20 Mar, Thurs

SNORKEL PATROL AND WMU


Tony was supposed to go to West Bay today, but had to do other work, ... and the Patrol boat was being repaired, so i took a WaterTaxi by myself ...

the plan was to go for just a couple of hours, because i wanted to get back to watch WMU play Syracuse in the NCAA Championships ... yes, .... me .... leaving snorkeling to watch at basketball game on TV !!!!!!!!   ... ok, i was feeling nostalgic ...

i walked the beach for a bit, and talked to a lot of interested people ... then got in the water .... while you are on 'patrol'  :)  .... you don't pay too much attention to the fishes, since you are looking for people ... but i did take a couple photos ....

School of Blue Tang

Obviously a casualty of 'poaching'

2 SpotFin ButterFly Fish

Indigo Hamlet

i spent some time following this Gray AngelFish around .... it's not often they hang around and let you observe them for a long period of time...especially this close ...

Gray AngelFish

i've mentioned this before ... but sometimes you have to see a fish many many times, before you really see all of it ... i was amazed by the Bright Yellow color of it's pectoral fins ... they were beautiful !   ...and the blue on the nose ...

i have to admit, i do not know why they call this a SquirrelFish ... but in this photo, it's obvious to see why they call it 'LongSpined' ...

LongSpined SquirrelFish

it took awhile to get a WaterTaxi back to WestEnd ... they need to have at least 3 people, and there weren't too many people interested in going to WestEnd ... so i got to el Boske later than i had planned.   Walter was there, he recognized me, and changed the station on the TV .... it was almost halftime and WMU was losing badly  :(    ....i had high hopes because i heard that they were down by 17 in their last game and came back to win ... but, sadly, that wasn't going to be the case today  :(     ...there was no volume on the TV, so i didn't hear any commentary ... but you all probably know the story ...

it was Walter's lunch break and he asked if he could join me during halftime.    what a delightful guy ... from the mainland, 19, just out of high school, came to Roatan telling his parents he wanted to work and fund the trip himself, and is returning to go to college to study Marine Biology.   he is not Scuba certified and i want to ask the RMP if they have a program to help the locals.   ...truly a motivated nice handsome young man.

i had the Pork Sandwich today ... and the Coconut Flan ... both very good  :)

on my way home i passed the RMP and, yes, my Navy Guys were there, getting ready to snorkel again ... i asked them about their ship an they confirmed that they will all be split up and reassigned.

The Sundowner for a Monkey LaLa ... they are only US$4 at Happy Hour there ... i paid US$9 at Infinity Bay last weekend !

i ate dinner from one of the 'ladies-on-the-street' ... chicken kabobs, rice, slaw .... US$5 ... not bad ...