We had a pretty active day today. Bill did two dives this morning and finished up his scuba certification. I took the boat out to snorkel while he was diving, then I came back and snorkeled on my own. That was a better experience. We are on a bay with resorts all around, but no one is paying attention to whether you are on your resort’s beach. There is a beach on the other side of the bay near some rocks with much better snorkeling options, so I crashed their beach and saw some really neat stuff. As long as I stay close to the rocks to avoid boat traffic, I can snorkel outside the designated swimming areas. I saw some starfish in various colors, a sea mollusk of some variety, some crabs, lots of different fish and coral. I’m pretty sure a lot of the fish glow in the dark. I wish I had my own flash light. I have to pay $35 to night snorkel. If I had my own flash light, I could go on my own whenever I wanted for free and stay longer. I’m buying one as soon as I get home.
The water was also full of these clear gelatinous things. I’ve seen them before but there were billions of them in the water today. I wasn’t sure they were alive because they don’t seem to have internal organs, but I looked them up and I think they are salps – jellyfish-like animal that filter feed. Some of the fish were particularly friendly today and swam in an school all around me like I was part of their group. I forgot to bring them a cookie.
This afternoon, we went on a catamaran cruise. We’ve taken out small ones on our own, but this was a big one for a large group of people. When we started, it was raining and dreary and I was concerned that it would be a long three hours, but it turned out to be really fun. We swam into a cave, which was okay. Bill and I made the fortunate decision to go back to the boat to take advantage of the slide before everyone else got back. Boat slides are a lot of fun! We got to slide several times before the rest of the group made it back. Most other people only got to go once. The water was deep enough to dive off the back of the boat and that was fun too.
The boat trip back to the hotel was lovely! The rain and clouds cleared, it was a beautiful evening to be on a boat and the water was so clear that we could see starfish on the ocean floor. It was really a perfect evening to be on a boat.
The resort where we are staying is an adults-only resort. I assumed that all of the resorts in the area were adults-only. There are guys walking up and down the beach constantly offering people weed. I discovered today that the beach right next to the nude beach is a “kid-friendly” beach. There is no barrier and only a small sign separating the two beaches. When I was coming back from snorkeling, there was an 11 year old girl playing in the water next to some naked old people. This is a weird place.
Traveling with Emily! 