Swimming with Turtles
At 9:30 we were headed to Paradise Beach to meet the boat that would take us to some spot where we would swim with sea turtles. This is possible because like pigeons and dogs, animals of all types will show up for food. It was the single most wonderful day of tactile joy I've ever had. I have a vague memory of trying to snorkel before but not really having a good experience. This day, I put it on, slid off the boat into the water, adjusted the mask and tube, plopped my face down into the water and looked at the bottom of the sea. For the next five minutes I don't think I lifted my face; I just swam around breathing through my mouth and watching everything that passed before me. I did not want to come up, and there was no need to do so "for air" so I was good! It just felt perfect. I don't really know how long I swam around each time, and I did lift my head to see where I was and what other people were doing. A few times I bumped into the boat. Once I bumped into the wrong boat. There was a second boat full of snorkelers nearby so confusion while underwater was easy. I took no photographs once the snorkeling began so I was happy to discover that Tion had shot video footage of me because she too wondered when the heck I was going to lift my head. I didn't want to, ever, at that moment.
Before we arrived, visions of Jacques Cousteau-like oceanographic footage floated through my head as I tried to imagine what our experience might be. It wasn't quite that. I can't see clearly without glasses, and the water reflected a pale, warmish aqua color that was very slightly cloudy. The coral that we saw on the bottom wasn't brilliantly colored or sparklingly lit, but it was alive and teeming (moderately) with fish of several kinds. Small schools of a black striped variety, a largish iridescent soft blue one with a turquoise stripe that followed the contour of the top of its narrow flat head, a silver lance shaped one, yellow and blue angel-fish (maybe), Nemo (not Dory). Finally, after about 15 minutes, someone spotted the first sea turtle - not very large so I assumed it was probably fairly young. It seemed to be about 24 inches long (61 cm) and nearly as wide across. We were all so excited trying to touch it as it swam up among us looking for the pieces of fish our guide was holding out that we became pretty ridiculous - a splashing, chaotic human mob of hands and legs, snorkel-geared heads all bobbing in and out of the water trying to cop a turtle shell feel... I swam out of the mass of us hoping I could just watch it all and see the turtle move around us. It worked for a bit. The guide gave me a piece of fish and I fruitlessly tried to get its attention, but again, too much going on and it's hard to hold your position in the water, so I finally gave the bait to Nick who had an underwater camera. I thought he might get lucky. I know he's got footage, which he promised to edit of embarrassing underwater fleshy shots.
