Snorkeling Day

Noodles for dinner last night (boiled the water using the coffee maker).

Today, we did (barely) make it to the pickup spot in time for a day of snorkeling. We were up in time, got breakfast in time, but as we were about to leave the room, I had a bathroom emergency that required me to change swimsuit and pants.

Very glad we made it. We saw a pod of dolphins on our way to Cano Island. When we arrived, we checked in with the Rangers who just wanted to know how many from what countries: 1 from France, 2 from Canada, and the other 7 were Flemish (from Belgium, I presume).

We dropped two elderly Belgians on the beach, and we went just 100-200m offshore to jump ion for snorkeling. We had 2 guides in the water and 2 support staff on the boat. We got to see many colourful fish including Parrot fish, Puffer fish, Angel fish and Red Snapper, different colours of coral, a few small (harmless) sharks, Two Manta Rays and up to 6 turtles (of 2 varieties). It's hard to say how many turtles because they are going about their business and we may have passed the same ones more than once. There were one or two Moray Eels, but they were safely in the rocks and deep enough that I couldn't see them (Kate did).

We had a 20 minute break on shore (we went up to the lookout, and I continued on a trail for a bit), but then we were back on the boat and in another area maybe 200m offshore. By the end of the second snorkel, we were all pretty done: masks, snorkel, and flippers are uncomfortable, and we've had our fill of salt water. They then took us to a beach on the mainland where they served us an amazing lunch and we rested for nearly an hour. Then it was a 15 minute ride back to Drake Bay.

[We saw the Sea Eagle in Drake Bay yesterday, and it was supposedly headed for Cano Island, but now I see it is way up the coast. That's some big sailing yacht at 80m/262ft.]

When we got back to the room, we realized how burnt we were. I had my rashie on, but the backs of my legs got pretty red. Kate's legs and back got pretty burnt.

Dinner at a new place where we shared a Quesadilla with fries and salad, and a couple of Smirnoff Ice.

Tomorrow we go deep in the jungle, so no cellular, Internet OR power, other than the solar generated lights they have on from 5:30-8:30PM. I'll blog it when I get back.


Colourful fish, including Red Snapper


One of several turtles

Kendal, our main guide

Viewpoint during our break

Most of us

Lunch Spot

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