SANDY BAY
i walked to Katie's around 11:30 and i met Jordan, a friend of hers from Canada who
has been visiting. we took a taxi up the road and stopped for something to eat. Sandy Bay is a huge area, this is what it looked like where we were ...
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| Public Dock at Sandy Bay |
very different from white sandy beach at West Bay ....
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| Sandy? Bay |
Katie knows the people who live in this house, so we could use their fresh water showers after we snorkeled :)
we walked out on the long dock and got in the water at the end ...
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| Jordan and Katie |
we snorkeled about 15min to get out to the reef ... on the way i was so happy to see a Cushion Sea Star ... since there are none left at West Bay :( ...
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| Cushion Sea Star |
Katie and i stuck together, but we 'lost' Jordan somewhere along the way ....(not really lost, he just hung back) ... we had a great time, winding our way through the coral mazes. the coral is less damaged here and it was nice to see new growth that hadn't been damaged.
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| Club Tip Finger Coral ? |
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| Happy Coral :) |
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| Blooming Coral |
we were looking for a passage way to get through the coral out beyond the reef into the open water ... it was fun ... as we were coming back in, i spotted this .... ????
what is that 'blob' ?
...i swam over it and then came back for a closer look .... it was an Octopus on a Conch shell ....
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| Octopus on Conch |
.... it was covering the opening of a large Conch ... Octopus eat Conch, ...and i believe that was what he was doing ... prying the Conch out of it's shell to eat it .... how cool was that !
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| Octopus eating a Conch ! |
walking on the dock we saw this Cushion Sea Star in the shallows ...
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| another Cushion Sea Star seen from the dock ... |
Katie had to pick up a friend from the airport, so Jordan and i took a break; then i went back in to do more snorkeling ... no surprise there ... i started snorkeling out to the reef again ... and saw this LionFish
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| LionFish |
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| Christmas Tree Worm |
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| Sea Anemone |
then ...... this Spotted Eagle Ray swam along side of me .... ! woo hoo !
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
he had a fish hook embedded into the side of his face, and was trailing a long fish line that you can see in the photo .... i had a hold of the line, but i didn't have anything to cut it with :( ....
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
he stayed around me, circling .... i tried remaining really still, hoping he would approach me to help ... like they do in the movies ... but he did not ... i finally had to go in and leave him .... i hope that line doesn't get caught on something :( ...i'm going to start carrying a knife with me when i snorkel .....
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| doesn't this look like a dog's face ? |
they are so stark black and white ... it's amazing !
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
he stayed circling for over 30 min ... eventually i had to leave :(
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
...he was still there as i swam away ... i wished him well ..
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| Spotted Eagle Ray |
on the way in i saw this Arrow Crab and another Cushion Sea Star
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| Arrow Crab |
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| Another Cushion Sea Star on the way in |
what a great day ! ...it's the amount of time i got to spend with the Spotted Eagle Ray that was so wonderful .... lotsa time to gaze in wonder ...
we met more friends at The Argentinian Grill for dinner... their food is rather pricey ... :( but good .... then we went to Coconut Tree for one last drink ...
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| Gillian, Me, Katie, Michelle |
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