The reef at the end of the Sandy Island – Thanks Google Earth
I discovered I have a new pet peeve. I now lack tolerance for people who suck the fun out of life, people who burst the bubble or party poopers. Life is too short to deal with such negativity. I reluctantly conversed with such a person on the beach of Sandy Island located just off Carriacou.
Cindy and I loaded our snorkel gear into the dinghy and headed to shore for a spot recommended to us by another cruiser. After dragging the dinghy up the beach past the high tide mark, we grabbed our gear and walked the remaining few yards to the northern tip of the island. Our plan was to snorkel the area recommended and then drift with the current to the southwestern end of the island to see what was under the water. Already we had seen rays swimming under Cream Puff and hoped to see more marine life. As we walked up the shore, we encountered another couple (who will remain nameless) cleaning their dinghy. She noticed our snorkel gear and then proceeded to tell us how bad the snorkeling was in this area. She went on and on about dead corral, lack of marine life and disappointment. She told us together with her husband they snorkeled all around the island and thought we were wasting our time. Okay, she didn’t go quite that far but she may as well have. Our expectations were certainly lowered by this lady, whom we had just met. Thanks for that.
Cindy and I have learned years ago to form our own opinions. Just because one person has a bad experience at something or doesn’t like something doesn’t mean we are due for the same. We politely told the lady we planned to snorkel the area our friend recommend and tried to walk away without appearing rude. We put on our fins and masks and waded out into the water. We almost immediately found ourselves over the reef our friend told us about and were simply stunned by the amount of marine life we were seeing. We both surfaced after a few minutes and agreed the lady must be blind.
Tons of fish!
School’s in
This was like an aquarium
A big orange fish
Cuttlefish
Later that evening we were invited onto a friend’s boat for a drink. Michael and Megan, who we met in the Isle of the Saints in Guadeloupe earlier in the year had also snorkeled the same area later in the day. They too were raving about what they saw. They saw even more than we did.
This was the highlight of our day: Something really very cool happened. Once we drifted down to the southwest end of the island after swimming for a couple of hours, we started to swim toward the beach. I was ahead of Cindy a little bit and was wading the last few yards. I could see something huge and black in the water. For a second, I thought it might be rocks or a big patch of weeds. But, then it moved. Okay, this is now a little freaky. I never forget when we enter the ocean we lose our place at the head of the food chain. I put my mask back on and took a peak under the water to see what was lying ahead. I was really hoping I wouldn’t espy a man-eating monster indigenous to Sandy Island, Carriacou. I didn’t see a monster. What I did see ahead of us were millions of small bait fish in a huge school all moving together.
Millions of little bait fish
The edge of the school
As I walked toward them they parted and got out of the way. It was really cool. When Cindy came out she took some pictures of me walking back into the water. (Sorry about the water on the camera lens)
Parting the fish – 1
Parting the fish – 2
Parting the fish – 3
Parting the fish – 4
Truly, living the dream today!
