We dropped by the dive shop yesterday morning to thumb through their full-color Reef and Coral of Roatan book. There is so much to learn and we want to know a little bit about who we are swimming with down there. It is driving me crazy trying to research reef life via slow internet and the book’s underwater pics were a lot clearer. We went snorkeling off the beach here at Fantasy Island for much of the afternoon. Close to shore, there were schools of little minnows to swim through and it was fun to watch them shift direction as they encountered three large masses swimming their way. There were lots of algae-covered conch on the bottom and I think we even spotted a couple of fat sea cucumbers. I had noticed a picture of one called “donkey-turd sea cucumber” in the guide book. Aah, the beauty of the sea! We saw a couple of smallish barracuda. It seems you can really study the barracuda since they will hang around, quite intimidated by swimmers. In fact, the one I was watching turned to face me for a bit and I wondered if he was sizing me up. We saw lots of light blue fish with a bright yellow strip running midsection the length of their bodies and a weirdly-shaped blackish/brown spotted fish that had long whiskers. Lily has started a snorkeling log to record the dates of her snorkeling trips, where she snorkeled and what she saw.
Lily fish chasin’ and treasure huntin’
We watched these awhile so we could see them ease their mantle out and make their way around, inches at a time.
We had pizza and wings at Herby’s Sports Bar for dinner. It was exactly what you’d expect from a proper sports bar – 20 tvs tuned to different sporting events and cute waitresses in tight-fitting black and white striped shirts (Sorry Jake, camera wasn’t with me). Herby’s is on the fourth floor of a local resort so the view of French Harbor was awesome. It was a windy, overcast evening and the water looked rough enough to give us that “nice to be on land right now” feeling.
Randall taking a break from boat projects. I am sure that is what is on his mind, though.
Cruise ship headed to sea.
Beautiful, can not wait.