Hola Amigos,
Feliz Nuevo Año
I hope 2010 is going to be wonderful for all of us
I'm sat here multi tasking, writing this to let you know what I'm up to whilst cooking toast on the stove, kind of like camping, this is what its like in our little wooden cabin on stilts by the sea. Of course, it does have comforts like a double bed and a tv and adequate bathroom, but the kitchen is very basic, almost with a camping stove, and very little room or utensils to prepare food, but it does remind me of being in the caravan in Wales especially when its windy & rains at night and the whole places shakes a little and the sound reverberates around our little home.
Age and I had the most incredible New Years Eve Day, Ever! We set out on the ocean wave on a speed boat with 8 others including he captain for a days snorkeling with the promise of seeing, wait for it.... Sharks and Sting Rays, Turtles, wonderful coral and an array of multicoloured, multi sized fish, and that is Exactly what we saw.
I surprised myself as I never, EVER thought that id want to be actually in the water, actually right next to a shark, even with a metal cage around me, but somehow, along this trip of mine, I changed my mind. I learned to dive, I conquered the deep and also my fear of the dark world under the sea and at some point in amongst all of that, I thought, do you know what, if I'm lucky enough to see a shark and lots of other extraordinary creatures I should well come it.
I was SO SO Excited! Age said it was the most excited he had seen me the whole trip! I couldn't take the silly grin off my face and just couldn't wait to be in the water. Our 1st stop was an unplanned one, we stopped just by a small fishing boat that was cleaning its catch of the morning, a mixture of Conch & Red Snapper, and the guts etc were being thrown over board thus attracting tons of attention from Sting rays, Turtles, A Manta Ray, and a mixture of fish, all feasting on what was to them, a scrumptious breakfast. Oh my goodness, I had only seen these creatures before at Blackpool Sea Life Centre and Sea World in Florida, Never all together, right in front of me, within touching distance, and the fact that were now able to just jump into the water and swim with them was SO BRILLIANT!!
On went the snorkels and the fins, we slipped into the water, as quietly as possible but probably still with a bit of a splash, and glided nearer to the fisherman's boat to get as close to these wonderful creatures as we could. This had to be some of THE BEST 20min of my trip and maybe even of the last few years, I'm gushing, but I can´t quite describe to you how incredible & unbelievable this was. About 10-15 Stings Rays, 1 huge Spotted Eagle Ray, 2 beautiful Turtles and 10s and 10s of smaller fish, Snapper, Glass Eye Jacks, trumpet fish to name but a few completely surrounded us, they were swimming over and under us, nearly brushing against our skin, nearly bumping into us humans and gliding past each other, so graceful but hungry for guts. They wern´t scared or put off by all of us gawping at them and maybe trying to sneak a little touch of them (maybe that was just me and Age) It was really over whelming to be in amongst all of it, getting as close as I could to everything and taking so many pictures. We rented an under water camera and I'm so glad and lucky that I experienced this and that I could record it too and try & take lots of fantastic close up pictures so this memory will be really fresh forever. Ive never used an under water camera before, and I loved it! it was like, well it was I suppose it was, a whole new world to take photographs of and to explore. At some points I was about half of a foot from a turtles face looking into its eyes and even closer to the sting rays gliding all around us and on top of each other like pancakes. Bloomin fantastic!!
Back on the boat, beaming and elated, off to explore Coral Gardens and Shark and Ray Alley. The latter was the scary point, the boat next to ours was throwing meat or bloody fish into the water to attract the Nurse Sharks, we could see 3 of them circling and splashing around trying to feast on this easy free food. OH -MY- GOODNESS- was I actually going to get into the water next to this, writing this now, looking back its sending shivers down me and I'm nervous just recalling this moment, the moment of fear, sitting on the edge of the boat getting encouragement from the other snorkelers to jump in, but I have to say that I was the 3rd out of 10 to brave the water and jump on in, well done me. Well where we were, at this point, there was only 1 shark, about 5ft, because obviously the captain wouldn't anchor us right next to the feeding ones as no matter how placid these guys were, if you get in the middle of feeding time then I think its safe to say you may become the food! Still, easing our way in was good for the old heart, being 10ft away from a shark was fine for now, but something inside wanted more, more sharks,and wanted to be closer to them, what was wrong with me, what have I become!? We snorkeled for a while with the guide, who I might add, had a really long poky metal stick with him, probably just in case things turned nasty, so I stuck by his side like glue, just in case. Actually, he used the poky stick to show us Eal's and tap on things in the water, but I'm sticking to my story that it was a weapon and that he was just making use of it for other things scenes as he had it on him anyway.
A bit disappointing, we saw no more sharks on our swim through the coral, Age and I were thinking that it would literally be like swimming through an alley of sharks and Rays, but this wasn´t the case. It wasnt until we were back at the boats and 1 captain was feeding them, that we were able to get another close look. Eager to see as many as we could, we swam up close, at some points, on reflection, a little too close, especially when as I was trying to get a good picture of three of them thrashing around, one turned and looked straight at me, his beady eyes slyly eyeing me up, I could see his 2 fang like teeth poking out over his bottom jaw, eek, it was time to back away, slowly does it, back to safety. I managed to get a few pictures, but there were so many Glas Eyed Jack fish in the mix too that the pictures are a confusing mixture of these and the sharks, but still good anyway.
A brilliant, unique, refreshing, tiring day, home for a large Rum and Pineapple and out later for a bit of a dance to see the new year in, happy happy happy.
The sun is shining, which is refreshing as the last few days have been quite grey and stormy, not too bad though as it proved perfect weather for curling up on the sofa watching films and eating pop corn something which just has to be done over the Christmas holidays no matter where you are, without the guilt of not going to the beach because its raining.
So we are going Kayaking this morning! whoop, haven't done this since guides, a loooong looong time ago, and actually then it was just me in a canoe on a calm lake in the lake district, rather than 2 fat lumps (me and Age post lots of Christmas food) in a small plastic boat desperately trying to roe somewhere, against the strong tide I may add on a slightly choppy sea! Also there is the question of what to wear... its similar to being out on a boat, and with the water and the breeze its probably prime tanning weather, so the less straps the better but I also have to be prepared for falling in, as inevitably this will happen! wish us luck....
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