Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Today we had no plans, other than a loose suggestion that we should hit Daaibooi (Die-boy) Beach. The weather forecast was not promising, but US weather apps outside of the US are very hit or miss. Mostly miss.
So we took the weather forecast with a grain of salt and a dose of optimism. We woke up around 6:45 and the out-the-window weather outlook was not good. Dark clouds, no sun. We proceeded to get ready, have coffees and breakfast, with a healthy dose of optimism.
It rained briefly while we were getting ready, but we packed anyway for a day at the beach. At 9 am, it had stopped raining, and we decided to summon a cab. Johnny picked us up be 9:25, and he drove us the ~30 minutes to Daaibooi Beach.
While we were en route, he asked us why we wanted to go to that particular beach. Feeling a bit unnerved, we explained that someone from the dive shop recommended it. Johnny said he thought it was an excellent choice, just unusual for tourists because its more of a local’s beach. Great!
Johnny dropped us off before 10 am, and offered to arrange to pick us back up. We should have just gone ahead and locked ourself in for a ride home, but not knowing the weather, we didn’t.
The weather was fine. It was a mix of clouds and sun with two very brief rain showers, both which occured when I was snorkeling. We took turns snorkeling, and staying on the beach with our backpacks. We paid for loungers (10 Caribbean Guilders, or roughly $5).
I swam with a turtle, and I had high hopes for spotting an octopus here, but did not come across one. I did see a pretty big barracuda, and loads of parrotfish. The biggest parrotfish I think I’ve ever seen. I also saw a few juvenile French Angelfish who were pretty cool.
We had our packed sandwiches for lunch, and after snorkeling again, I went up to the snack bar to order a drink. The menu was all in English, but it was harder than necessary to order a drink. I think I was the only English speaker in the whole bunch.
Nathan and I are so used to traveling in Spanish speaking nations, that ordering food and drinks is not usually a problem. Dutch however is a different story. Asking for a drink with rum in it did nothing for me. Neither did asking for a Cuba libre. I switched to asking for a rum and coke, and then a glimmer of hope as the guy seemed to know rum and coca cola. We eventually worked it all out, and I walked away with my drink.
We took turns snorkeling and sitting on the beach reading and minding our gear. At around 4 pm, I attempted to summon the cab using the app, but we’re a little remote and the 4G service is not doing us any favors. Next, we try calling Johnny, our cabbie from the morning, and he doesn’t answer. Nathan started chatting with a Dutch girl, and her boyfriend agrees to take us a few minutes down the road to their hotel where we can get better cell service. While we were in the car with them, Johnny called back and met us at the Dutch couple’s hotel entrance gate to take us back to our hotel.
Once we were back to our hotel, we unpacked our gear and got ready for dinner.
