From the moment I stepped off the plane and as I arrived at Cobalt Coast Resort, my expectations for this trip sky rocketed. The warmth, the music, and the service had a strong impact on my original perspective of the experience to come. I went swimming with my buddies, ate a great dinner, explored the coast, but most importantly, spent some time in the water.
On my first snorkel of the day with Dan, we swam out towards the “Cayman Sister,” and I was able to experience my first ever snorkel in foreign salt water. Along the way, I was able to view different species of fish and other marine life and determine which species the fish were based on their unique characteristics. There were plentiful amounts of sea urchins and juvenile and terminal blue headed wrasse, few starfish, and some coral. I saw four-eye and banded butterfly fish and I was able to identify the four-eye butterfly fish by the black dot near the back fin of the fish, appearing as another set of eyes, and the banded was distinguishable by its black and white zebra striped appearance. Also, we spotted a barracuda, easily identifiable due to its long, narrow body and sharp teeth, along with a numerous amount French Grunts which are yellow with silver stripes.
On my second snorkeling trip of the day, accompanied by Jack, we went a different direction than before, heading out to the east to maybe catch a glimpse of some more active marine life. We were able to see, once again, grunts, four-eye and banded butterflyfish, and a barracuda; however, this barracuda was far too close to me far comfort, and I was startled at the sight of a sharp tooth barracuda just feet from me as I turned around to check my surroundings. Also, unlike my first snorkel, I was able to spot a file fish, distinguishable by its trigger like appendage, similar to a trigger fish, a terminal princess parrot fish, which I identified through its light blue and white stripes that wrap around the fish’s face and through the eye, and two flounder, which I was unfamiliar with; however, I Google searched fish that had the characteristics that I viewed and determined the specific species of flounder, a peacock flounder, which is commonly found in the Cayman Islands and has a light skin tone and spots on its back, giving the fish the ability to camouflage itself with its environment. Also, I spotted a zebra moray eel in a small tide pool. I was unable to determine what species, so I researched eels using the few characteristics I was able to see and determined that the eel was more than likely a zebra moray. This day was full of new and foreign adventures and surprises and could not have been a better first day in the beautiful Cayman Islands.
