telophase | (no subject)

It's late and I'm tired so I'm not going to go through all our photos from the trip, but I did do a couple of photos because they represent a nifty thing I found when snorkeling.

We were originally going to do an underwater submarine thing in Cozumel, but when the ship had to skip Grand Cayman because the port authority there closed the bay due to high seas, I decided that since what I really wanted to do with this cruise was snorkel, I'd be much happier if we went snorkeling instead. Toby was perfectly happy to do whatever. So we took ourselves, at the recommendation of friends, to the Money Bar Beach Club first thing in the morning, ate breakfast there, then rented snorkel equipment and a locker and (metaphorically) dove right in. (and literally, slowly made our way into the kind of cold water until we got used to it.)

We also had replacements for our decade-old point and shoot cameras that worked underwater, rather nicely as it turns out.

So! This first photo that portrays a piscine street gang mobbing Toby for lunch money (or, rather, lunch) is of Sergeant Major fish, so named because the stripes look like a sergeant major's insignia, Dr Google tells me.

They're probably pretty close to the 9" upper size limit Dr Google claims.

Now, closer to the shore where I swam, there was a school of smaller, probably younger, Sergeant Majors. And I spotted something that made me exceedingly happy and when Toby swam back my way, I made him go look. Can you see it in this picture?

Didja see it? Here's a closeup on the relevant part of the picture:

ITTY BITTY BABY SERGEANT MAJOR FISH! Presumably this spot is their nursery. The pic is slightly blurry because the tide was coming in so it was hard to hover in one spot and focus, and the waves kept pushing me closer and closer to the grating and I didn't want to disturb them even more than I already was, so I kept having to turn around and kick away from it.

All in all, a fun morning and I'd recommend the spot. I still prefer the Grand Cayman Eden Rock dive spot where we snorkeled the last time we were in the area, but I'd snorkel here again.