Snorkeling at Low Tide
i found a Tide Chart on line and saw that Low Tide was at 9:02am ... i got ready to go snorkeling at Concha y Perla again, but at low tide today.
WoW ... Low Tide is really low ..... there are a LOT of rocks out there, that were ALL under water yesterday ... even the reef the farthest away ....
as a comparison, this is a photo i took when i got out of the water .... big difference, almost no rocks visible, and High Tide wasn't for another 3 hours ! .....
i was immediately impressed, surprised, and happy at how clear the water was ... like the Caribbean :)
there was no water passage way to get through the rocks .... so i crawled on the rocks, took my fins off, and crawled like a crab in my bare feet, across the sharp uneven rocks, dodging the Iguanas, to get to the water on the other side....
there were Marine Iguanas swimming EVERYWHERE ... it was like an interstate highway ... they were coming from deeper water to the rocks to soak up the sunshine ....
again, i mused at how excited i was to see my first swimming Marine Iguana .... today i had to pop my head out of the water often to make sure i didn't swim right into one of them ....... honest ... there were that many ...
i was swimming in about 12-18" of water ... so the fishes were really close ... and fast ... this is a very tiny (<1") Juvenile White Tailed DamselFish .... he is identified by that black spot at the end of his dorsel fin ....
what he lacks in size, he makes up for in color .... vibrant !!!!!!!! ....
i haven't seen one of these Sea Urchins before ... they are brown in color and larger than the Green Sea Urchins, also in the photo ....
this BalloonFish is hiding under this rock until the tide comes back in and there is more water for him to move around in ...
i swam along side a very large Marble Stingray for a long time .... and took some video ... i love the way their sides 'ruffle' so gracefully as the swim ....
later i saw it again (had the same scar), laying motionless on the bottom ... it had to be at least 5.5' ... the book says max of 6.5' ...
their eye sockets are scary, Darth Vader looking ...
as i was watching the Stingray, this guy zoomed by me ... they never want to play with me though :( ....
and another BalloonFish swimming along with a White Tailed DamselFish ....
i was happy and surprised to see these Christmas Tree Worms ........ i always see alot of them in Belize/Honduras, but these are the first ones i've seen here .... i had just guessed that the water was too cold for them here .... but maybe the water in this little cove is warm enough for them to survive ... :)
i was ready to come back in and was able to just barely slide/crawl through 8" of water over the rocks ... the tide had come in that much .... between 9:50 when i got in, and 12:30 when i got out ...
i was swimming around the little dock area, which i hadn't done before because the water is usually so stirred up that you can't see anything .... but ... today i saw something i didn't know existed ..... BLUE Christmas Tree Worms ! ...
i've seen them in golds, yellows, oranges, and reds ... but had no idea they also came in blues .. and purples ...
how cool is that ??????? ....i love seeing new things :) .....
i stopped at a restaurant and had a $5 Almuerzo (lunch) ... fish soup, a piece of fried chicken, rice, sauted plantains and a juice ... then home ...... it had turned a little cloudy
new friends here at Volcano got in to snorkel as i was getting out ... they saw 2 PENGUINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to see a penguin :( ... i'll be going back tomorrow!
i got on line and had to do some research ....
Tide Charts:
--the largest known tidal range in this area is 7.7' ....
--today we reached 7.3' ... Low Tide tonight will be .3' ... that is quite a range. to see it myself in the cove ... it's amazing it can be that drastic.
--i looked up Tides in Florida a few years ago, and remembered that they are the greatest at a Full Moon ..... today i read further and discovered that they are also the greatest at a New Moon .... which they call 'Spring Tide', which is today, 12 Mar !
--by comparison, later this month, the range will be 5' and 2' ....
so that's your lesson on Tides .... :)
now, on to Christmas Tree Worms:
--tree-shaped tube-dwelling worms with magnificent twin spirals of plumes used for feeding on plankton in the water and respiration
--the food particles are sorted, larger particles are discarded
--and the sand grains are directed to storage sacs to be used later for tube building
--though the plumes are visible, most of the worm is anchored in their burrows that they bore into live coral
--they come in many colors including orange, yellow, blue, and white
...do you think i have too much time on my hands? :)
it started raining around 5:30 ... so no sunset tonight
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