St. Island

They were right! The underwater world wasn’t exceptionally colorful. It was actually pretty dull. All light brown rocks and sand in the varying shades of blue water. Not much coral. No wrecks. Just rocks. And lots, and lots, and lots of fish. I probably saw more fish here than I have in any reef I’ve explored. And some of them were big fish too. A lot of times you will see tiny tropical fish- colorful and pretty, but small. There were some small ones here, but some big ones as well. Entire schools of fish would stick together and either swim along or hang out under the overhang of the rocks.

I had several hours so I just floated around for most of it- letting the current take me down the shore. I have only ever snorkeled in a group of 2 or more and never by myself so there is always the pressure to go where everyone else wants to go and at the speed they want to go. Being by myself allowed me to linger longer and practice taking pictures underwater. Typically I just snap hundreds of pictures and then, statistically, some of them have to be good. Taking underwater pictures is harder than you realize. Imagine trying to keep your moving subject centered when you cannot stay in one place or keep steady.

As I was floating along, I got carried a long way down the shore- away from the crowds, the swimmers, and the other snorkelers. I was looking down at some fish and I looked ahead of me and there was a turtle. If you read my last post, you know that I saw some turtles extremely close to me recently. However, those turtles were in amongst a large group of people and were lured there with food. In fact, those turtles probably hang out in that area knowing that tours come through and feed them everyday. But not in St. Croix. I was about a half a mile to a mile down shore from a protected turtle nesting ground and I just happened to see this little guy as he was out for a swim. I was so excited and really wanted to call people over to look at him, but I picked my head up and no one was around. I swam alongside the turtle for awhile and wanted to stick with him, but he was swimming back the way I had come from and I was afraid I would be missing cool stuff up ahead so I let him swim on.

Amid all the excitement and fun I was having, I left my skin a little to exposed to the sun for way too long. The backs of my legs are now as bright as the surface of the sun! Remarkably this is the first time I’ve been this burnt this contract. Typically my pale Pennsylvania skin sizzles just thinking abut the sun!

Trying to avoid the sun for a few days I decided to take a walk and sit and read in the shade today in St Thomas. I typically walk from the ship to the nearby yacht club, find a bench, and read for awhile. The walkway has speakers every few feet playing upbeat music softly. The speakers were switched off today and I believe there was a steel drum summer camp practicing nearby. The good news is the group has learned a song! The bad news is that the group has learned A song! I was only in the area for about 30 to 45 minutes but I heard the Star Spangled Banner the entire time!

Depending on my burn healing and my work schedule, I’m hoping to go snorkeling and maybe even diving later this cruise so look for more posts and pictures soon.