Day 16: snorkeling, sunburn, exhaustion, and no sea horses
Thursday March 17, 2016
I set my alarm for 8:00 AM. But, like a kid waiting to open presents I work up by myself ten minutes early. I was still pretty tired from the day before so I packed my bags, then went to breakfast. As always, it was very good.
I got dressed for snorkeling by 9:00, and decided I didn’t need sunscreen so early in the morning….in the tropics near the equator????
My goal was two fold: 1) To find the elusive Sea Horses; and 2) obtain a better picture of a turtle. I entered the water and immediately ran into the “colorful puffer fish” that I’m sure is not a puffer fish…..but it held its position and rotated to keep me in sight. Creepy little sucker.
I then found a school of shrimp fish who were cooperating with a white background. The morning light gave better results than noon or late afternoon, imho.
I took some “coral landscape pictures” and this one stood out before I converted it to web friendly. I have a couple of nice green-only landscapes that may make good photos. Regardless, it is so cool swimming above the coral. And, I’ll photoshop out the white “chicken legs” just to the right of center lol.
I made it out to the deepest part of the reef. The coral reef drops abruptly into a dark abyss….really deep water. The turtles come in from the deep sea early in the morning and in the afternoon. I was just swimming around when I glanced to my right. A giant (5+ feet) turtle was watching me from 20 feet away. It scared me half to death. I ended up taking more than 50 photos, with the later ones luckily having better lighting and really shows the coloration of the shell.
My photo card has many great shots of the shell, absent the head as the turtle continually moved away. We swam near one another for about five minutes. At one point it started coming towards me, approximately ten feet away. I did not want to find out first hand the strength of the jaws of this magnificent animal. (Again, it scared the hell out of me).
After our close encounter I think the turtle got bored with me. S/he headed deeper into the water towards a shelf near the bottom….similar to the spot of our first turtle sighting days ago.
I then went on the hunt for colorful fish, and unsuccessfully, for a sea horse. I lucked into a “weird” photo. A coral arrangement that looked like two hemispheres of a brain, surrounded by colorful yellow and black striped fish….but they were only on the edges, none on the top.
