Snorkeling in Leinster Bay
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Tue 4 Dec 2007 18:41
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18:21.901N 64:43.377W
Still in Leinster Bay...
We are on a mooring in about 25 feet of water and
can almost see the bottom. The color of the water is the same turquoise
that looks so fake in all the pictures, and the nearby beach is white
sand. There is a small island nearby, Waterlemon Cay, which is surrounded
by coral and is a good snorkeling area. Now, about snorkeling.
Don, of course, has snorkeled quite a bit in the past and is quite
comfortable with it. He is also a certified scuba diver and has no problem
with diving either. Not so for me. I am used to Sodus Bay, Lake
Ontario and the St. Lawrence River where the water is nice and cold and
murky. I always knew there were fish down there when swimming in
those waters, but I never had to see the fish - let alone get near enough to
touch one (that I know of anyway). Not so here in
the Caribbean. I realize a big part of the attraction of
the crystal clear water is that all of us tourists can view the wildlife
below the surface, but does everyone really want to see
what's down there?
Don finds this phobia of mine ridiculous and has
taken it upon himself to cure me of it. So, the other day he got out his
snorkeling gear and the brand new gear he bought for me when we were in Buffalo
in October. We got into the water beside the boat and he instructed me on
how to properly put on the fins and mask and breathe. Then we floated a
bit on the surface beside the boat looking down and we saw a couple
of fish quite a ways below us. Ok, 'I can deal with this' I
thought as Don announced that my first 5 minute snorkeling lesson was
over. The next day we took the dinghy to shore and put on the
snorkeling gear there and ventured out from shore. Whoa, whole different
story here. First of all, the water is really shallow, so if you see a
fish that means it is really close. Ugh. Second, who knew so many
fish were down there in such shallow water? That means all the times
I have gone swimming off a tropical beach I have been that close to lots of
fish. Ugh. We paddled our way to deeper water with a
rocky bottom. Lots more stuff to see here. Oh good. As we
paddled on top of the water, I kept one hand on Don at all times, figuring he
could pick me up out of the water if a really big scary fish got too
close. I'm not sure Don had this same plan, but it was working for
me. As we paddled along, with me clinging to Don, two sting rays suddenly
came into view below us. AAAHHH! Remember when the Australian
crocodile guy was killed by one of these? Ok, so these were only about a
foot in diameter and paid absolutely no attention to us floating eight feet
above them - but I still felt the need to climb as far up Don's back as I
could to get away from the killer sting rays. As you can imagine, Don
did not necessarily appreciate my fear or my attempt to drown him.
He shrugged me off of his back, gave me a dirty look and kept paddling away
from shore viewing the bottom as he went. He ignored my desperate
attempts to get his attention so we could turn around and head back to
shore. I finally gave up, caught up to Don and assumed my
previous position, one hand on him, as we continued to paddle around and look
down. We did make it back to shore that day and we did see one more sting
ray and a bunch of fish that I can't name as well as some brain coral. The
whole snorkeling episode probably only lasted 15 minutes, but it seemed a
lot longer. So ended lesson number two. Lesson number three may take
place today (Sunday). I haven't decided if I'm looking forward to it
or not, but it's Don's birthday so if we do go, I won't try to drown
him this time.
Anne |