Masses of Coral

Royal Sea Aquarium

Masses of CoralWednesday we swam at the Royal Sea Aquarium. This is really a remarkable site, and we’ve always snorkeled here every time we come. The sea was a bit rough, but the water was so clear! It was a lot of fun. The place has amazingly huge coral formations, and just tons of fish.

Black durgonThe one fish that always stands out for me is the black durgon. We saw some coloration on them today that was just remarkable. I have a brief movie, that is far too jerky, and I apologize for that, but it’s worth it just to see the amazing color on this fish! (Remember: you can always put the movies in full screen mode, and see them in full 1080p HD mode.) The deep orange face, the bright blue and black body and the white striping — just wow. Love it.

Creole wrasseWe saw a blue fish with black highlights that we rarely see, and yet there were tons of them here today. We think they are creole wrasse, and this is the juvenile phase. (NOTE: this is a blue chromis, actually, not a wrasse.)

SurgeonfishNot a lot to say about this great snorkel site, since I’ve talked about it lots of times before. I’ll just let you watch a couple movies and you can see what I mean. It’s pretty darn phenomenal. Of all the places we’ve snorkeled, this is top two… I can’t decide if Smith’s Reef on the Turks and Caicos beats this. One thing the Sea Aquarium hasn’t given us is turtles. If we saw a turtle or two, there would be no debate!

This next movie is of a school of surgeonfish, blue tangs and several black durgons join in the fun. I’ve posted lots of movies of these fish, but they are so cool. They just fill your vision with shades of blue and purple. Very relaxing to watch them cruise through the area!

FlowersWe walked around downtown Willemsted in the afternoon. It was crowded with shoppers from the two cruise ships in the harbor. Downtown WillemstedIt’s a protected World Heritage Site, due to the unique architecture of the building lining the streets. But it’s also lots of fun. Lots of little shops, a big local craft market, restaurants of every flavor, street entertainment – just lots to do and see. There is even a floating market of boats from Venezuela which dock right by the downtown area. They sell everything from fresh fish to handicrafts.

2 thoughts on “Royal Sea Aquarium”

  1. Well it’s not like we have avoided the rain! Sunday was a complete right off – rained like crazy all day. And we’ve had a couple little storms, but nothing too crazy. Hope it clears up for you!

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