Caryn took us to the other side of the island for a tour of the resort. What an amazing place. Manually built from the sea, cartloads of sand were dumped among the mangrove roots to build the land upon which the resort was built. There are a dozen cabana-like rooms and a central structure that doubles as dining room and bar. There's room for a badminton court and space to walk around and explore. The resort boasts of a dive master and tour guides, so if it's diving, manatee watching, or snorkeling on the reef you're after, they can accommodate your plans.

But, you should know, this resort isn't like the big fancy ones in the states. The cabanas are small one-room affairs with a bed, a couple of chairs and a bathroom. They are built over the sea on stilts to take advantage of the sea breeze, as there isn't any air conditioning. However, if you want to get away from it all, this is the place to do it. It'd be a great place to sit back, relax, and read a good book.

It is clear that it is a constant effort to keep the resort going. Daily they have to fight the wind and sea to keep the island together. And, during the off-season, they don't get enough guests to justify keeping the place open. It's a struggle of heroic proportions.

At about 9:15 we went out on the boat. We had an eventful day spotting several manatees. Spotting manatees isn't easy. Essentially, you're looking for a black tennis ball sized nose to appear on the water, usually more than 100 feet away. We hear the manatee's breath more often than seeing their noses. Only Landy and Caryn seem to have any real skill at seeing the manatees in the water from a distance. Occasionally, however, we'll see the paddle rise up out of the water as the manatee does a deep dive.

We went through the routine of data collection-sea state, salinity, etc. and counting sea grass. Sometimes, this is quite fun-when there's 6 to 8 feet of water-other times, it's not fun at all. It's very hard to maintain your buoyancy and count sea grass in 3 feet or less. At one stop, we saw a mother-calf pair. They would surface and breathe together, breaking the surface within a few seconds of each other. Caryn tried again to get some video, but was unsuccessful. After spending 8 hours on the water, we called it a day at about 5:00.

We had dinner of chicken and rice and potatoes (rice and potatoes for Louise and me). We passed the evening with games and stories. I found that Clifton loves to play chess. Someone from Team 7 taught him how the pieces move and they made a chess board out of bottle caps, shells, and a piece of plywood. We played a game that ended up with a victory for Clifton.

About 9:00 p.m. I head for bed. The bunkhouse is quiet and dark except my flashlight and Jack's reading light in the bunk above me.