25 Mar, Tues

TRAINING AND SNORKELING

the Island of Roatan has TWO Cruise Ship docks ... one at Coxen Hole and one at Mahogany Bay ... the Cruise Ship docks here and the people come off the ship into this large open air mall, with shops and eating places.    ...and hopefully they will spend their money on T-shirts to support the Roatan Marine Park   :)
one of the girls that i volunteered with 3 yrs ago is living here now with her husband.   they work at the Mahogany Bay Cruise Center.   they are going to be gone for a couple of weeks, so i am going to fill in for them a couple of times at the Cruise Center...
  
so today i went to the Mahogany Bay Cruise Center with Kyle for my training.   the Cruise ships were cancelled for the day, i think because of the Oil Spill in the Gulf; but he showed me how to open up the kiosk and we did training anyway.   
 ... one thing i do know, it will be hot here ... and i'd much rather do beach patrol  :(

after my 'training', back at West End, the water was nice and calm today in Half Moon Bay, so i went in for a 'short' snorkel ... ok, ...there is no such thing as a 'short' snorkel  :)    ... i started out under the Dock again.

i saw this small LionFish and heard Mark up on the dock who said he would come down and kill it ... it was a small one, .... i was shocked when he got it out of the water ... it was so TINY ... maybe just 2" ... all those poisonous spines made it look larger than it was ... and .... everything looks 25% larger underwater !

Baby LionFish

Banded Coral Shrimp  --- a little blurry :(

Queen Angelfish - Juvenile -- just 1" .... AWESOME !

there were THREE ScorpionFish under the dock today !
....so you see this one ? ...

Find the ScorpionFish

Scorpion Fish

Scorpion Fish - 'Hanging Out'

they really are interesting fish to look at ... so much 'stuff' on them ...i like to look at my close-up photos, because i really can't see that well under the water, with my mask on, and the fact that my mask does not have 'cheater lens' in them ... so i like to look at the detail in the photos   :)

ScorpionFish ... VERY close up

ScorpionFish with 'sad' face  :(

and this one, out in the open, that was not trying to 'hide' at all ....

ScorpionFish -- laying on a piece of docking that was under the water ...

i think this is an Atlantic Thorny Oyster ... he would open and close ...and it has lots of 'stuff' on it too !

Atlantic Thorny Oyster --  with scary 'teeth'

there was yellow inside it's  'mouth'  ...

Atlantic Thorny Oyster with Yellow Mouth

these Nimble Spray Crabs are extremely quick and difficult to photograph  :(

Nimble Spray Crab -- Eyes

the Ocotpus was back in his 'home' again today .....

Octopus

i went for a quick cruise out past the channel with Mark .... and saw these fish along the way ...

RedTail ParrotFish 

HogFish -- love his coloring

Nassau Grouper

Sand TileFish -- heading for the safety of his self-made home

Spotted TrunkFish

Spotted TrunkFish with Sunlight Rainbow  :)

when i got out of the water i was talking with a lady who mentioned that the Power was off ... it went off about 4pm ... hummmmmmmmmmm ... i hate the feeling of salt water drying on my skin, it makes me itch and i'm miserable.    so i quickly rinsed off with the fresh water shower at The SunDowner, just in case the power didn't come back on when i got home .. i didn't rinse my hair however ...
unfortunately, the power did not come back on and i was left with my hair feeling like straw ... but at least my body was somewhat 'fresh' ... :(
...and i met Kyle and Heather for Taco Tues at Monkey Island , and got to visit with them over our tacos ... the generator was rather annoying, but it didn't stop the crowds of people.  a friend, Mark, that i keep running into, joined us at the table, ... he has a 'sweet tooth' like i do, and we walked down the street looking for some dessert ... power is still off ...  it was a very hot, very still night, with no breeze.   we ended up on the roof of the building where he lives, where there was a 'little' breeze and it was a beautiful night, lotsa stars,  ... no reason to go home, i was in the best possible place to be ... waiting for the power to return .... around midnight, still no power, but i had to 'pee' and decided to go back home.   by this time, it had cooled down somewhat in my room, and i was able to sleep pretty well, even without the fan .... the power was off all night :(      ....this was by far the longest we've been without power !