Rocquaine Bay

After weeks and weeks of grey the Sun finally burst through the clouds this afternoon; so we made the most of it and took the Bumble B'eers for a stroll on Rocquaine Bay.

You can just see the Imperial Hotel in the distance. I understand that it has recently been refurbished and judging by the amount of people in the restaurant the food must be tasty too.


I never get tired of peering into rock pools. Rock Pooling is quite a big childhood past time here in Guernsey and many of the Beach Kiosk sell 'Rock Pooling Nets', which are lightweight with large brightly coloured nets on the end of a very long, usually bamboo, handle; so you can capture that uncooperative crab which is just out of reach! I had never heard of it before moving here. I have seen a few rock pools on Queensland beaches but most of the beaches at home are long stretches of sugary white sand with few rocks. Our kids love to see what they can find.

On this particular outing Mr Bee found a stray oyster washed up on shore but was too worried about food poisoning to eat it. This of course meant a challenge to the Bumble B'eers to see who could find the biggest and the most. We managed to find four oysters about half the size of your hand. Their shells were sealed tightly and were probably just a few shellfish making a bid for freedom from one of the local oyster farms in the area but they all were put back in their watery home; unlike the find fellows from one of my favourite poems:

'But four young Oysters hurried up,

All eager for the treat:

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,

Their shoes were clean and neat--

And this was odd, because, you know,

They hadn't any feet'

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

(excerpts from 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' by Lewis Carroll 1872)

You can see Fort Grey - the Shipwreck Museum, in the distance. The sky was such a glorious shade of blue and the Sun such a welcome sight that it scarcely mattered that it was only 6.5*C.

These amazing daredevils showed up just as we were ending our walk. The launched themselves from the top of the rock wall (and hoped for the best!). The pilots were suspended in a sort of seat with a leg covering. Not my idea of fun but they were fabulous to watch and made for a lovely end to the afternoon.