Snorkeling

We rented snorkeling gear today and went out to the reef which is just in front of the hotel. The people here claim that there is some of the best snorkeling in the world just off the beach in front of us. I absolutely couldn't believe what I saw when I got out to the reef which is just a few meters off shore. There is every kind of coral there you can imagine. The brain coral really does look like a photo of a brain. There is fan coral, finger coral, tube coral etc. And the fish are spectacular. I saw a flat fish laying in foot deep water and he was completely camaflouged into the color of the sand. There was every color of fish you could imagine all feeding off the coral. I saw a manatee or string ray, not sure what it was. I kept my distance from it. I probably spent two and a half hours swimming. The water is so salty here you just float on top with no effort at all. Mary and I were both saying how we wished we had an underwater camera. Well, when I took back the snorkeling gear they had underwater cameras for sale! So the next time I go snorkeling....which is tomorrow, I'm going to have some underwater photos. We are going to the great barrier reef tomorrow.