17-19 Mar - Beach Patrol-Week 1

17-19 Mar - Beach Patrol-Week 1

i started 'Beach Patrol' this week.   this is one of the things i also did last year for the Roatan Marine Park.    there were 2 cruise ships with 5,122 people on Tues,  ... 3 cruise ships with 9,156 on Wed,  .... and 2 cruise ships with 5,870 on Thurs .... and unfortunately many of the people who visit the beautiful West Bay Beach do not understand, nor does the Cruise Ship bother to inform them, that what they will see in the water is a living organism, ... and not a bunch of rocks to climb on, or stand on so they can take photos of each other  :(

here is a photo of the beach, and you can see all the coral, right on shore.
it is breath-takingly beautiful!

this is good and bad:
'good',  because it is 'so close to shore' ... that you don't have to hire a boat to take you snorkeling ... you can snorkel all day every day for free .. which is why i love it here  ... and ...
'bad',  because it is 'so close to shore'  .... and so easy for uninformed snorkelers to easily destroy the very thing that they come to see!

some don't know, and some don't care ... and some care, but aren't careful, or comfortable in the water, or experienced enough to control what they are doing while they are snorkeling   :(

so i walk the beach with my Roatan Marine Park shirt on, a whistle, and a Fish ID card, ... and talk with people who are getting in the water to snorkel ... they like to look at the pictures of the fish that the will see.

i like to talk with young kids ... oh, did i say that?   .... just briefly though   :)  ... and then i 'deputize' them and tell them that if they see anyone standing on the coral or touching it, they can tell them not to  .... the little ones really like that   :)      ...one little boy said to his friend, 'ok, let's go!'

i meet a lot of very nice people who express their gratitude for what i am doing ... a few don't want to be bothered,  ... but i politely 'insist' that they just give me one minute of their time.    actually, many people think i want to 'sell' them something, since there are lots of people walking the beach selling 'things' ...  so sometimes my opening statement is  ..... 'i am not trying to sell you anything' ... :)

after i walk the beach and wade in the water to talk with people for about 2hrs ... my voice is starting to 'crack' and i need to take a break.   at this point, i get my snorkel gear on, and head into the water.    i feel like a 'stalker' ... snorkeling around and looking underwater for people who are standing on the coral ... and i do see them :(

although i am focused on looking for feet/fins on coral ...  i take a few other photos along the way ...


i know i show a lot of close-up photos of fishes .... but this photo shows just how hard it is sometimes to spot them...do you see the fish in this photo ?

here is a close up of it ... a Smooth TrunkFish ...

the first day, in the shallows ....i saw this big HogFish in it's Terminal Phase....

and the next day saw this one ...  in it's Initial Phase ...

a Queen AngelFish with a Juvenile ParrotFish...

a RedBand ParrotFish

same guy ....smiling for the camera  .... :)

a Rainbow ParrotFish ... they are quite large ...

in the shallows i saw this ... i wasn't really sure what it was ... but i think it is a Shrimp ...

i've only ever seen Banded Coral Shrimp, i've never seen a Shrimp like this before ...  i'll have to work on this one  .... :)

a Queen ParrotFish ... showing me a toothy smile ...

what pretty yellow and blue tails these Ocean SurgeonFish have ....

i usually check back into the Marine Park ... then by the time i get home and everything cleaned and hung on the line, photos downloaded ... i'm pretty much done for the day ....

until i head to SunDowners to watch the SunSet ....   :)