The Deed is Done II

Grant’s Goodbye Note

Grant said he didn't want a retirement party, so he agreed that he would send out an email to say he was retiring, first to the bar so everyone could say goodbye, then to our new life. Beers were bought, lies were told, I shed a few tears.

RSMAS, the Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, has been his work place, but also where our children were welcome to come and visit. Any day was Bring Your Child To Work Day, and Grant often did. They would chat with professors and researchers, adults who were excited about their work and willing to discuss it with interested children, a perk of being homeschooled. Lunch on the patio overlooking Biscayne Bay, then playing in the sand. Tours of the sea slug facility. Aquaria with baby sail fish. All sorts of boats and instruments strewn about. A magical place for anyone curious about wind and water.

Perhaps some Friday evenings, we will ride our bikes back over Bear Cut and have another beer in the Wet Lab. Best bar in South Florida.

Rays

We were walking with friends Donna and Bob at Bill Bags State Park when I noticed a large (4' wide) brown ray, likely a sting ray, swimming along about 5 feet off the seawall. It was cruising faster than us, so we quickly lost sight of it.

It reminded me of when my first husband and I were living aboard our boat, the Lazy S, in the Bahamas in the early 1970's. For a while, we anchored at Little Harbor and enjoyed meeting the sculptor Randolph Johnson. He was creating large bronze statures at the forge he built.

One evening, as we motored back to the Lazy S, it seemed like the whole ocean floor began to move. It was the largest ray we had ever seen. Certainly bigger than our little dinghy. All we could hope was that our unreliable Seagull outboard would keep chugging a long (it often conked out at inopportune times) and that we would make it home without the ray coming up under us. Frightening and yet so wonderful.

A couple of years ago, we visited Paige and Trip in Hilo, Hawaii and drove over to the Kona side coast to have dinner at Rays on the Bays so we could see the big Manta rays at night. Unfortunately, the surf was too rough, so the restaurant didn't turn on its big flood lights. Next time. Perhaps we will do the night kayak tour too.