Saturday Swim

Today was a perfect Saturday. I spent a slow morning relaxing and drinking coffee and then went over to the museum to join the "boys". Currently the "boys" include Rory, the 18 year old gap year travel enthusiast and Neal, whom almost everyone I've ever told about my first TCI should remember as the director of the museum. After a couple hours of light office work, Rory and I convinced Neal it was time for lunch and swimming. After lunch, we spent the rest of the day in the water.

The first spot we went to was North Point, just under the historic lighthouse that warned ships of the 2 mile reef extending from the top of the island. Neal saw a reef shark (3-4 ft) and a unusually large barracuda. Rory saw the barracuda too and I was bitter, to say the least, that I had missed both. We walked on the beach for a bit, looking at the carved out limestone cliff towering above. Then we went back into the water to swim to our entrance point and I was DETERMINED to see something interesting. I saw a barrauda - a big one - but not THE barracuda. Rory and I watched a triggerfish for a while, which was interesting because they use their top and bottom fins to swim (dorsal and ventral fins). Not a shark, but fun.

Not finding any lion fish, which was on the menu for dinner, we went back home to the reef outside the museum house where we know there are plenty. We saw a number of them, but only caught 4. Dinner tomorrow night? Since they an invasive species, there is no limit to how many you can catch. We are helping the reef and get a tasty treat. They are a delicate little fish and go great with veggies.

I also swam with my new friend the eagle ray. I'll have to learn more about these creature's behavior because I'd love to go in for a closer look, but I don't know what their "don't even think about it" signals are. I've been playing it safe so far and staying away from the pointy end.