Today we took a break from diving. Instead, we decided to explore the marine life via snorkel. Me and my boat (Sea Monkeys) went turtle tagging for the morning. Our first snorkel sight was beautiful. Our boat dropped anchor in the middle of a huge beach. It was also near a resort. Me and Cole were partners. We started off searching near an area filled with coral. It was packed with small fish and was very shallow. Sadly we didn’t see any turtles there. Next we explored a large barren area. It was around 25 feet deep. There was very little plant life. However there were small groups of tarpin and other fish. I did see a big sting ray hovering along the sandy floor. It was at least 24 inches wide. I also saw a flounder that was trying to camouflage. After about 25 minutes, someone on the other side of the beach shouted “turtle”. Me and Cole raced over towards it. I swam perpendicular to it in order to cut it off. After a minute of swimming, I saw it. It was almost 2/3 my size. It appeared to move slowly and gracefully. But in reality it was incredibly fast. After 10 seconds of chasing it, the turtle started to slow down…and ascend to the surface. This was my chance. I jetted forward as fast as I could, eventually getting as close as 5 ft to it. Then it decided to reach for air, its mouth was only above water for a millisecond. And after that millisecond, it was gone. It sped forward so fast that I lost sight of it. I searched for a few more minutes but my endeavors were fruitless. After I returned to the boat and took off my gear, someone spotted another turtle. I was tempted to chase after it but decided not too. Once we arrived at the second snorkel sight, we tried a different method of turtle tagging.
The dive instructors attached long ropes to the back of the boat and had us hold onto them. While we would hold on to the ropes, the dive instructors would drive (pilot?, operate?) the boat forward and drag us behind them. It was fun at first, but I accidentally swallowed a lot of seawater. We only saw one sea turtle during that part of the ride, but it disappeared as soon as we let go of the rope to chase it. We had lunch (sandwiches) as soon as we returned to land.
After lunch we took the taxi truck (that’s what I’m calling it) to Mango Bay. Mango Bay is a seemingly secluded beach that’s surrounded by gigantic green hills and winding roads. We had an amazing view of the bay while we were driving to it. I reeeeeaaaaalllllllly wish I brought my phone and took a few pictures of it. The main reason I haven’t taken many photos during this trip is because there is a 900% my phone will get soaked and not continue to function. Anywho, once we got to the beach, we met up with a few of our dive instructors and we did some exploring. We searched the beach for about 1/2 hour for invertebrates (an animal without a spine). I found a few small jellyfish. Cole did show me two super small squid that were near the shore. After we finished exploring the beach, we returned back to our cabins and showered.
After we cooled off, we met up at the Commissary and worked on our project for an hour. After that hour, we watched a documentary called “Chasing Coral” (on Netflix). It was sad and kinda boring, but only because we had already discussed the majority of the issues in class. When it ended, we had an interesting discussion about the issues regarding coral bleaching. And now I’m just finishing my blog. After I finish this, I’m probably going to buy some bagels from the Commissary and go to sleep.
