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 ...

23 Mar, Fri

Fri, 23 Mar ..... Christie and i left for West Bay for our Glass Bottom Boat trip with 5th and 6th graders from yesterday .... several of the little girls came up and gave me a big hug ... ;) ...and one of the little boys remembered my name !!!!! .... impressive ! ... we saw another turtle on the trip ... that was good for the kids to see. then to Anthony's Key Resort, for their Dolphin Show with 1st graders .... they really enjoyed it. when we got back to West End Christie wanted to know if i wanted to go to Rudy's for a smoothie :) ...this time i had pineapple coconut and it was obvious it was all fresh fruit ...yummmmmm got ready to snorkel and decided to swim out to the Blue Channel. Marti and i went out there a couple of times last year .... you have to swim about 10min to get out to the reef .... when i got to the shallows i saw this Magnificent FeatherDuster .... you can really see the paperlike tube that he lives in ... there is a large channel out there that cuts through the reef ...and guess what? ...it looks 'blue' ....hence the name :) ...i love the feeling i get when i'm snorkeling over the reef and come up to the edge of the 'wall' ... you know that 'flip' you get in your stomach when you look over the edge of a tall building or side of mountain and it's straight down ... but when you are snorkeling, ....you can just 'jump off' ... and 'fly' over it ... like Superman ...it's so cool :) ...but i can't seem to get a photo that shows what i mean ... a lot of the larger fish hang out on the wall close to the deep blue ... i saw several Groupers, but they are down pretty deep, and by the time i free dive down there, they are usually gone. but i did get a chance to take some photos of two Scrawled FileFish .... i LOVE these fish .... they have such an unusual shape, and are usually not in a big hurry to go anywhere this one swam right up to me, i thought it was going to run into me ... i got a this picture of the Yellowtail DamselFish ... they are so quick, i was happy to get this one almost in focus ... i saw this dead Sea Biscuit upside down on the sand and placed it right side up on this rock .... then out of the corner of my eye a saw my FIRST Queen TriggerFish of the year! ... but it quickly swam behind this coral and away ....:( ...you can only see it's back half in this photo ... then i realized why ... 2 guys were flayling their arms and legs around ... and then one was STANDING on the coral while they talking! ...they were adults! ... the one guy swam away, but i told the other guy that his friend was standing on the coral; he sheepishly said 'i know' .... i gave him a quick 'lecture' ... grrrrrrrrrr .... ok, now i know everyone has heard a 'big fish' story .... but OMG ... i saw the HUGEST lobster i've EVER seen ! ....and he obviously wasn't afraid of anything .... he was walking right out in the open ... during the day you always see them hiding under coral. ...he stood so tall on giant 8" legs ... he walked right in front of me and then climbed up this coral head .... like he was on a mission ... i quickly went around to see if i could see him coming out the other side ... sure enough ... like he had his marching orders .... i took some video, that i'll add to my collection ... i was actually intimidated by him ... and kept backing up as i was filming ... they can't hurt you since they don't have claws like the Maine Lobsters ... but i respected him :) ...look at his eyes ! WoW ... i've never seen a Feather Duster this bright red color ... then i decided to head in ... i'd been out there 1.5 hrs ... then i spotted this coral head with lots of activity going on inside .... through a hole in the coral i saw the body of this Spotted Moray Eel ... but it would NOT come out of his hiding place ...... but he did finally show his face ... then i noticed this Reticulate Moray Eel, that kept teasing me .... they only get to be about 18inches and when they open their mouths and that makes them look like they want to bite you, ...but this is really the only way that they can breathe ... .so it's not an aggressive jesture ... but i'm sure there are people you couldn't convince of that fact ... :) after another 1/2 hr trying to get photos, i finally i started swimming for shore .... 10min later i spotted this Southern StingRay about 10 yds from shore ! ...he was small, but it was the first one i've seen since i left Belize ... to The SunDowner with Ron and Patricia

22 Mar, Thurs

Thurs, 22 Mar ... i met Christie at the RMP at 8:30 and we drove about 20min to Coxen Hole to the Jonesville Private School ... it costs about US$50/mo to send a child to school there. they were 5th and 6 graders who were very happy to see her .... they were nice to me too :) then we drove to West Bay. while we were waiting for the boat to get back and the kids to arrive, Christie saw a local boy walking around selling shells, etc .... she went over to him ... the 'etc' were 2 SEAHORSES ... dead and dried of course. she took them from him, because it is illegal to have. she showed me that one of them was pregnant, ... you could see by it's full tummy ... now i was really sad :( when the kids arrived and came over to the table, there was some discussion about how sad it was that they had been killed ... one of the boys spoke up right away and said ... and the one is pregnant. i was impressed that he knew that. we made our way to the boat and down to the 'glass bottom' ... ok, so i always thought it was glass 'bottom' ... it's actually glass side windows ... but it's pretty cool ....i think it's a great way for people to be exposed to the underwater world ... and hopefully make them aware of it's importance ... it just made me want to get in the water !!!!!! ....we did see a small turtle swimming and a Flounder swim right up on top of piece of coral and change colors to match.... we got back around noon and i immediately got myself ready to snorkel ... since it was already 1;30pm, i just went in Half Moon Bay again ... Todd had said that he had seen lots of things under the dock where the Submarine is. ... there is a small Submarine here that you can go in that will take you down to 2,000 feet ... yes .... 2,000 feet .... not for me !!! ....so i decided to see what i could see, .... glad i did ... i immediately saw these 3 Reef Squid ... who were perfectly happy to have me photograph them for as long as i wanted ... i snorkeled for 1hr and 45min , and they were still there when i left. ok .... so i took about 50 pictures of them .... it's hard to decide which ones to show you :( it was such a fun day of seeing new things .... i LOVE seeing new things .... inside the dock supports is a great place for sea creatures to live ... lots of lobsters of course and anemones ... and now that i know what a Sea Pearl, ... Sailor-Fisherman's Eyeball is ... i'm seeing them everywhere ... here 3 of them are together on the post .. kind of 'mossy', but you can still see their 'marble-like' coloring ... on the same post as the lobster, was this Banded Coral Shrimp ... i have never 'spotted' one of these by myself before; someone has always pointed them out to me .... but today i spent a lot of time looking at everything in a small area ... and it paid off ... notice, he does have little transparent legs out front of it ... also on the same post was this tiny juvenile Queen AngelFish was stunning ..... while the French and Gray AngelFish juveniles are black with yellow stripes and very different from the adults ..... this little guy is almost an exact duplicate of the adult ... only so tiny ... about 2in in size .... he was 'electric' ... Christie said she had never seen one before ... yeah me ! ... you can also see another Banded Coral Crab beneath the AngelFish .. this Christmas Tree Worm found his home on this a different post ... and this creature .... a Rough File Clam .... i had to look up in the books ... who names these things ????????? ....i could be a lot more creative with the names ! .... so strange and scary ... this Magnificant FeatherDuster Worm was flowing with the waves . i've never seen this crab before either ... although out of focus .... i was still able to identify it as a Nimble Spray Crab .... not sure how the name relates to the crab ... maybe because his legs are all 'sprayed' out ....check out the yellow spots on his legs ... then i moved out from under the dock, back out to the grass to check on my Reef Squid ... yep ... still there ... then i saw this Sharp Nose Eel moving through the grass ... in search of something to eat ... i was taking a video of it, when it flew into the air, in an attempt to eat a tiny red fish, that happily swam to safety ... you'll have to wait until i get all my video together and put it on YouTube .... someday :) yes, this was a great day under the dock !!!!!!! before i quit, i swam out to the deeper water and saw this poor TrumpetFish ... in about the same location as the one i saw yesterday .... someone took a bite out of it's tail .... :( ...remember how i commented on the tail the other day .... :( it was so still i thought perhaps it was dead .... but when i moved closer it swam away .... but ... poor baby !!!!!! on my way back to shore, this fish was lazily weaving itself in between the blades of grass, unconcerned about my presence ... but yet hidden enough that i couldn't really tell what it was ... after looking in the books and checking with Christie, she decided it was a Graysby ... never seen one before ! ... when i got out of the water, i saw Todd. he had not seen any Reef Squid, so i told him where i found them; and off he went. home, cleaned up, and back to The SunDowner to meet Ron and Patricia .... i stopped at the 'taco' place on the street for dinner .... damn good taco's .... 3 for 100L... (5USD) ... double the price of Utila ... but the 'sticker price shock' is beginning to wear off ...