed catamaran, Spirit of Pennekamp, out to the coral reef today. It's air conditioned and has a glass bottom, so you can see the coral reef. Pretty cool. We're going to go snorkeling there tomorrow and Chuck wanted to see if the water was clear enough to make it worthwhile. It was crystal clear.

Patti and I were inside for a little while and Chuck disappeared. We went outside to look for him and he was in the wheelhouse talking to the captain! He stayed in until we got near the coral reef and asked lots of questions about the channel we went through yesterday. Then he came down to the glass bottom viewing area. Patti and I stood on the upper deck for a little while, then went back inside as we got closer to the reef.

The reef is beautiful. We saw lots of fish, corals and fans. There was a lower deck where you could sit and dangle your feet. Chuck sat down there (see photo).

On the tour, we learned that an inspector went to 24 restaurants and ordered grouper and 17 of the 24 were actually not grouper, but an inexpensive Vietnamese fish that was passed off as grouper! He recommended yellowtail snapper as a delicious, plentiful fish. I kept that in mind when ordering my dinner.

What a different ride. It went 19 knots, about 22 mph. It felt so fast after being on a sailboat! And the water really flew up. It threw a big wake at that speed.

Wayne stayed behind to replace the blower that cools the motor compartment in his boat. When we got back, he was waiting for Patti to come to the boat so he could walk to West Marine for parts. Chuck went with him but didn't get back for a few hours. He was asking questions about a transducer for our boat.

I went to the gift shop to buy a few T-shirts (Sandi, I'm getting my shopping fix everywhere we go, LOL.) Then I sat in the cockpit of Sheet Music and read my book, with Jazzy on my lap. We both nodded off for a few minutes, it was so relaxing. The sun was warm and temp was 77.

As the sun went down, it got chilly and I went down to grab a sweatshirt.

We walked to The Fish House Encore for dinner. We had an outside table and it was set up like a garden with a big fountain and heaters. I had a couple of Coconut Margaritas (yum!) and the house specialty, Fish Metacumbe. I chose yellowtail snapper. It was delicious, topped with tomatoes, shallots, capers, fresh basil, olive oil and lemon juice and very moist. It was served with rice and a mixed vegetable medley. Chuck had baked scallops.

Tomorrow, we're taking Bum's Rest to go snorkeling on the reef.