24 Mar, Sat

Sat, 24 Mar ... it's the weekend !!! .... no 'work' today ... got my snorkel stuff together and headed for West Bay for the day ... to play 'tourist' ... it is SO PRETTY there ... a visual paradise ... except for all the people, cruise ship people ... but i manage to stay away from them while i'm in the water :) last year when i was here, there was a sandy area, maybe 15ft deep, surrounded by coral where there were many many colorful Sea Cushion StarFish .... i tried to find it this year ... i snorked around and around, and i'm sure i was in the same location; ... but not one Sea Cushion StarFish :( i did see this Black Grouper, ParrotFish, and these Blue Tang in the area ... i took another picture of a Magnificent FeatherDuster ... you probably know what these are by now :) but, while i was in that area, i did see a Flounder! ...i've been looking for a Flounder since i've been here ... and there it was ... moving along the bottom. ...i would never see them unless they are moving .... they are AMAZING and STRANGE fish! i spent a lot of time chasing this one as he floated (swam) from place to place, changing colors along the way ... can you spot him in the center of the photo ? .... how about now ? ... can you see him now ? ... nice coloring, huh? ... he was down pretty deep and was frustrating me ... he's just sit at the bottom for a while .... so, i dive down to take a photo of him ..... and he'd swim off ... so i follow, .... and dive down again, to take a video of him ... then he'd stop .... every time i tried to take a photo he'd swim, and when i'd try to take a video, he'd stop :( then i decided to go in for something to eat ... on the way in, this white image caught my eye .... what? ...another Flounder ... and one that wasn't very good as blending in with it's surroundings ... or maybe it was just the way the sun was shining on it .... then he started to swim a little, but we were in really shallow water, so i didn't have to dive down and i got some interesting pictures ... close up .... he stayed in one place for a long time and i was able to take several photos ... as a review ... a Flounder is born looking like a regular fish ..... with and eye on either side of it's body and a dorsal fin on the top .... very soon after birth ... one of it's eyes migrates over to the other side of it's body, ... and the dorsal fin, which you can clearly see sticking up in the photo, also migrates to what is now the top of the very flat fish ... while i was taking pictures another snorkeler came along, a young boy ... i showed him .... he said 'wow, did you even know that something like that even existed !!!?' ... i love showing people new things ! ...... those are his eyes ... they stick up like telescopes and are able to look all around ... and his turned-down sad face ... since i was playing 'tourist' i went to the Thirsty Turtle for lunch. i sat at the bar and had their 'special drink' ... Rum Punch 2 for 1, and Chicken Quesidillas .... visited with 2 girls from Boston ... then back in the water ... i started about where i left off and snorkeled for quite awhile without seeing much ... until i found my Turtle :) ... he was just sitting there ... content to let me take several pictures of him ... it was a rather small turtle, with a white patch on it's back .... then swam away .... surfacing for air, before disappearing ... i love turtles :) .... 5min later ... another turtle came swimming by ... he was larger ... this one had someplace to go and didn't stay around long ... that was 2 turtles ... right after i ate at the Thirsty Turtle Bar and Grill ... hummmm ... is there some significance there? ...how many more times can i go there :) it was time to go ...on the way in i saw a Tiger Grouper then i saw this school of Blue Tang swim by .... and a Rainbow ParrotFish swimming among them .... some fish are well known for their ability to 'blend' in with their surroundings, ... but there are lots of other fish who are able to change heir coloring to match their background .... look how blue he appears while swimming with the Blue Tang ... there is almost no red in his coloring and then ...compare the coloring here .... with lots of red and oranges ... so was he swimming with them to try to hide himself? .... or just happened to be with them ? ..... i don't know ... but i was happy he stayed around long enough to take some photos ... i stayed later than i probably should have, (surprise, surprise), found a Water Taxi, got back, cleaned up, and headed for The SunDowner to meet Ron and Patricia to celebrate her birthday. Philia also joined us. some of you may remember Philia, as the woman in the story from last year who rescued the poor little abused puppy at the World Vet Clinic. it was a skinny little Chihuahua-type dog that was almost dead .... you could just tell the story of this poor little puppy's life on his face .... it pretty much said, 'just let me die' ... but after Philia took her from her abusive 'mom', within 2 days, i could not believe the difference in this little puppy. it was such a happy ending. this year, i learned that little Chiquita, the Chihuahua's, turned out to be a 30 pound dog!!!!! anyway .... we went to a great little out of the way restaurant called Lily Pond, ... owned and run by 2 guys who have made it a really cool place and are continuing to remodel, ... it's also kind of a bed and breakfast place with rooms for rent. of course there was this great 'street' dog that the guys have taken in .... he has such a sad face .... Ron and Patricia said the dog doesn't know how to 'play' ... they are having to teach it .... he was so sweet ! it was a great evening ! ...yes it was ...