As luck would be on our side, Brendle's Dive Boat was prepared to take 15 snorkelers and divers for a full day starting with the reef off Crab Cay followed by a seafood lunch on the beach.

Many of the folks on the trip were on the first dive. Ge and her Mom, Jim and Mary, great to be able to dive with them again. We met some new folks, Ray and Betsy flew in on their Ceesna 340 cabin class twin. Ed got to talk plane again. ✈️ Diane just flew in from Atlanta to meet Dave who has been on Snow Hawk and has based in Mantee Pocket. Great folks! Logan is a master diver at 21. She has a passion for conservation and preserving the oceans. Had an amazing day.

Brendle brought conch to feed the grouper that gathered under the boat. Clearly the grouper are primed for this activity and the reef shark just circled and watched. The grouper were very large and enjoyed the conch. The most fascinating part was after the feeding. They hung around and turned their side to you to be stroked like a pet! Seriously, one of the large Nassau grouper swam up to me and positioned itself nose up tail down for an under belly pet. They are so soft and silky. What a treat. I found an arrow crab. So unusually, looked like a daddy long legs with its spindles legs but on on set were the tiny bright blue claws. There were more flamingo tongue and sponges, tarpon and lobster. we headed back to the boat, cracked out the rum punch and headed for our lunch spot for the rest of the day.

Upon arriving at the beach we were greeted by a group of stingray. Brendle and CJ were prepping the lunch and gave us scraps of fish. We sat in the water while the stingray swam over and took the fish scaps from us. I ran my hands over the wings....they are so soft to the touch. After a while quite a few more stingray, gathered and we're all over us working their way in to get fish scraps. Amazing creatures. I have not been so close to them before. So several questions come to mind. Did Ed touch the string ray? I do not need to answer that one since it is just too easy. Next question, the barb, was it safe to touch the stingray? Yes, it was safe, these guys are well known to the area and the barbs were not an issue.

Lunch was fantastic. I have no idea what Brendle's did with the fish but it was the best. He also made fish conch salad. My all time favorite. Ed loved it!

After a full day we were back to the boat and started to clean up and prep for our departure the next day. It is hard to do rip yourself from this island.

We had some cocktails and talked more with Logan later in the evening. She asked if I saw the fish laying on the bottom in certain places. I did remember and noted at the time it odd to see dead fish on the bottom. Well that is not the case. There are cleaning stations along the reef. No kidding. Fish head over, lie down and a variety of grooming activities take place. It's like a fish spa. Or going to the dental hygienist. There is the unwritten rule, you don't eat your dental hygienist. So if you ever encounter fish lying on the bottom, don't worry, just a little maintainable to keep them fresh and clean.

We met up with Dean and Theresa and Betsy and Ray joined a little later. Great food and company. It was sad to say goodnight.