15 Mar--Kayaking & Bandu Soup

Thurs, 15 Mar ... i woke up to pouring rain ... damn! ..the last time it rained, i had my Diving Course ... did i mention i don't like it to 'rain on my parade' ? ...i laid there for a little while, then decided to get up and get everything ready in case it stopped raining. at 7am it had stopped, but it was still cloudy. i walked next door to where we were meeting, and no one was there ... i walked around a bit, then i went back to my room and laid down .. a few minutes later, Greg knocked on my door .. .apologizing for being late .... it was clearing up by then, so we decided to go on our kayak trip. last night a drug plane crashed on the Utila runway, and no planes could take off until they got it cleaned up; so Heather joined us since her flights were cancelled ... Jeff never showed up, ... we left about 8am. we had to kayak in the bay awhile get to beach, ... then we carried our kayaks across the beach to the lagoon rather than kayaking all the way around to the lagoon entrance, which would have taken us another 1/2 hr or so because it was pretty rough out there in the bay. we crossed the lagoon and found the entrance to the channel which took us through the mangroves to the other side of the island. it is about an 1.5 hr trip to the other side; through some really narrow passages through the mangroves ... with the mangrove roots on both sides of us, making it difficult to paddle. ...someone should invent a retractable paddle ... it was a nice slow trip and we finally made it to Rock Harbor .... we walked on the beach for a bit, then headed out to the rock island, beached our kayaks this island was volcanic rock with coral imbedded into to ... interesting geology lesson here ... we snorkeled around for awhile .... saw this very strange iridescent marble-balloon looking thing ... Greg called it a Sea Pearl ... it is also called a Fisherman's Eye and a Sailor's Eyeball ... this is actually a plant, an algae, ... and it's claim to fame is that it is the largest of the bubble algae, but it is also thought to be one of the largest single-celled organisms in both the Animal and Plant Kingdoms. .... pretty cool! .... it wasn't completely round, but had a pointed end, like a hot air balloon .... it just floated near the sandy bottom ,,, how strange i had never seen the 'foot' of the Flamingo Tongue, that attached to the Fan Coral there were 3 lobsters hiding under this coral .... this is another Christmas Tree Worm ... but notice the coral that it is on ... it's a Star Coral, and you can see all the little 'stars', which are open when they are feeding .... you don't normally notice these from a distance ... i've been studying the different types of coral ... something that i usually ignore because i am focused on looking at the fishes ... but the corals are living animals as well, and are a very important part of the reef. this is a Brain Coral ... but there are many different kinds of Brain Coral as well ... and are identified by their particular patterns of the individual ridges, but you really have to look closely to identify them. they also have different growth habits or shapes ... this one is unusual also saw this Bearded FireWorm ... the little 'hairs' on it can imbed in your skin and be very painful .... i haven't seen one of these since i was at Glovers 2 yrs ago ... then back to the beach ... Greg and Heather ... and headed back through the mangroves ... saw this bird, which i thought was a Great Blue Heron ... but it had yellow legs, and i've never noticed yellow legs on a Great Blue before .... i checked with my 'bird expert' Alex, and he reminded me that everything gets more colorful when the males are showing off .... :) Greg had to work at 2pm, and we made it just in time. when i got back to work there was a note that 2 guys wanted to go on a Whale Shark boat tomorrow. i had another couple that was interested a few days ago; and another guy that had stopped in. so, IF those 2 guys want to go, ... and IF i can find the other 3 people, ... and IF they all still want to go, ... we could have a boat tomorrow! ... IF the weather cooperates; and according to 'windfinder.com' it should be a good calm afternoon. that would be great because it would be good for Ashley and Kelly to actually experience at least one trip before they have to do it themselves, by themselves. ...but that's a lot of 'IFs' .... the 'kids' at the Dive Shop have been busy making a lot of plans lately! ... and tonight is Bandu Soup night .... that's a local soup that is made with lots of coconut milk, green bananas, plantains, yucca, carrots, onions, cabbage, shrimp .... Seth, our boat Captain was the chef ... adding all of the ingredients in just the right order at the right time ... the fish was put in towards the end ... that was a King Fish ... Bread Fruit was also added on the top ... which went in last then the secret spices ... then he personally dished out each bowl, making sure that everyone got some of everything ... it was Awesome ! ....this is Kelly and i enjoying our portions ... a new guy was there that was starting his Dive Master training, ... he made this 'grasshopper' out of a palm leaf .... fun night with great people !