Under the Sea

Today was an awesome day. Our first dive was at a site called The Garden and though the visibility was only about 25 feet, it was still well worth it. We dove to about 60 feet, saw crabs, lobsters, tons of fish, a cleaner shrimp, and jellyfish. The jellyfish actually scared the crap out of me because I´m incredibly paranoid that I´ll encounter the wrong side of one. However, the divemaster touched one, so, of course, I felt the need to as well. It was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be more like touching Saran Wrap, but they´re remarkably firmer than that.

After that, we headed to a place in the mangroves that serves lunch. I know it sounds weird. I´ll post a pic when I get a chance cause it´s hard to imagine. Then we had about 10 minutes to snorkel, and I saw a huge stingray, some more jellyfish (continued to be freaked out) and a trumpet fish, all of which I got pics with using my underwater camera. Then it was on to Red Frog Beach for an hour. Hung out in the water, which was a lot calmer than two days ago, talking to my instafriends. I did get to see some tiny red frogs for the first time. As you walk up the path from the marina (where the ultrarich park their yachts), there are some little boys who catch the frogs and show them to you hoping for some money. On the way back I took a picture of them so they could see themselves and gave them a dollar.

The second dive site was at a place called Hospital Point because there used to be a hospital on the bluff, not because it leads to trips to the hospital. Visibility was even worse here (about 15 feet), and then was made worse by the junk on the inside of my mask. Halfway through the dive I broke down and flooded the mask in order to rub off whatever gunk it was. I was reluctant just because with contacts I have to completely close my eyes, but I grabbed the dive master and had him hold on me while I did it so that I wasn´t hit by some random jellyfish--yep, they were at this site too. At this site I got to hold an arrow crab, which looks similar to the insect we call at home the walking stick, only with more legs. We saw some different kind of fish here, and I was almost close enough to touch a parrot fish, though I managed not to reach for it--as if I´d have been fast enough to touch it anyway.

It was an awesome day, and I loved being under the water again. One of my instafriends is strongly encouraging me to dive the Bay Islands in Honduras. I wanted to but had canceled my plans to go there because of the political climate, but I´m hoping that by spring things will have calmed down and I´ll have enough money left at the end of the trip to swing a stopover there before coming home. Time will tell.

I´ve also discovered in the past 24 hours my new favorite computer thing: Skype. I set up an account last night and within a few minutes I was staring at a friend and talking for free (well, paying only for the hourly Internet charges). And then talked with another one tonight. While I love being here and don´t want to spend all my time in front of the computer, it´s quite cool to be able to talk for cheaper than a phone card and to be able to see the person. My family will be excited, I´m sure, particularly my niece. If there´s anyone living in New Castle who´s computer savvy, head on over to the Mann household cause I have a feeling my mom´s gonna need some assistance setting it up! ;-)