TAYLOR ON EARTH

On day three my family slept in for a bit after soaking in the long boat day the day before. We had groceries bought for the villa so my mom made us all a big egg and bacon breakfast. Shortly after breakfast we rode into Georgetown, the main town of Great Exuma, to take a water taxi to a well sought-after bar and restaurant called Chat N Chill. It’s a fairly popular spot for tourists but for good reason. The bar keeps Goslings rum and Kalik flowing freely and the restaurant has a variety of burgers and sandwiches. Across from the bar area also rested a conch hut. Here the locals would collect fresh conch, break the shells open, rinse the meat inside, and make a delicious conch salad in generous portions mixed with tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and pineapple with orange and lemon juice squeezed on top of the raw concoction. As the guys were opening the conch shells and discarding them into a pile along the beach, sting rays began to appear, eating the scraps left behind. My mom called me over from a park bench that we had laid our belongings on and we both kneeled in the shallow water and let the rays swim around us. The rest of my family soon joined us and we all pet the soft yet somewhat slimy skin of the creatures that were as intrigued by us as we were by them. (Sadly for this event I did not have my GoPro nor phone to take pictures.) Three o’clock was rolling around by now (as was another fit of rain) and we caught the water taxi back to the mainland to prepare for family photos. Our photographer met us at the reception of our resort and we followed his vehicle with the two of ours to the golf course at the end of the road that Grand Isle was on. We spent a short time there, maybe fifteen minutes, as the photographer captured shots of the whole family, parts of the family, and even some photos of just my niece and nephew. Finally we returned to our villa once more and ate leftovers from past meals and rested.