GREAT AFTERNOON & EVENING :)
it was still raining and gloomy when i woke up this morning .... this is very 'un-Roatan-like' weather !!!!!!!!!! .....we were supposed to leave at 9am; but i got a message from Katie saying that due to the weather, we had cancelled 'for the moment' .... so i waited to hear ..... nothing .... :(
the sun came out, .... i got a message, Katie said that John had decided to go to a Yoga Class and we'd decided later what we were going to do ... so i waited .... nothing ... it turned out to be a really pretty sunny day .... still nothing ..... i walked into West End and bought some fruit ... it was hot! ...still nothing ....
i walked to Katie's and ran into John who said we're deciding at noon ... at noon, we decided to go, ... so i came home and packed a small bag for overnight, and walked back to Katie's ..... but unfortunately, the Jeep had been rented to someone else ... :(
i try to remember that i am on an island and that everyone else is on 'island time' ... but by now i feel like i've wasted a half day of 'vacation' (since i asked for the day off from RMP) ... i needed to DO something ...... so i said i was going snorkeling ....
then Katie had another plan ... more friends of hers are arriving tomorrow and she arranged for a place for them to rent at Sandy Bay, and she offered to go to the store and 'stock' the kitchen for them before they arrived. so, could take a taxi to SunDancers in Sandy Bay, .... John and i could stay there and snorkel, while Katie went to the store ... good plan ! ...returned home, unpacked my 'overnight' bag and repacked my 'snorkel' bag :)
SunDancers is a group of 'cottages' in the 'jungle' with access to the Sea and a long dock. they rented a 4 bedroom cottage that was very nice, with AC, for $900/month ... pretty reasonable ...
John and i headed for the water to do some snorkeling ... yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh .... this place is further North from the other place in Sandy Bay where Katie and i snorkeled last week ... but is still pretty isolated, with not very many people there .... and the reef was pretty .... with lots of small coral heads among lots of pretty white sandy patches ...
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| John over Coral Heads |
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| SpotFin Butterfly Fish over Coral Garden |
it is mating season for Lobster and Conch .... i do believe these two were mating ....
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| Queen Conch .... mating ? |
there were a couple pretty Cushion Sea Stars that were impressive in their bright color ...
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| Cushion Sea Star |
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| Cushion Sea Star |
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| SpotFin Butterfly Fish - 2 |
this was the largest Spotted TrunkFish that i've seen yet ...
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| Spotted TrunkFish - large |
after while, John went in ... and i promised to follow ... but ... i kept running into fishes that i just couldn't leave ...
this Porcupine Fish was hiding under this coral head .... i really like them and wanted to wait to see if it would come out from hiding ...
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| Porcupine Fish hiding from me |
while i was waiting for my shy Porcupine Fish, i found this beautiful Black Grouper ... i love the colorful fishes, but these guys are very attractive with just their distinctive black, brown, and white markings...
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| Black Grouper - beautifully marked |
the Porcupine Fish finally came out and swam around for awhile ...
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| Porcupine Fish |
they have HUGE eyes that watch you closely ...
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| Porcupine Fish over Star Coral |
..... and such cute little faces and smiles ...
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| Porcupine Fish - smiling |
and then swam back to the 'safety' of the coral ....
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| Porcupine Fish .... 'don't hurt me' |
one more ...
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| Porcupine Fish - so cute ! |
while i was watching him, i saw this tiny Spotted TrunkFish .... not the smallest one i've ever seen, but so much smaller than the large one we saw earlier ...
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| Baby Spotted TrunkFish |
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| Spotted TrunkFish - Juvenile |
over the same coral head, i spotted this Scrawled FileFish ... that was blending in with it's surroundings ....
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| Scrawled FileFish - blending in |
as it headed over the sand and grass, it turned it's 'normal' blue-ish color ...
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| Scrawled FileFish |
but when it swam into this branching Coral, it turned yellow golden to blend in ...
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| Scrawled FileFish |
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| Scrawled FileFish |
while i was out there, i heard a helicopter ... it was landing right next door at Lawson's Rock Resort .... that was pretty impressive .... i wish i was rich ... they could have delivered pizza to us :)
i thought i should head in ....
i saw this concrete block with some Conch shells in front of it ... i approached it too fast, and saw the Octopus slide back into the block, not to be seen again :( ... i mentioned that they eat Conch, and often leave the Conch shells outside of their 'den' .... so here you have it ... :)
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| Octopus Den |
on my way in i saw this Sea Anemone ... attached to a blade of grass ... i've never see one attached to grass before ....usually they are on coral ...
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| Sea Anemone |
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| Tidal Spray Crab |
when i finished snorkeling, Katie still wasn't there, .... so John and i went to the Blue Parrot, the restaurant that is right out front of SunDancers, and had dinner; and Katie joined us there ... since Katie's friends aren't arriving until tomorrow, we decided to spend the night there ... even though i had nothing that i needed ... since i unpacked my 'overnight' bag: no toothbrush, contact lens solution, pjs, ... :(
Katie has a projector that hooks up to her laptop and lots of movies ... after dinner we watched American Hustle .... an entertaining movie, but i need to watch it a couple more times to understand exactly what happened .... :(
then we went out and sat on the dock over the water and enjoyed the evening and the almost-full moon and stars .... a great afternoon and evening to a rather frustrating morning :)
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