Christmas Day in South Bimini

 All of the kids sleep upstairs in the loft and the adults get the

two bottom bedrooms with connecting bathrooms which is awesome and we get up in the morning to have our little Christmas celebration.  We had to stay up late to get the presents under the tree because Oscar fell down the stairs at one point trying to see if Santa had come already or not.  He makes it downstairs without incident and is disappointed to find out that there is only two presents from mom and dad and none from Santa.  He wants to know what he got from Santa more than anything because he

has asked for Frankie’s Magic Football.  He’s a little appeased when John shows him pictures of the things that we got him that are going to be waiting at home and we all change into bathing suits and go swimming.  Our pool is right above Shell Beach which is what makes it look like an infinity pool out into the ocean, but these shells are hard on the feet getting down to the ocean.  But the ocean is actually warmer than the pool, so we get pushed around by waves and find beautiful shells.  Ethan has his scuba gear and says that he sees a conch shell down below us

in the rocks.  I’m able to dive down and retrieve it and that’s the first of 15 conch shells that we bring up that morning.  We have so much fun looking for them and the great joy of seeing how beautiful they are when we bring them up.  Oscar even finds one on his own closer to the beach and is super excited. We pick the ones that we’re going to keep and throw the rest back in the water for others to have the pleasure of finding.  

   We have grilled cheese for lunch and tried to do the nature walk, but the mosquitos were too much and we decided to come back when we had spray.  We head down to the little residential part of the island and see the houses, the Sapona shipwreck and find out that the shark lab is closed for COVID.  The kids whine

about walking in the sun, which is beating down on us, but it’s better than walking through the snow at home I think.  Pizza for dinner that night from the Thirsty Turtle with a lot of strange texts from the guys who have to wait an hour and a half to get the pizza.  John had to down his glass of whiskey in order to enter the bar and is now so drunk that Dave has never seen him this way and wonders if he will have to carry him home.  The Thirsty Turtle becomes a touchstone for us because we get pizza there 3 different times.  Also, I get catcalled on my way to the market for more groceries and find that it can be pleasant when you don’t feel threatened by it, but more amused.  A lot of the businesses were open on Christmas day surprisingly, but they all only take cash and we are running out of that quickly.