Farewell Saba . . .

First of all, I apologize for my blogging hiatus.  The last 2 months have flown by and its been a whirlwind!  Keith has officially passed the Basic Sciences portion of medical school (81 exams later).  I am so proud of him! The graduation ceremony was last night at the medical school followed by a dinner at Queen's Garden.  

 Keith walking into the classroom

Accepting his certificate

 At Queen's Garden Ocean Bar

Set-up for dinner

We've spent the last week enjoying the island, hiking, snorkeling, and sun tanning at The Cottage Club.  Here are some photos compiled over the last 2 years of some of our favorites . . . 

 Beautiful flowers

Photo credit: Lauren Ahier (above and below)

Beautiful views . . . 

(Photo credit above and below: Lauren Ahier)

 Sightseeing and hiking. . . 

The Tide pools

Steps up to Mt. Scenery

The creatures . . . 

 Saba Anole

(Photo credit: Lauren Ahier)

Iguana

Saba wouldn't be the same without goats

 Hermit crabs

(Photo credit: Lauren Ahier)

And last but not least, FRIENDS . . . 

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I'll miss you
Until we meet again!
~Author Unknown

Let the countdown begin!

73 days till Exit exam, 

78 days till we leave the island!  

The end is near . . . 

Keith finished his first set of block exams yesterday and just 2 more to go.  Can you tell we're looking forward to it?  

We had a relaxing 3 week break over Christmas and we had the chance to visit both coasts of the U.S.  There was a lot going on - engagements and babies!  My younger sister Carrie got engaged to Mike - congratulations!  The wedding is set for November and I can't wait.

Here's the happy couple on their boat . . . 

I also traveled up to Massachusetts for my friends' annual Christmas reunion which is always a good time of laughs and story telling.

Micah, Meg, me, Liz, Kristy, Laura and Ashley

 Here is the newest addition to the group - Hollis

On the west coast, Keith's sister Camille had a baby girl, Scarlett.  Here she is with grandpa.

On another note, Keith and I collected 3 underwater disposable cameras over the last year and have been waiting patiently to have them developed.  The quality isn't great, but we wanted to capture a little bit of Saba's world below the surface.  The top 3 photos were taken while snorkeling and the rest scuba diving.

See the shark? 

 Lobster

Moray Eel

got lobster?

Lauren, Alicia and I have been talking about cooking up some fresh local lobsters all semester.  Lobster is abundant in the Saba Bank and is an important contributor to Saba's economy.  Most of it gets shipped to St. Maarten right away, but sometimes you can buy directly from the fishermen.  

So we finally made plans and bought 4 lobsters (shared between 6 of us) from a friend of mine, Michele, a local fisherman.  We made the trek down to the harbor to meet him at his boat after the morning catch. 

 

We asked for his 4 smallest lobsters . . . 

 Hmm, not so small to me . . . 

4 lobsters piled high in the garbage bin to go into my trunk

Back at Lauren's place before the cookout begins (Alicia, me, Lauren.)  We'd been informed of various methods to kill and cook the lobsters . . . 

We tested out all the theories including stabbing through the brain . . . not sure how successful that was.  Watch those fingers Keith . . .

Boiling the lobsters for 10 minutes . . . took a few minutes for the lobsters to stop moving so someone had to hold the lid on.

Then grill for 10 minutes

 

Finally!  Now to cut through shell

The final product - soaked in butter and garlic!  Yum yum yum.

Another item off my Saba-to-do checklist!  Thanks Josh, Lauren, Jacob and Alicia.

Waking up to this . . .

I woke up to this beautiful sunrise this morning and wanted to share it!  We only have a few more days before the end of the semester and we go back home for Christmas.  Counting down the days . . . 

The Story of the Coconut Tree

Keith and I have been staring at the coconut tree in our backyard for the last few months.  Now that we're finally on break, Keith decided to do something about it.  Up he goes . . . 

 Success!

 Now for the hard part . . . opening the coconut.  Using a piece of scrap metal found in our yard, Keith de-husks the coconut.

 Rips enjoying the show

Now that the husk has been removed, its time to pierce the "mouth" of the coconut.  Luckily, Keith has done all this before in Samoa.  According to Samoan legend, the coconut was a gift to a beautiful princess from an eel who was in love with her.  The eel was murdered by the king to protect his daughter and transformed himself into a coconut tree.  Every time the princess drinks from the coconut, she is face to face with the eel for all of eternity.

 Keith enjoying the fruits of his labor

 Yummy

 Coconut, banana, and pineapple smoothie

Great way to start off the semester break!