Today we have a well earned day off. I think everybody is suffering from a degree of burn out. It has been a very full on first week and a day of R&R is much needed. There are various options for trips. Caroline and I opt for a catamaran trip and snorkelling. There is a very helpful concierge at the hotel and he arranges the taxi and catamaran for us and accompanies us to the beach. We think the trip is exceedingly good value at $40 taxi and $20 boat for both of us. There may be a small mis-understanding with the boat….

We arrive at a beautiful Caribbean beach and walk along the sand to a watersports hut. We can see a large catamaran on the waters edge and are looking forward to a nice cruise. The watersports guy asks us if we would like to leave any belongings in his hut. We say we’ll take everything with us as we have sun cream etc. He looks at us strangely but makes no further comment. We head off in the direction of the cat but he walks straight into the water and then we understand. The 50’ catamaran we can see is not our transport. We are going out on a 15’ hobie cat!

That explains the very reasonable price. We have bags with us so cram all our belongings into them and rest them on the trampoline. Fortunately the sea is very calm so I do not think they will come to any harm. We set sail and it is glorious. The island is beautiful and lush from the sea.

It’s a 20 minute sail to the reef where we will swim. We are handed a mask and snorkel and told we do not need fins. More to the point he did not have any to give us! We plopped into the water and set off. There was not too much current and the visibility was good. The coral and sea life was limited but it was just lovely to be swimming in the ocean and having a chilled day.

My snorkel had a split in the mouthpiece and kept leaking. We stopped for a chat and I made an unfortunate remark. It went along the lines of “This snorkel is useless. I have to put my tongue over the crack to stop it leaking”. Caroline exploded with laughter and said between guffaws and snorts “Do you realise what you just said?” Well, we were helpless with laughter. Its quite difficult to laugh and stay afloat – we were in deep water and not taking in mouthfuls of salt water was a challenge. It was absolutely hilarious.

We hadn’t taken into account how tricky it would be to get back on board. Our skipper was helpful taking a hand and hauling us onto the trampoline. It was very inelegant and my boobs popped out in the process! More laughter…

Once ashore we found a nice beach bar, ordered beers and looked at the menu for lunch options. Most things in Cuba come deep fried and we were looking for a more healthy choice. We opt for ‘Tostones Rellenos con Jamon y Queso’ which translates as ‘Banana stuffed with ham and cheese’. We couldn’t believe that is what it was and thought it must be like a torpedo roll. This is what turned up…..

Surprise! It was indeed deep-fried rolled bananas making sort of vol au vent cases. Hats off for ingenuity. The problem was they had zero taste. Fortunately chives had been sprinkled over them and you had to make sure you had a little sprinkle on each mouthful. That literally was the only flavour there was. We did not eat much, but took the leftovers back to our hotel for a guess the food competition in the evening.

We were told the driver would meet us by the beach bar. We waited and waited. No sign of him. We decided he must be waiting where he had dropped us off, which was a few hundred yards back along the beach. We strolled back over the scorching sand and he was indeed there waiting for us. He had a lovely red and white classic saloon in immaculate condition.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting by the pool and drinking Cuba libres. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

In the evening we ate in the hotel restaurant and I have to say the food was absolutely delicious and beautifully presented. All went well until it came to paying the bill. It was a nightmare. Drinks we’d ordered at the table had to be taken off the bill and re-done by the bar as they have different till systems. Everybody had eaten different things and it was not a particularly cheap menu. We then had to work out what we all had and who owed what. The waitress was new and in tears as she could not reconcile the orders. It easily took an hour and we assured the waitress that we would make up any shortfall. We also gave her a huge tip. She hugged us and thanked us profusely.