We stripped down to our swimsuits and began the first leg of a Caribbean Triathlon, swimming a mile, walking a mile, climbing to the top of a pile of huge volcanic rocks, and then back again by the same route. The first leg involved snorkeling out to the reef, and then following it underwater until we reached One Shoe Beach over by Hurricane Hole. The water was very warm in places because of the calm weather, and it was also very cloudy sometimes, which made it somewhat spooky to swim in. Out by the reef, however, it mostly cleared up so that we could see fishes and coral pretty clearly. There weren't a lot of fish swimming around that day (apparently they were cooling off someplace too) but we did see another curious little Barracuda in deep water just this side of the breakers.

Upon arriving at One Shoe Beach, we changed out of our flippers and donned aqua shoes for the hike back over to that little cave we had found a few days ago. Calling it a beach is a bit of a stretch. There's no sand on One Shoe Beach, just a long expanse of broken, sun-bleached coral, ranging in size from baseballs to basketballs with an occasional large volcanic rock thrown in there. It was VERY difficult to walk on the stuff because it's all loose and each step threatens to roll out from under you. We hadn't brought a shirt or cover-up with us, so by the time we had trekked all the way around to the larger boulders near the cave, our suntans had gotten a huge boost by the glaring sun.

The boulders provided some shade, however, since they were largely behind the hill on that end of South Sound. Most of them were quite large, the size of cars or even houses. We crawled around on them for over an hour, discovering amazing tidal pools, blowholes, and caves. Kathy kept wanting to see what was around the next corner, so we continued to climb and clamber over the rocks, discovering an enormous cave filled with gin-clear water. At one point, I looked down and discovered we had gradually climbed up to where I was standing on a six-inch wide ledge about fifty feet above the water. Since heights make me nervous the same way large stingrays make Kathy nervous, I decided it was time to turn around and head home.

On the walk back down One Shoe Beach, Kathy blew out her flip-flop, as Jimmy Buffett would say, and stepped on a piece of dried cactus, shoving a needle through her aqua shoe and into the sole of her foot. Turns out, that coral is pretty rough on shoes. She was a trooper though; finishing the hike with a torn shoe and then changing back into her flippers for the long swim back home. Despite our environmental concerns, we decided it would be okay to leave the ripped shoe on that particular beach. And yes, it was her left shoe.

By then, it had been nearly four hours since we had initially jumped into the ocean. Our legs were tired from the swimming, walking, and climbing, and we still had at least a half-mile swim ahead of us. We took off straight across the sound, heading directly for the unmistakable pink landmark and kicking our little hearts out. About halfway across, we stopped to tread water for a while because our thighs were burning. Kathy revealed she had brought some cold water and a snack (peanut butter crackers) and had left them on the rocks below the house. We stayed there in the middle of the sound with only our heads sticking above the water and stared longingly at the distant snack, stomachs growling so loud that I'm sure the fish mistook us for mating whales (don't go there!). Finally, we found the energy to continue the swim, and we made it back to familiar waters. The reef at the tip of Mattie Point is still the most interesting place to snorkel in the whole South Sound. Despite being tired, thirsty, and hungry, we lingered there and admired the underwater spectacle for a long time. By the time we did haul ourselves back up on the rocks, those peanut butter crackers were the best things we'd tasted in weeks. We sat on the rocks with our feet dangling in the sea, drank water and ate crackers until the hot sun was safely on the other side of the island, then climbed one more hill. Sleeping was easier that night, despite the strange noises and lack of breeze.