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Akumal Mexico, Nov. 7-14: Day 5 |
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Beth Morris, 12/7/05 12:27:45 pm |
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I woke up early today around 6:30 am. The power had gone off again, so it was warm in the room. I read outside for a while and then around 8:30 got Greg up to go have breakfast at TBC (yeah, we’re addicted.) I had eggs and toast again, and Greg Eggs Benedict again. We talked to some people there including the restaurant owners. After breakfast we changed clothes and went to the Akumal Dive Center and rented snorkeling gear for the day. We left our beach bag in front of Lol Ha and got into Akumal Bay. I really wanted to swim with some more turtles and almost immediately one swam right by us. They are so graceful and beautiful! We followed it for a while (keeping our distance, as to not spook it too much) and then it disappeared. For the next few hours we swam all over the bay. We saw tons of different kinds of fish which I now knew some names for: Parrot fish, pipe fish, angel fish, box fish, and a lot more I didn’t know the names of. At one point we were swimming along and something huge swam right past me. I was startled, and grabbed Greg’s arm partially out of fright and partially out of excitement. It was a Spotted Eagle Ray that was probably three feet across. Greg was really happy about seeing it so close up. Later, we saw even more turtles! The water is pretty sandy right now, so you have to look very closely into the turtle grass for turtles or else you’ll miss them. There were a few medium size green sea turtles that we watched. We also found about six cannons underwater on the reef. That was interesting to think about how they got there (there is no way for a large ship to get into the bay... maybe they came from the land?) After a few hours we were tired and needed to get out of the sun. We went up to Lol Ha for lunch and sat in the shade getting re-hydrated. I ate some quesadillas and Greg had a tuna sandwich. After our break, we did some more snorkeling. We went back into the bay and kicked around some more. I was looking at some fish at the bottom when I spotted a clam. I looked at it for a while. It was in a small hole in the sand. I was considering swimming down to pick it up when a fish popped its head out of the hole. It was Carlos’s evil fish! It was an evil looking fish protecting it’s clam. Needless to say I didn’t pick the clam up. I also saw some sea urchins. Yesterday Carlos had placed one on my hand. They look sharp, but they’re not (although I wouldn’t want to accidentally sit on one.) When you pull it off your hand they suck on. It’s pretty cool. We saw different kinds of urchins today, white ones and black ones. After about two more hours I was tired, so we swam back to shore, making sure to look for more turtles on the way back. In total so far we have seen about five or six. I noticed some of them were tagged with metal bands on their flippers. Akumal is a major nesting site and in the summers the beaches are filled with nests. Once on shore, we returned our gear and went to the condo. We were tired and slightly sun burnt, but happy. It had been a great morning in the water. We came back and the power was back on, but still no water. Elio was still working on the hot water heater. I finished my book and then went to lie down for a little while. I must have been exhausted from swimming for four house, because I didn’t wake up until 8:00 pm! The water had been restored while I napped, so I showered and ate some cereal. Greg and I sat and talked and he taught me about different kinds of sea creatures. How barracuda hunt, about pipe fish, shrimp, etc. I just sat and listened and learned about how symbiotic relationships exist all the time in nature like the evil fish and his clam. Now that I’m finished writing I’ll go to sleep. Not sure what’s in store for tomorrow. Buenos noche! |
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