Day 16 – Snorkeling Schiffers’ Style

The ladies decided they did not want to have anything to do with the boys today. Okay, not really, but it sounded good. The girls decided to stay in this morning, so Thomas and I figured we would do some snorkeling. Low tide today was to be at 11:33am. We headed down to the beach at around 10:30 to get a couple of hours in before the tide would come back in and close up the land bridge. When the tide is low, it is easy see where you are walking across the jagged rocks. I can’t imagine trekking that .5km back when the tide is up though.

We rushed out to our spot once we got to the island. Snorkeling is best on the opposite side of where we enter, so it’s still a little bit of a trek to get there. We dropped our packs and threw on the snorkel gear. The water was refreshing. It was hot already, even at 11am. The sun was high and beaming, so we were sweaty and ready for the water.

It is amazing the aquatic life one finds when they stop and really look. The starfish are very, very abundant here and come in all types of varieties. Of course the shells and coral are everywhere as well, but it is hard to truly see it on any of the pictures due to the limitations of the camera. Thomas spooked an octopus out of its lair and it was awesome. The octopus was a bright vibrant rich red color and was about two feet in length. I tried to get a picture of it, but by the time the water cleared and the camera powered on, it was too late. The memory and image thought are burned into my brain. What a rush to see such an amazing animal in its natural habitat.

We uncovered a small eel that managed to wrap itself around a small rock for quite some time. I was able to get a photo of its head pocking through some weeds, along with a couple other good shots. Bunch of fish of all colors were about the rocks. Some were simply just too camera shy.

How many starfish can you find?

There was one fish type that really got our hearts pounding. I have seen this fish somewhere before but can’t put a finger on it. The fish almost looks square from above. I call it a dog fish, because when you look at it head on, it looks like a dog. We saw two different colors of them. One was a light yellow and white blend, the other was a neon blue and deep rich brown color. If anyone knows the correct fish type, please email me or shoot over a comment.

See if you can find the eel.

We left the beach right at 1:20. Turns out, we were getting off the beach at the right time. The tide was coming in and almost covered the land bridge totally. After we got back to the main land from the island, we headed off to Super David to do a little grocery shopping. Mama sent us out with a shopping list earlier and we were to get some items from the store. Somehow between the house and the beach, one of the fish must have eaten the list, because I couldn’t find it. Hoped I would remember what the heck we needed. I surely didn’t want to do the mile trip back to the store in case I forgot something. 



A lot of these little blue neon fish were all around. This was a solitary fish. Only once did I see two together.

I googled the thing above and it turns out it is a Thomasfish.

Above is a picture of an eel. Most of the body can be seen.

One of the shallows near where we snorkeled.

Here is another picture of one of the so called "dog fishes". Pretty wild looking fish.

Thought this would be a neat shot. Took this on the way back from the island. As you can see it is one of the fishing boats tied up in the middle of the bay with a bunch of pelicans using the boat as there life raft.