After breakfast we headed for our spot beside the pool and got settled into doing very little. A short time later a couple of the guys from the entertainment team came around and convinced us to participate in the archery activity at 11.00. It was in the same place as yesterday's shooting and proceeded along very similar lines. There were only 4 of us participating and we took turns in taking 3 shots at the target until we had each taken 12 shots. Ann and I were about equal in our levels of non-skill, but the guy who got the top score was a little 82 year old man from south Wales. His skill was quite remarkable!
After a snack around lunchtime I tool a nap while Ann stayed at the pool. There was another shooting activity at 15.30 today, so I went to join in, hoping to improve on my performance from yesterday. I did improve, but still only finished in 3rd place. It was a good bit of light-hearted fun nevertheless.
We took a walk along the beach again and were brave enough to go in the water because it was so calm. We chose an area where there were no rocks, unlike yesterday! All along the beach we saw lots of what we thought was seaweed that had washed up. Apparently there are vast areas (meadows) around here where this type of underwater flowering plant, known as Neptune Grass or Mediterranean sea grass, grows in abundance. The "leaves" are probably about 10 - 15mm wide (0.4 - 0.6") and I guess anything up to 30 or 40cm long (12 - 16"). Green in colour while it is alive, but turns a black colour when the leaves die and get washed up. Also very interesting is the abundance of what looks like Kiwi Fruit, but are balls of fibrous material from its rhizomes, known as "Neptune balls". Fibres of detritus from dead leaves and stems get rolled into compact balls by the wave action get washed up on the beach with the dead leaves. These meadows of Neptune Grass are vitally important for the marine ecosystem, processing waste materials, filtering the water, and absorbing up to 4 times as much Carbon Dioxide as tropical rain forests. So we learned something new as well.
Supper in the main restaurant was excellent, as we have come to expect, and we are now relaxing before bed.
Enjoy the photos.
Ann doing archery
Me doing archery.
Note the "action shot" as I release the arrow but it has not cleared the bow yet!
Neptune balls
The fibrous inside of a Neptune ball
Green leaf of Neptune Grass
Neptune Grass in the shallow water and washed up on the beach
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