Day four - oooooh, Barracuda
Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:24 pm
Today was set aside for an all day snorkel trip with Captain John from Island Roots. Left Coral Bay dock at 8:30. First stop - Flanagan Island. As I'm putting on my fins, I say "I sure would like to see a barracuda today. Not even 30 seconds after my face hits the water BAM there he is right in front of me - SCORE! Some interesting coral after this, and some fish, then we decided to be brave and take the passage between the island and the big rock. A little scary with currents and big rocks and coral, but we ran into a huge sea turtle, so it was totally worth it. After some more exploring, back to the boat to head for Waterlemon Cay. Swam in from the mooring ball in perfect weather and calm seas. So many fish here, and the coral here looks really healthy. Saw a large ray that let me hang with him for a good long while. Spent some time up on the beach admiring the washed up coral and shells and enjoying the tide pool, then back in the water for more exploring. I seriously could have spent hours there, but eventually I started getting really hungry, so we headed back to the boat. Cruised over to Newfound Bay to eat lunch on the boat. Had a little rain there, but not too bad. Newfound showed us another Ray, a wreck (airplane?) and some great coral and fish. Saw a turtle while eating lunch, but couldn't find him in the water. Found a lobster hiding out under a rock. Funniest thing here was this school of whitish-pinkish fish (have to look up what they are) that decided I was their best friend. They seriously never left my side, like 20 of them all surrounding me. They were super cute, but had a habit of always being right in front of my camera for all the good shots, which was a little annoying. From here we were headed to the Ramshead area, but heavy rains forced us out to Flanagan to wait it out. Headed back in and decided to cruise around the East End till the rain stopped. Spotted Angels Rest at Vies, so we headed over for cocktails. Pete mixed us up some rum punch and we chilled there for awhile. Left there for an area I don't know the name of, just past Lameshur. It was rocky and very full of canyons, not so much my thing, so we didn't spend much time there. Did see an octopus, but he was way down there, so didn't get a very good look at him. Last stop for the day was Hurricane Hole. I didn't think I wanted to go there, mangroves are a little claustrophobic to me, but Captain John talked us into it. So glad he did. I discovered that you can stay pretty clear of mangroves there and still see a lot. Saw lots of fish here, lots of conch and starfish, some young coral that looks very healthy and just as we were finishing up - a nurse shark! About 5-6 feet long, just resting on the bottom. By now it was after 4, so we were ready to be done. Chilled on the boat and chatted with Captain John about island life for awhile, then back to Coral Bay. A great day today, although I was not as diligent about reapplying the sunscreen as I should have been, so the backs of my legs are little toasty! Something about an overcast day just makes it too easy to forget about that. Too sleepy to go out tonight, just hanging out here and eating chicken sandwiches 