We didn’t venture very far today. We jumped into the ocean here around the resort, and it’s quite wonderful. The reef is really healthy, full of fish and teeming with coral. But we’ve both felt a difference to it, but neither of us can put our fingers on what it is.

Maybe it’s that the fish seem less skittish, or maybe it’s just our imagination. But it’s been great fun exploring. The weather has been typical for the Caribbean in November – a little rainy, a little sunny, a little cloudy – but always nice and warm. Right after a rain, the water is a bit murky, but a couple feet under the surface, it’s back to beautiful and clear.

Take a look at this picture of an ocean triggerfish. Pam took this in about three or four feet of water, and it’s a bit cloudy, a bit dark. It was taken just after a brief rainstorm while we were in the water.

Now look at this picture of a lionfish. I took this picture down at about fifteen or twenty feet. A lot clearer, and nice color! Weird eh? We’ve seen far too many lionfish here. Lots of very small ones, too. Not good news for the reef.

We saw a couple of flying gurnards too. Always neat. They have these pretty blue wings that spread when they are trying to take off. We’ve seen them before, but they’re pretty rare.

We’ve been eating in most nights. Have only eaten out the once for ribs. The supermarkets aren’t quite as nice as the ones on Aruba and Bonaire, but we’ve managed to find lots of great stuff. We got a dozen big prawns (VERY fresh) for five bucks, a bag of saffron rice (enough to feed four) for fifty cents. For dessert, we got a bag of rambutan (lychee-like fruit with a hairy skin) for a buck from a street vendor, and had them with some pistachio ice cream. Great deal – tasty and sweet!

Here is a brief movie of the ocean triggerfish. You can see how shallow the water is that he is in. His dorsal fins almost touch the bottom, and the top of the water!