Our snorkeling excursion was scheduled for 8.30 this morning so we were up and organised and at the dock ready to go in plenty of time.
Eventually another two couples turned up and Hassan, the dive guide ticked us all off on his clipboard. One person seemed to be missing, which did not please Hassan in the least as they like everyone to be ready to leave on the boat trips exactly on time.
Everyone piled onto the boat and off we went, as a lone figure wandered down the jetty looking forlornly towards the departing vessel. Unlike the Marines, we don’t mind leaving men behind!!
Even though the sea was still pretty rough and the wind was blowing at the resort, we were assured that we were going somewhere that would be calm enough for an hour long snorkel.
We motored out through the deep channel near the fisheries depot and set off around the end of the island, where eventually, as promised, the sea got calmer and Hassan jumped overboard to check which way the current was going so that we could go with it as a group.
Current determined, (there actually wasn’t one!) we all piled off the boat and began a leisurely snorkel along the edge of the deep blue drop off.
It was much more pleasant than it had been snorkeling off the end of the resort walkway since we weren’t getting buffeted by sets of waves pouring over the reef, however, the marine life and coral was very limited. The bleaching was very bad and most of the coral had been pounded into sand by the storms that sweep through the channel, but it was a nice swim none the less.
We ambled along for just over an hour and I managed to see just one turtle and two little sharks. There wasn’t much to photograph although the others seemed to be content with taking photos and videos of the broken bits of coral. Each to his own I guess.
Just the fact that we weren’t getting slammed by the waves made it quite enjoyable although I was ready to get back on the boat after an hour since I had started to get a little chilled without out my 3mm wetsuit.
After a light lunch, since we had missed breakfast, we amused ourselves for a little while, trying to spot the fruit bats feeding in the trees behind our hut, while Ross tried to get photos of them flying away.
2025-02-06