It is wondrous down there, very nice. There are a few horrid development type buildings but as it's low season they are, thankfully, empty, and so is the beach.
The 'Big Blue Bus' (which is white) arrives and I am on my way. I'm very excited as I've not done this in the open sea before, only by the beach. I'm a bit nervous about all the non-human things in the water. This isn't helped by the photos of Sharks and Barracuda Ken showed me last night from his dive the day before. Great, was excited, now petrified - thanks Ken!
There are two staff: Donny and Jacky (both Canadian) and 6 other snorkelers. An Italian couple who ask lots of good questions which means I learn loads about the area, the fish, etc. and a family from upstate New York (I think).The Mum and daughters are like Russian Dolls they look so alike I keep staring at them and wondering if they are the same person in 3 ages. I get on with the Mum particularly well as she decides to make me her third daughter and mother me all the way.
Anyway, I digress. After moseying out of the harbour gently Jacky calls out: "Everyone ready?" For what? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! That'll be a boat suddenly moving very fast and I'll be the only one sitting right at the front then? It's great, I have a grin from ear to ear (It's hard not to at this speed, my face is stuck this way for 10 minutes). Speed baby - oh yeah.We get where we're going, drop anchor and Donny adorns mask and jumps straight in the sea. "Come on in everyone." What no instructions? No "The exits are behind you" spiel? No, just get on your fins, your mask and get in with the sharks. Ok, fins on, mask, sort of on.
Now they are all queuing to go down the stairs: stairs or off the side? Off the side you idiot! Superheroes don't use stairs. I sit on the edge. Deep breath, ok Clare you're a swimming Bruce Lee got it? 'HaYarr!!!' I leap off the side doing a little kung-fu fin-kick for good measure. If there were any sharks at that moment I'm sure I scared them off as I don't get eaten in the first 5 minutes.What I do at this point is try, whilst treading water, to master the art of snorkeling. Which is surprisingly hard. Your brain has to tell your nose not to try and breath in. Rather difficult actually and I swallow at least half the ocean before I master this. Once I do I am overwhelmed with the view. It's like peaking into a secret world, so clear, so many fish - wow.
The next two sites are equally brilliant, more so because I came face to face with 2 Barracudas. The great and petrifying thing about these guys is they just stop and look at you. They're not afraid of you. You obviously can hardly swim comparatively and they are the speed demons of the ocean. They also have lots of teeth and are about 6 feet long - longer than me - great.
The first one is silver and I see it on the second stop. Fight or flight Donny tells me later: I apparently chose flight. I am swimming about thinking "wow, I hope I see a Barracuda", turn around and literally 3 feet from me is a silver one, about 2 feet long. He just looks at me, he's not swimming away, he's looking. I move slowing to my left, he moves slowly to his right. It is at this point apparently that a great splashing was seen heading towards the boat - which would be me panicking. Great, that's attractive and not very Bruce Lee.After I recover and Donny laughs at me rather a lot I decide to jump back into the water in an "I'll show you" kind of way. I do this but the silver-back is nowhere to be seen.
At the next stop this is the real test. I am near the boat and the Italian couple who have been waxing lyrically about wishing they'd seen 'Silver-back' experience this flight fear as I see them in the distance moving to the boat quickly.
As I look there is a huge black Barracuda right by the boat, around 4 foot I think and just hanging out. I look at him for ages before he moves off and I also head into the boat. I am extremely frightened which is silly as they never attack people but I stay in, and I'm pleased with myself for not missing it.Sharks anyone? No thanks think I've had quite enough of big fish with teeth. I see tonnes of other fish and have compiled a list of all the wildlife I can remember seeing in my entry 'Wildlife on Turks & Caicos'.
After a hectic day of swimming I meet Ken back at the boat house with tails of Moby Dick. We have dinner and then drink most of a bottle of Rum. It turns out that if you drink a lot of Rum and juice you get decidedly drunk. Who knew?
