Manatees LOVE fresh water from garden hoses. Technically it’s illegal to interact with manatees like this as it makes them too “comfy” with humans. For the record, we weren’t watering them and, quite frankly, everyone does it down here anyway. We blame nature for making them so cute.
Sea slug mystery
10 FebPeyton found this cool creature near the boat ramp at our marina. We can’t quite identify it from our reef books, but it looks like some kind of sea slug or sea hare. Any marine experts want to weigh in? Love its undulating motion!
Swimming pigs at Big Majors Cay
29 Dec
Poor Bob
16 DecGuess Bob the puffer fish should have read Peyton’s story and puffed sooner, faster, and bigger.
But seriously, we thought this was kinda cool. The circle of life on a reef. When we came upon this scene, the bigger fish (some kind of needlefish…perhaps a houndfish?), was fighting and splashing to deflate and swallow Bob. Bob was all puffed up trying to be too big to swallow.
Snorkling at Deadman’s Reef
23 NovThanks to the power of rental cars we were able to get out and explore a bit. We drove up to Paradise Cove where Deadman’s Reef lies just offshore. We swam out and explored both the shallows and the deeper reefs until Peyton got cold and tired. Schools of yellowfin snappers swam with us for most of the afternoon, and we kept wishing we’d brought them some kind of snack. We didn’t see any turtles or rays (much to the girl’s chagrin), but Robin did see a nurse shark. The girls have a snorkling fish and reef guide, and are becoming quite the walking encyclopedias when it comes to fish types. Unfortunately, this is the only photo of our day, as Andy forgot the underwater camera. He has, of course, been properly scolded and won’t be so forgetful again!
Anniversary dinner
22 NovWe went out tonight to play tourist and have an anniversary dinner (married 19 years on Nov 19th). Our host suggested Pier One at the entrance to Freeport Harbor. The girls voted down all other suggestions when they heard that they feed bull and lemon sharks.
We had a nice evening and got to see quite a few big sharks.