Great Snorkeling

Wilson City Ruins
N 26 32.439 W 76 57.979

The cruising books gave us the straight story. We sailed down toward the North Bar Cut today. Our target was a place called Sandy Cay where there is an anchorage and there are dinghy moorings near the reef.

At first, we landed the dinghy on the beach and tried to walk around the island, hoping to find a beach on the reef side. No luck, there was just razor sharp coral on that side of the Cay, so we had to give that idea up. Instead, we took the dinghy around the Cay and out to the moorings. It was hard to avoid the coral on the way out. Finally we got there and tied up.

Our problem with snorkeling from the dinghy, is that it is exceedingly hard to get out of or back in to the dinghy from the water. It nearly tips over. For this use, inflatable rubber dinghys are much superior. We compromised by going one at a time.

As soon as I dove in the water and looked down, everything was suddenly worth the trouble. There was lots of live coral and wonderful tropical fish. I especially liked swimming among a school of angel fish; that was exhilarating. After I struggled back in to the dinghy, it was Libby's turn. She was equally enchanted. After about 15 minutes thought, she felt chilled and came back out. Next time we'll wear wet suits. Libby would be glad that I didn't photograph her climbing back in to the
dinghy. The only way to do that is to flop your body like a walrus. It is hardly a dignified action.

Our disposable underwater camera ran out of film, so I decided to try again with our digital underwater camera. The last time we tried it, the screen went black and I feared that it wasn't really waterproof. This time the same thing happened. The screen went black. However, there was no leakage around the doors, and after 5 minutes back above the surface the screen came back on. Could that be a feature? to turn off the LCD screen when under water?

We're anchored tonight, near by. If tomorrow is calm again, I want to go back and snorkel some more. Tonight I'm going to shave my mustache. It lets water leak in to my face mask when snorkeling. If beard but no mustache makes me look too ridiculous, I'll go clean shaven all the way.