Snorkeling Karma

I must have stored up a lot of good snorkeling karma in my lifetime, and I think I spent it all today.

Today was the best snorkeling experience I have ever had.

It was actually a terrible day for snorkeling. The water was murky and rough, so that the crystal clear visibility that I am used was reduced drastically. It must be a cruise ship day (cruise ships come into Roatan about 2 days a week completely populating the island with tourists who just drop money in their path) because there were many more boats cruising in and out of my little peaceful bay than usual. I have realized that although I may be scared of big fish, that fear is nothing compared to the fear of being hit by a boat while snorkeling. And finally, my magical trick of smearing Palmolive dish soap on my mask to prevent fogging only seemed to work on one side so I had to stop frequently to clear my mask. The foggy right side with the murky water seemed like a sure guarantee of a terrible snorkeling day.

The other resident (who is also a third year resident at a Childrens Hospital in California (Fresno) doing a rotation in Roatan, but who aside from all of that has very, very precious little in common with me) asked me to go out to West Bay to snorkel with her today. West Bay is gorgeous. It is about a 45 minute walk from our place (or a cheap 15 minute water taxi ride). The difference between Half Moon Bay (where I am in West End) and West Bay is like the difference of getting Italian food from the Olive Garden and from a high end Italian restaruant in Italy. Seriously. West Bay is that great. So why don't I go there every chance I get?!

For a number of reasons, but mainly that I didn't feel like spending a lot of time with this person who finds a way to complain about the increible free accomodation we have on a tropical island. Also, the beauty in West Bay is so in your face and obvious. Half Moon Bay feels like it needs to be explored - has ground yet to be uncovered. And finally Half Moon Bay is literally 10 steps away from our apartment.

So, with all of this background now in place, let me tell you about the snorkeling experience. I will warn you that the only thing that seems to do the experience justice is a string of profanities. It was amazing (insert your own profanities at will as adjectives). Within 3 minutes of my murky, foggy, boat dodging swim I saw a huge Permit Fish (see picture above). So huge that it had a little carrier fish sucking on its side. I have never seen a fish like that before (I actually thought it was a Sun Fish at first, but after a quick consultation with my friend Mr. Google, I realized I was wrong). I did my usual snorkel out to the dock to say hello to the barracuda that hangs out there (Senor Barracuda, to which I always politely request he not swim too quickly in my direction), then headed out to the sunken submarine (a failed project of some crazy American who had an obsession of submarines and decided to move out here and build them), then out to the buoy where the boats leave to the open water. (You can actually see the dock and if you squint & look far out in the middle of the photo you can see the buoy, too, in the photo under the post "The Relaxation".)

I will admit that I go to the dock and the buoy everytime in search of sea turtles. I have heard of people seeing them in these locations, but in my 2.5 weeks had not seen them. Seeing a sea turtle became a new obsession for me. I saw one on the surface of the water while I was fishing, but that's not the same. My sea turtle obsession is very similar to my moose obsession while exploring the North East of the U.S. I was so desperate to see a moose that I think I made Eric and I drive at least 100 miles out of our way. We never saw one. I thought the same would go for the sea turtles of Roatan.

I swam from the sunken submarine (which always has fun surprise fish playing Jack-In-the-Box inside and out) out to the buoy, around the back side and all the way over to the west side of the beach. I saw 2 other Permit Fish and a ton of other HUGE fish. I figured that murky, rough water must attract the large fish. I saw enormous versions of the fish that I see everyday (Parrot fish, some ugly brown ones that hang out at the bottom, angel fish, etc) as well as new huge schools of big fish, that I can only describe as looking like large tuna with a beautiful blue stripe down their sides.

On my way back I stopped by the buoy again to check for turtles and headed back to the submarine. I saw a burst of sand in the distance, and swam towards it. There, on the bottom, was a glorious bat ray. It showed me its peaceful way of gliding through the water and I paddled after it in complete awe.

After a while I headed back to the dock and there, stairing up at me as if he had been waiting for me to get there all day was a large, docile sea turtle (I assume his name to be Mr. Bojangles). Mr. Bojangles looked at me gasping at him from the surface, opened his mouth a couple of times and then gently swam off. I followed him, too for a while, straight to the site of another bat ray.

Incredible!! (Remeber to insert the profanities for emphasis of how amazing this all was). I could compose my own version of a Partridge in a Pear Tree, with the ending being 3 Permit Fish, 2 Batty Rays and a Bojangle Sea Turtle. The whole experience made me wish that I had made finding World Peace or a Million Dollars in Half Moon Bay, Roatan, my latest obsession. Who knows? Now maybe it will be.