7 Mar, Mon.

Mon, 7 Mar. the group met me on 'my' beach at 7:30 this morning. we had our snorkel gear, and yes of course, our trash bags :) we headed down the beach picking up trash as we went. by the time we got to Luna Beach Resort, we had filled some bags and they let us put them in their trash. i've been wondering how the logistics of this were going to work. we continued, picking up trash for about 2 hrs, everyone was hot and tired and the bags were too heavy to continue carrying ... so we left them on the beach and will ask the Marine Park to stop and pick them up. when we arrived at West Bay, i was happy to see that there were no cruise ships in that day and the beach was WAY less crowded and rather pleasant. we continued way down to the snorkel end again and got in the water. it was another great day of snorkeling. i took 2 of the students out to the 'wall' again ... they loved it too. we saw more Blue Tangs today along the wall. there were a LOT of these Jelly Fish in the water today. they were about 5" long and 2" wide, ...they were easy to avoid ... thankfully. Coral. this was a VERY large Blue Parrotfish that i couldn't get close to. their squared off nose is characteristic. a Parrotfish ... but this one was showing unusual coloring ... i think it's beautiful. there is an entire sandy area that has lots and lots of large of Sea Cushion Stars. and also Sea Urchins .... i thought it was interesting how one of them has collected the skeleton of a tiny dead Sea Urchin. this is a Mutton Snapper. they have a spot on their back near the end of their dorsal fin. you can see the spot on the left side of the fish. they are big fish, about 18". this blue and yellow Wrasse kept attacking this poor tiny little Sharpnose Puffer Fish. poor him :( he as only about 1/2" long. a baracutta uncharacteristically hovering on the bottom ... they usually hang out nearer the surface of the water. an unusual view of a Needlefish near the surface. he looks huge, doesn't he? ...but was only about 15". we snorkeled around for an hour or so until we started to get cold and i got a weird cramp in the side of my ankle.... have not had that before. so i went ashore and took off my fins. about that time one of the girls yelled that there was a turtle ........ WoW ... my first turtle since i left Belize. i left my fins on shore and bolted with my camera. he was happy to let us all swim around him and enjoy his serenity. i don't know how he got that tattoo of a fish on his shell :) that was a great experience, as always ! we took a water taxi back, and they dropped me off at my place to change, and then i walked into town to meet them to do more 'clean-up'. they need to do so many hours of 'service' ... and they hadn't met their quota yet. i don't have such a quota ... at least not in my book i don't! so, when i learned that Heather and Grazzia were going to Flowers Bay to look at the place where we will be going tomorrow; i opted to go with them :) we met with Tony and Veronica who will guide us on our project. given the work (manual labor) that needed to be done, they were rather surprised when we told them the group consisted of 14 GIRLS and one boy. more on this project tomorrow. we got back to West End in time for me to walk home to the other end of the village, shower, change, and walk back to the other end of village to The Sundowner to meet Marti. had a drink there, met a few of her friends, and then we both went to Cannibal Cafe for great Mexican food. i think Marti will be a good friend to do things with. .... yeahhhhh ... a friend ! she is a Dive Master and has done a lot of travelling. she even lived on Caye Caulker ... back in the 'good ole days' ... (the 70's) .... and knows a few of the people that i know on Caye Caulker! ...and she also lived on St Johns for awhile.