5 Feb, Sat

Sat, 5 Feb. we all slept in today ... i think it was after 9am when i finally got up .... 5 hours of sleep ought to be enough to hold me until i can get a nap :) about noon it was so hot, we slowly walked towards the beach at the other end of town. we had to stop half way to get something to eat at the Bandu. i had a great tuna sandwich. we all needed food! afterwards we walked the rest of the way to the 'pay' beach, with toilets and fresh water showers! as we walked out to the beach we met Chico, the beautiful red Macaw. SHE was quite friendly and the owner came over and put her on our shoulders for some pictures. he showed me where to snorkel and i headed out. it was kind of depressing. there was a LOT of dead coral ... but some was beginning to regrow, like this one: and quite a few fish, but overall, it was sad. i did get a few good photos ... there was a HUGE school of Blue Tangs that went swimming by out in the deep. But the water out there was really chilly, so i hung out in the shallows where it was like bath water and saw some smaller fishes. this Trunkfish was a very cooperative subject. Butterfly fishes: you can see a mass of purple that is on the rock in the background. i can only speculate that this fish was defending his territory or eggs. he kept darting out at me, and then retreating back to the wall. also chasing other fishes away. will have to check out my theory with our authorities here. the rest of the group laid in the sand and took naps ... but i was not going to be a snack for the Sand Flies ... so i just hung out in the water and walked around until we were ready to leave. we walked back into town around 5:30 and had ice cream :) back home, changed clothes and walked down to my favorite place, Hotpot; with Chris and Nicole. we saw this guy on the steps. my apologies to those of you who don't like spiders :( had another dinner of fresh shrimps. delicious and not too much, just right. it felt really good to get into bed early! Never did get my nap.