A daunting task to follow Kevin's blog posts, but I will give it a go. (I think I am picking up some Australianisms. Though 'give it a go' is used in the US, it is much more common here.) I've summed up the day to myself by saying 'It was a little disappointing but I'm glad I did it.' You see I've never really snorkeled before. After a couple not very good attempts in the waves off the beach in Belize, we took the canoes out onto the reef. But when it was my turn to snorkel, a wind suddenly blew up and we had to leave. I was in the water maybe 3-5 mins, with Kevin saying "We better get going!" So I wanted to take advantage of being on a reef again.
The main disappointment was the lack of enough time. Contrary to the hostess' response when I questioned the time issue on the way out, it was very rushed. I made the mistake of not skipping lunch as Amy suggested, worried that I would be starved. As it turned out they had crackers and cheese and fresh fruit for us when we returned before sailing, which would have been plenty for lunch. The problem was in the design of the trip. It did not leave until 10am - not early enough. Then the boat has to 'park' off the island so everyone has to be ferried back and forth to the beach in smaller boats. And lunch is served on the boat so we had to wait for rides to the main boat and then back to the island - very time consuming. Luckily it was a good buffet with cooked prawns and cold meat and salads. On most days all cold food would have been welcome, but with our cloudy skies and cooler temps, we were hoping for something to warm us.
When we did get back in the water, it so happened that the tide was now so low, much of the reef was 'off limits' - not enough water to float over the coral. Even in the morning Amy and I were both disturbed by the number of people not being very careful and hitting the coral with their feet, and now it was worse. That was another complaint - too many people, which probably contributed to the murkiness of the water. (The other factor perhaps being the wind that day.) I think I heard that there were about 120 on our boat, and there was another tour there as well. On an island about the size of our property. It did have a cute little lighthouse on it.
So with all those complaints, I still really liked seeing all the differently shaped coral, a few brightly colored. We were also lucky, thanks to Amy's sharp eyes, to see a sea turtle. There were not a lot of fish around - no surprise with the number of people - but they were still fun to see.
The boat trip itself was kind of fun, too. The vessel was a huge catamaran with two sails. It also used a motor but it was nice sitting on deck and seeing that huge sail above us. There were three areas to sit: one completely inside, another outside but under cover, and the third out on deck. You were apt to get wet on deck, as the sea was pretty choppy. Which meant that a few people were miserably seasick. They sold medication for motion sickness and were handing out free ginger tablets. I opted for the ginger and had to make sure I kept my focus on the horizon quite a bit of the time.
There was some fun people watching on board. The highlight was an older man, maybe seventy, who was obviously a sun lover and obviously did not have a self-conscious bone in his body. He and his wife, with thinning hair dyed Goth-red, were both stout and I'm pretty sure German. He wore what looked like plaid jockey underwear (Amy said they were Speedo's) - and that's it. On the entire hour long trip back, while other passengers wrapped jackets around themselves, he stood on the front deck with feet firmly planted apart, arms straight and somewhat out from his sides, grin on his inclined face, soaking up the sun. Except when his wife came to stand by him. Then his smile turned slightly frisky as he looked at her, giving her a quick peck on the lips.
I was also interested in the four girls seated next to me on the deck. They ranged in age from about 9-10 to 16-17 years old, and were all leaning their heads back on the rail, eyes closed, soaking sun. They hardly spoke a word the whole way. What was interesting was how much alike they looked, with age being the only difference. It was like seeing 3-D in the flesh photos of the same (did I mention 'gorgeous') girl every two years. I checked out their parents as we deboarded, thinking their mom would be their template, but that was not the case. Neither parent was particularly attractive...
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| ... however, this couple was. |
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