Oh, hello Nemo.

Sleepy and cold, I literally rolled out of bed this morning with swimsuit in hand. Under the fearless guidance of Jayna, a shivering crew followed her to the shore ready for snorkeling… at 6 am.

One word that could describe it initially… cold. We all proceeded deeper and deeper until the water actually felt kinda warm. The currents were a little strong, quite akin to a watery treadmill. Once we cleared the reef, passing rainbows of fish, we reached the deep water. Almost immediately everyone’s arm was outstretched, pointing at the array of sea life: turtles, manta rays, cowtail rays, white-tipped reef sharks (about 2 ft a piece) and a tawny nurse shark (6-8 ft long!).  The manta rays were absolutely spectacular; we found them out by the buoys. There were two of the typical grey ones and one black one which, according to Jayna, are very rare. 

Nurse shark

Black and regular manta rays- huge. The anchor should give you a good size estimate

Cowtail ray

Gorgeous fish!

Breakfast was similar to how dinner was set up: LOTS of food… and very good. Of course, after we had breakfast the first thought was... SNORKELING! I went out into the ocean yet again with Jayna and Anthony to hunt down the mantas. During the snorkel we hunted down cuttlefish which looked like miniature squid swimming in packs. Of course, distracted as I am, less than a minute later I was completely distracted by mantas! Again, probably the same two greys and the black, but gorgeous all the same. Going from the lighthouse entry point to the coral garden exit, we saw fish of all colors, Nemo included. I nabbed as many photos as possible- many of them blurry beyond recognition. We also happened upon a barracuda. Coming closer to shore, we ran into a green sea turtle feeding by the surface. He swam right in front of me and I gave him a friendly shell scratch while he passed me by. Fascinated by the little guy I was completely taken aback by the enormous loggerhead turtle that swam by. He was at least 4 feet long, definitely bigger in mass than me. The guy could probably put a small pony to shame.

Herd of cuttlefish

Oh, hello parrotfish! And damselfish.

Big eye trevally?

BRIGHT yellow

Green sea turtle

Real life or finding nemo?

Parrotfish in the lead

GIANT loggerhead

Butterfly fish

More awesomeness

BRIGHT blue!!

Heading back we saw more parrotfish which were about the size of my forearm and an arrangement of other colorful fishies. Just stunning!

Since we were pressed for time, we hustled back across the airstrip and made it back just in time for our scuba lesson. The pool was absolutely icy but swimming underwater was just as they had described it- like flying!

So before then I just killed some time and attempted to sit on the beach but for fear of being blown away by the gusts of wind, I opted to sit on the porch instead. Such a trade off.

Not a bad view, eh?

My lunch company

Come 2:30pm it was time for the scuba dive… which meant I had to STRUGGLE to get into the wetsuit. Rough, rough stuff. I’m sure the scuba guides get a real kick out of seeing Americans hopping around slurring all kinds of colorful language in attempt to get a wet wetsuit on. Once properly adorned in our curvaceous attire, we finally hit the beach. Well, sorta. We hopped on a lovely boat, each weighing about 50 lbs more with the gear and weight belts. Finally, once we reached our jump off spot, we all plopped into the water and began our descent. I had to pop my ears literally every foot to keep myself equalized underwater.

The view was a lot like snorkeling, but so much bigger. Going deeper in the water allowed me to see the fish up-close and personal as well as see the largest sea cucumber EVER. That sucker must have been at least a meter long. I also saw a lot of grouper, each of them enormous.  I also saw a white-tipped reef shark as well as a green eel that was probably a meter long as well.

Cruising through the coral I saw every Nemo cast member, along with another Nemo and family. We saw a green sea turtle and another loggerhead, this one smaller than the one before but no less intimidating considering he was within arm’s reach. The array of fish that surrounded us were just astonishing, every color of the rainbow was represented on some sort of living creature, and some sported colors that I’d never even thought a living creature would have. After about an hour of exploring the alien landscape, we were ushered back towards the boat, one by one. For whatever reason, the drive instructor kept me under alone… for additional 10 or so minutes where he pointed out another eel as well as a VERY large shark. It was a grey something or another and a good bit away from us (a very safe buffer). While we awaited the ascent to the surface I was surrounded by a large school of very large fish… I’m pretty sure they were big eye trevally. It was rather nice, getting a one on one silent tour from an experienced guide. Coming out of the water was painful, way too cold! I shivered nonstop from the time I was on the boat until I got into the shower. And still cold.

More lectures followed as well as another spectacular dinner with lemon meringue pie for dessert. Fabulous.

Exhausted and barely able to keep my eyes open, Bob and I set out towards the beach to set up transects while a few students watched the Little Mermaid (Finding Nemo could not be located). So punny.

During the next few hours we worked on catching ghost crabs which was a lot less diving than I expected but nonetheless interesting. Each were scurrying frantically when the light spotted them but weren’t too horribly feisty… minus the one that pinched me pretty hard in an effort to be freed.

Luckily Bridget and Ansley managed to spot a silver moray eel along the shore and behind him were two procreating epaulette sharks each about a foot plus some in length. The next 30 minutes or so was spent watching the pair in a jaw-entangled death roll. Forget ghost crabs.

Love is in the air

Shortly after all the excitement going to bed was top priority… 6 am snorkel coming up!