Sunday, November 18, 2007

Turtle Cove...southeast?














Terri and I decided to go back to Tinian Beach to snorkel. We had seen another road branch off the one we had previously followed, and decided to explore.

We found another, very small beach further northwest from Tinian Beach, which was surrounded by high cliffs--about 30'-40'high. After parking our scooter, we walked around a little, trying to find a way down to this new beach. We discovered a small path that led through the dense underbrush...why not? So Terri went first (brave adventurer she is) and discovered that there were actually stone steps leading down to the beach! Taking a small stick in hand to 'clear a path' from the numerous spider's webs that had taken over the path, Terri blazed a trail down to the little beach. After taking a moment to take-in the beautiful sights, and to attempt to take a picture of the both of us on the beach (hide your eyes!), we donned our snorkels and headed out to sea.

Once again we found the water very shallow, as the rocks and coral created a shelf that went out into the ocean quite a ways.

By the way, I need to make a correction to my previous entry...I had said that there were volcanic rock--that is incorrect (a visitor to our site corrected me, and after investigating the matter, found he was right!). According to one Tinian guide, Tinian is a 'raised coral island...formed by layers of limestone plateaus'. I had assumed it was volcanic, as we have an active volcano just north of us, and other islands such as Hawaii were formed via underwater volcanos. But these islands are coral creations! Who knew?

Anyway, this small beach is right next to Turtle Cove: a protected area where sea turtles come to lay their eggs. It is well know for the many sea turtles sighted in the area. So Terri and I decided to snorkel/swim around the point to see some more turtles...It is always farther than it looks! The waves here are a little bigger, so we had to keep away from the shoreline to prevent us from being dashed against the rocks, but that was okay, since by going out further, we found the 'drop-off point' of the coral shelf. Once again we followed this outer edge--the floor of the ocean going from 3'-4' deep to 20'-30'deep--and slowly worked our way towards the southeast point of Turtle Cove.

We had originally intended to actually go into the cove (although the area is protected, it is okay to dive here, one just has to refrain from bothering the turtles). However, after about 30 minutes of swiming, we had just barely made it so that we could look around the point and into the cove. We decided that we should start back, so we would have time to do some sunbathing.

On the way back, following the cliff line, Terri spotted another turtle. By the time she got my attention, it had dissappeared. There were plenty of beautiful fish, a large variety of coral formations, etc., to keep one's interest for quite a while. As we turned and swam to shore, we discovered that we were tired (usually we don't get tired snorkeling, but we actually had to swim and fight the current a little today).

After climbing back up the cliffs, we followed the small road along the coastline of Turtle Cove. I had to get off the scooter again, as our combined weight was just too much for our little scooter, and Terri took off exploring the road ahead. We had previously walked the road, but quit as it seemed to go nowhere. Now that Terri had a scooter, she wanted to see where the road would go. It did in fact dead-end into a little field, but there was not a 'Turtle watching point' as the maps had said.

Once back on the paved road, we both climbed on the scooter and headed back to town, ready to spend the rest of our weekend lazing around (and perhaps watching a couple of football games I had taped...).

This week is Thanksgiving. We had decided to spend it with the members of our church congregation on Tinian (all four of us!). We will be going to Dynasty Casino for their special Thanksgiving dinner--turkey and pumpkin pie and all the rest!

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