Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: snorkeling

Discovering Scuba Diving – Part Two

Last April, Chris and I decided to try scuba diving despite my deep-seated fears of ocean creatures. We took a local scuba class in a pool so we could get the feel of the equipment before taking the plunge in Grand Cayman. I had a blast in the Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) class, and took to breathing underwater…well, like a fish! We signed up for a second class in Grand Cayman and although I was still nervous about diving amongst all the scary bits of the sea (jellyfish, eels, barracuda, sharks, etc.), I think I was ready to try. Sadly, Chris was ill on the day of our dive and we had to cancel. I’m not sure if I was disappointed or relieved. Maybe a mixture of both.

Our next dive opportunity presented itself on our recent trip to Belize, and I have to confess: I nearly chickened out. I got into my head and just spent too much time thinking about it. We were minutes away from leaving the villa to head to the dive shop when I wondered aloud, “Has anyone ever died in a beginner scuba class?” Chris Googled it, and sure enough there were quite a few accidents even in DSD classes. So…that didn’t help.

I just kept thinking about all of the things that could happen, mostly related to ocean creatures. My imagination ran wild with things biting me or stinging me, which would absolutely cause me to panic several meters under the surface. There are even certain corals that are harmful to humans, so scuba diving just seemed completely unnatural to me and I’m pretty sure it’s one of the few things I swore I’d never do. I only just recently started to enjoy snorkeling after all. But as someone who loves to stretch the boundaries of her comfort zone, I decided to face my fish fears and give diving a try. I realized I’d be disappointed and regretful if I didn’t at least get on the dive boat, so forced myself out the door and into the Scuba School Belize dive shop where we met Ruben, the most calm, patient, and kind diving instructor I could have hoped for. He instantly made me feel at ease, reassuring me that nerves are part of the experience for everyone.

After watching a short video at the shop, we spent some time on the boat getting familiar with the equipment we’d be using. The detailed overview of how everything works and even taking some of the gear apart so we could see the inner workings helped to relax me even more. We stopped at a dive site called Tuffy Canyons, and I ~~made~~ requested Chris get in the water first.

Geared up, I did a backwards roll off of the boat into the water where it took a few minutes for me to get comfortable. Since Chris and I were the only two in the class, I was able to take my time before descending. I wasn’t panicking, but I did have a little trouble getting used to the regulator this time. It performed a little differently than the one I used in the pool. Still, I willed myself to relax and trust the equipment, I let the air out of my BCD and began my descent.

The experience turned out to be much more peaceful than I expected. After correcting a few equipment issues (my regulator was actually leaking a little water so Ruben and I calmly made adjustments), I enjoyed the quiet of being underwater and relaxed into the slow movements of diving, so the time went by quickly. I think we were down for 30 minutes or so. We saw beautiful fish and coral, and even a rather large barracuda that made my heart beat a little faster. I didn’t take a ton of fish photos simply because I wanted to focus on my gear and my surroundings, but Chris did grab this photo of a cute filefish amongst some gorgeous fan corals. I think he took a video of the barracuda – I still need to go through all of the footage. But most importantly, nothing caused me to completely freak out, nothing bit me or stung me, and I surfaced after the dive without a scratch. Well, actually I did scrape my knee on some rocks, but it didn’t hurt until after I surfaced.

Now that I’m back home in one piece and reflecting on my experience, I can say that I’m incredibly proud of myself for facing this fear. And believe it or not, I enjoyed it enough that I might even go ahead with that open water certification. Maybe.

So what’s something you’re afraid of trying? Can you push your fears aside and just see if you can get a little closer to that fear? Maybe there are baby steps you can take that won’t feel too awful. Let me know if you try something new and scary!

April 15, 2015
Snorkeling With Tortuga Divers

After getting a taste for Grand Cayman snorkeling in our own backyard at the villa and on our jet ski tour, we decided to squeeze in one last adventure on our remaining full day on the island by booking a snorkeling trip with Tortuga Divers. As luck would have it, there were two spots open on the trip for Friday afternoon. Yay!

We met the dive boat at Tortuga’s dive shop in East End, only a few minutes from where we were staying. At $25 each, this was easily the best value of anything we did/ate/purchased on the island all week. The fee included a 2+ hour trip out to Sunset Reef (the location is chosen on a daily basis depending on the weather), snorkel equipment, and a few refreshments on board. It’s also worth mentioning that the entire Tortuga staff in the dive shop and aboard the boat were all so incredibly friendly.

Our captain, Dave, took our group out to the reef which was maybe a 10-minute boat ride from the dive shop. I think there were about a dozen or so divers and snorkelers total – a small Resort Dive class and a few of us snorkelers. This was the first time I had ever been on a dive boat so I don’t have anything to compare, but it seemed clean and well-organized/equipped. Chris and I chose to sit topside for the breathtaking view. I can definitely attest to how awesome the crew was – they offered us drinks, helped me on and off the boat, and even spotted and pointed out some huge eagle rays along the way. Safety was notably their number one concern, but they also made sure we were all set to have a really great time.

Once we moored near the reef, Captain Dave gave the snorkelers a safety briefing and an overview of the area including what we could expect to see and where we should plan to swim. (The Resort Dive class was on the deck below, doing their own briefing, and they entered the water first.) When I saw where we would be heading, I was a little nervous because we’d be swimming ~~hundreds of miles~~ kind of far from the boat and I had never done that before! But I was mostly excited to push the envelope of my comfort zone, and guess what? It was so incredibly gorgeous underwater that I didn’t even care how far I was from the boat.

We saw lots of healthy colorful coral, sponges, butterflyfish, tangs, sergeant majors, surgeonfish, schoolmasters, wrasses, rainbow parrotfish, and a teeny tiny jellyfish. I’m still working on my underwater photography skills, especially since when I dive down I’m immediately sucked back to the top due to my fantastic buoyancy, but we did get a few shots. I found a striped trumpetfish, and Chris chased after a huge angelfish and got some great photos. I was also shooting with my GoPro Hero 2 and didn’t realize it can’t focus underwater with the housing I have, so sadly dozens of photos from this trip are unusable. Thankfully we had the S95 for these shots:

If we’re ever able to get back to Grand Cayman we’d absolutely snorkel (or dive?!) again with Tortuga Divers! I highly recommend it for everyone – families, couples, solo travelers, and even ocean scaredycats.

May 28, 2014
Jet Ski Tour With Fat Fish Adventures

Fat Fish Adventures gets consistently great reviews on TripAdvisor, and now I know why! Our jet ski safari with them was one of the brightest highlights of our trip to Grand Cayman, and an experience we’ll never forget! (Note: The watercrafts were Sea-Doos, to be exact. The Fat Fish website says “Jet Ski Tour,” so for the purposes of this post I’ll sometimes say “jet ski.”)

But as I mentioned in my Grand Cayman post, I was ~~a little scared~~ terrified of doing this excursion. I consider myself a fairly brave person in general, except when it comes to anything related to creatures – bugs, spiders, and certain fish. (I’m totally okay with reptiles oddly enough.) After reading reviews that said the waves were huge including a few accounts of riders flipping over, I kept imagining falling off of the jet ski into the water where I’d immediately be surrounded by all of my worst sea creature fears.

That totally didn’t happen.

Not only were the jet skis safe out on the open water, they handled well and I had so much fun on the waves! Yes, the ocean waves are a bit more choppy than the sound side of Florida where I had my first jet ski/WaveRunner experience, but I wasn’t remarkably sore the next day. And you really have to be goofing off to flip the thing over. Let me start from the beginning though – I’m going to go into a lot of detail simply because I had several questions I couldn’t find the answers to when I was researching this tour like, Do we wear flip-flops or water shoes while riding? Will my sunglasses fall off? Is there a chance I might be attacked by the one stingray who isn’t tourist-friendly? Is it easy to get back on the jet ski from the water? and I wanted to answer all of those things here (no, maybe, it didn’t seem likely, and sort of).

Since Chris and I were staying in East End with a rental car, the Fat Fish shuttle met us at a designated spot near George Town and we followed them to the dock where we’d get on the skis. The free shuttle service had already picked up the other people in our group from their respective hotels. At the dock, we were each fitted for snorkel gear and life vests, and were given a brief overview of how to drive the Sea-Doos (which is fairly easy).

Each Sea-Doo had two compartments for storing stuff – one larger one that held our snorkel gear, and one smaller one where we stashed our camera while we were riding. We all left our shoes at the dock and rode barefoot. Chris and I both wore sunglasses in attempt to keep the water from spraying us in the eyes (and it worked until we were going 50 mph on some of the bigger waves), but we tucked them into the small compartment while snorkeling. If your eyes are super sensitive or if you wear contacts, wearing a pair of goggles might be helpful. Our sunglasses stayed on our heads while riding, but obviously if you hit the waves hard enough they can fall off.

Chris and I shared a jet ski for a total of $175, and that worked out well for us. There were seven other people in our group for a total of nine people plus our tour guide, Jordan, who was awesome. He was patient with the slower riders, but also gave enough freedom to those in the pack who wanted to take things at a faster pace. And just to squash any similar fears like I had, I never felt as if I would become lost at sea. (Is that not something you were worried about? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination). We could always see Jordan or at least another rider, and more importantly I could always see land no matter where I was on the tour. We were several miles out but I could still see the shoreline, so it’s not like any scene from Open Water. And the Sea-Doos were in great condition, although one rider’s jet ski did stop working toward the end of the tour so he had to hop on with Jordan for the return trip.

We left the dock and rode along the shoreline towards the mangroves where we entered and navigated slowly through the narrow waterways. To be honest I was still a little freaked out at this point, so if Jordan was giving us any background on the mangroves I didn’t hear him. Once we were back out in the open water, Chris cranked up the speed and we headed toward Starfish Point. As you can imagine, the further we were from the shore, the bigger the waves became. I held onto Chris for dear life for the first few minutes, but I eventually loosened my grip a little, trusting in my driver’s skills. Chris and I had already visited Starfish Point the previous day since we were close by, but this is a great way to see the fascinating little creatures (just please don’t pick them up out of the water!) especially if you’re staying in George Town. We spent maybe 10-15 minutes there.

After Starfish Point, we headed to Stingray City where upon arrival we instantly saw several huge, dark shadows gracefully gliding through the water below. I squealed like a banshee in poor Chris’s ear out of combined excitement and nervousness. The sandbar was flanked on one side by several different tour operators, various boats and groups of jet skis, but we still had our own little spot in which to interact with the stingrays away from the crowds. We hopped into the water and were surrounded by dozens upon dozens of rays, all gently swarming around the tourists begging to be fed bits of squid. Jordan brought food for us to feed the rays, and also gave us the opportunity to pet or hold a particular stingray if anyone wanted to do so (I opted to pet, not to hold). Mostly I just tried not to step on one, and we made several attempts at getting photo/video. The rays do brush up against your legs, but it’s sweet and not creepy, although I did squeal again.

Our last stop included a short time at a snorkeling site near Rum Point. I’m pretty sure the spot is called Coral Gardens and our time there could have been longer, but it was incredibly fun for the 15-20 minutes that we were given. I don’t know if they always stop at the same place, but this spot was about 15 feet deep, clear water with healthy coral. I didn’t get to take many pictures, but we did see parrot fish, sergeant majors, tangs, wrasses, and other juvenile fish. My understanding is that the afternoon/1pm tour allows for more time at each stop (plus a stop at at a bar & restaurant in Rum Point, pictured below – we went there another time on our own) and we had actually originally booked that tour, but we had to reschedule for a morning tour on another day due to Chris coming down with a case of food poisoning. Fat Fish’s customer-service was outstanding – not only were they able to accommodate us on another tour, they sent emails expressing concern for Chris and offered him well-wishes to get better! Oh and side-note, getting on and off the jet ski is easy enough at each of the spots – I did have to muster up some upper-body strength to climb back on at the snorkel spot where my feet didn’t touch the bottom of the water. If you’re worried about being able to pull yourself up, you could always ride with a partner so you’ll have help.

And just for some additional visual support, here’s a video of our Grand Cayman trip where a good portion of it shows our time on the Fat Fish tour. If you have any questions about any of it, please feel free to comment below or send me an email. I’d be happy to help!

Grand Cayman 2014 from Susan Marks on Vimeo.

May 21, 2014
Grand Cayman Snapshot

I thought it would be fun and maybe informative to do a recap of a few things from our travels, sort of a summary with superlatives and other details and photos that didn’t make it into the original blog post(s). I’ll try to go back and do similar “snapshot” posts for a few past trips, but for now I’ll start with Grand Cayman, and then I’ll write this type of post for future travels as well.

Best Moment

With all of the amazing adventures we had on Grand Cayman this is a tough decision, but the best moment was our tour with Fat Fish Adventures where we rode jet skis to the Stingray City sandbar and interacted with giant stingrays, and then snorkeled at Coral Gardens in Rum Point. If you’re on the island for even a half-day and can work this tour into your schedule, I highly (highly highly) recommend them! I’ll post a separate detailed review soon.

See that big shadow in the water? That’s a Southern Stingray! They were a lot bigger than I expected, but just as friendly as everyone says they are – I’ll never forget the feeling of them brushing up against my legs under water, begging for food.

Worst Moment

Chris woke up on Tuesday with a bad case of food poisoning, which wins the title for worst moment on this trip and maybe even for all of our trips. He was sick on the hour every hour, and he spent the day convalescing while I hung out poolside feeling guilty! Of course I checked on him every half hour or so, but there wasn’t much I could do – he knew for sure it was food-related and it just needed to run its course. Thankfully by Thursday he was feeling better, but in the meantime we had to cancel our scuba diving adventure for that day. I’m grateful he didn’t discover the illness while diving though!

Funniest Moment

While researching the area where we were staying, I read about a beach with good snorkeling called Barefoot Beach less than a mile away from our villa. I read that the entrance from the road was fairly hidden, so when Chris and I drove to where I thought the entrance should be, we came across this dilapidated gate with a person-sized opening between the bars and I immediately thought ah-ha, this must be it! We parked our car, climbed carefully over broken tile and through the bars with all of our snorkeling gear in hand, and started to wander down a gravel road. We quickly realized that not only was this not an entrance to a public beach, but there were residences back there and we were probably trespassing. Oops! We scurried back out through the gate and drove away laughing. It turns out the path to the beach was just a few yards down the road. Every time we passed the broken gate while driving to and from our villa we laughed some more. And when we went back to grab this photo, we saw three confused people with beach towels tucked under their arms, also searching for the entrance to Barefoot Beach! I saved them the trouble of crawling through the gate and pointed them in the direction of the real entrance, but I was glad to know we weren’t the only ones to make that mistake.

Best Meal

We both agreed that our favorite meal was at Tukka, where we ordered two courses recommended by Chef Ron Hargrave. We enjoyed the Tukka Brochette – mixed grill skewers with beef filet, lobster medallions, chicken, and king prawns served with whipped potato, green beans & twin sauces – followed by the Warm Walnut & Date Pudding, which I normally wouldn’t be drawn to, but it was the chef’s special so I decided to give it a try and oh-em-gee, I’m glad I did, despite knowing that I’d get a bit of a bellyache from the ice cream. (Being lactose intolerant I try to avoid dairy about 95% of the time, but every once in a while I take a chance if it seems worth it, and this time definitely was!) If no one had been watching, I’m pretty sure I would have licked the dish clean to get every last bit of the decadent sauce.

Note: I rarely take photos of my meals, and I need to get better about this! Usually I’m too hungry to pause and snap a photo, but this time I just happened to take a quick iPhone snapshot because the brochette was so unique and impressive. It’s a little blurry and crooked because I was trying to be quick and discrete – several other patrons were staring at us and ooo-ing/ahh-ing over our the presentation of meals, so I was trying not to be even more of a spectacle!

Something We Learned

Fish and coral identification! I’ve mostly been using Florent’s Guide To The Tropical Reefs in order to ID the fish and coral we’ve spotted, but we also picked up a handy waterproof guidebook while snorkeling with Tortuga Divers. On this trip we saw brain coral, star coral, so many sponges, stingrays, eagle rays, angel fish, butterflyfish, tangs, sergeant majors, surgeonfish, several types of parrot fish, trumpet fish, spotted trunk fish, bar jacks, a teeny tiny jellyfish, and this little guy, who I think is some kind of drum fish, maybe a high hat (screenshots taken from video):

We’re Thankful We Packed

Our rash guards. The sun is strong in Grand Cayman! For the amount of time we were outdoors, sunscreen just doesn’t cut it for our fair skin. We each brought long-sleeved rash guards and used them frequently. Sure, we miss out on most of that post-beach-vacation tan, but we also (hopefully) miss out on sun damage, painful burns, and potential skin cancer.

We Didn’t Need To Bring

Swim tights. I thought if I wear a rash guard for my back and arms, why not also protect my legs? So I purchased and brought a pair of full-length tights that are made for swimming. It’s a nice idea for sun protection and maybe even for skin protection against something like jellyfish stings, but I didn’t end up using them. (Just to clarify, I brought swim tights; Chris did not. I think he would want me to make that known.)

Trip Regrets

As I mentioned, we didn’t get to scuba dive, but we thoroughly enjoyed our snorkeling adventures. And of course we regret eating the meal that rendered Chris ill with food poisoning. It’s not something that could have been avoided though. We’re 99.9% sure he got sick at a nice restaurant & bar in George Town – it was clean with lovely decor and a beautiful view, so we just never suspected that it would result in an illness.

Also? I hate to bum anyone out, but I regret giving any money to the Cayman Turtle Farm ($18 each for the basic access). I found the whole experience disappointing. I can see why families with kids enjoy it though, for the opportunity to interact closely with these beautiful creatures. As adults visiting without kids, we were just too aware that the turtles, an endangered species, are bred here for the purpose of consumption and it just made our visit sad. Yes, there is a conservation and research effort as well, and if it was conservation and research ONLY I might have been happier to visit and give them our money. Either way, some of the turtles are kept in dirty, crowded, boring conditions and it just broke my heart.

We didn’t even get to see any baby turtles – it wasn’t hatching season apparently, which they didn’t mention when we paid for our tickets. Chris and I also got kicked out of the snorkeling area because we hadn’t paid for snorkeling access. We were just standing near the outside of the pond people-watching, clearly not trying to snorkel. Meanwhile, the same staff who were standing around making sure people like us didn’t stand anywhere near the areas we didn’t pay for, did nothing to keep other people from breaking safety rules and holding turtles out of their tanks over the concrete walkways (if you pick the turtles up, you’re supposed to hold them over the water). So obviously they are more concerned about making money than for the well-being of the turtles. I think we stayed for a total of ten minutes and that was ten minutes too long.

Reasons To Go Back

We definitely need to go back to Grand Cayman to dive! It’s frequently recognized as one of the top diving destinations in the world, so if we do get into scuba as a hobby, I’d certainly love to go back and explore more of the island’s underwater world, which is a total 180 from how I usually feel about the ocean! The crystal-clear waters made us feel like we were in a giant aquarium, and all of the fish we encountered seemed friendly (or scared of us) so I’m totally feeling more at-ease in the water. That’s even despite a sting I felt on my ankle at Starfish Point – I’m pretty sure it was a jellyfish and the sting lasted a few hours, but it really wasn’t that bad, so I might even be able to get over my fear of jellyfish. Well no, I won’t get over it completely, but I feel slightly less terrified of them now.

Favorite Photos

My favorite photo from the whole trip is one that I think Chris might have taken – we both shot with the underwater camera at Stingray City, but Chris took more photos than I did. I was mostly just trying to stand still and not accidentally step on a giant stingray. The waves were bigger than I expected and made it challenging to keep my balance!

And Chris’s favorite photo is also an underwater shot – he took this one of a huge angelfish while snorkeling at Sunset Reef. We chased this guy (gal?) all over the place so I’m glad he ended up with a great image.

May 19, 2014
Grand Cayman 2014

Chris and I just returned from a week on Grand Cayman, and we are smitten! What a beautiful, fun island. When we first started researching a year ago, we were looking for an island with good off-shore snorkeling. The Caymans kept coming up in my search for snorkel sites, so we decided to give it a try. We’re so glad we did! The whole island is beyond lovely, everyone we encountered was so friendly (we met people from England, Australia, France, and India), and I only ended up with two bug bites – a Caribbean island record for me!

When and where it makes sense, Chris and I prefer to stay at a private rental if we can rather than a hotel for several reasons. I love having a home base where we can feel a little more like a local. We go grocery shopping for the week and eat a few meals at home instead of eating out all the time, so it’s a little more healthy. And most importantly, we enjoy having a quiet spot where we can enjoy the pool without listening to anyone yelling or screaming! And if you do some research, it’s not necessarily more expensive than a hotel – we tend to look just slightly into the shoulder season so that the rentals are much more affordable.

This time we ended up in an amazing villa in the North Shore area called Fish Bones. Long story short, the first two villas I picked were sold after I signed the contract, so we were offered a really great deal on this third choice. We couldn’t have ended up with a better house – the view of the ocean was mesmerizing, and we had an entry point into the water down some steps built into the cliff. Chris snorkeled there a few times and saw bar jacks, parrot fish, angel fish, various crabs, and we even saw an eagle ray and a southern stingray. I didn’t get in because there were a few spiny sea urchins hanging out by the steps and I’m clumsy! But I did spend quite a bit of time sitting on the steps, gazing at the water feeling peaceful.

Staying on the east end of the island on the northern shore, we were pretty far from Seven Mile Beach (about a 45-minute drive), but we did go visit that side of the island a few times. If you’re looking for a hotel or resort situated on a gorgeous beach with access to lots of restaurants, amenities and activities, this should definitely be a major contender for you. We ate lunch on SMB one day and enjoyed the soothing ocean views and fish-watching. The tarpon are huge! We also hung out in George Town a couple of times and spent an afternoon in West Bay.

Sadly, on Monday Chris got really sick from something he ate – we narrowed it down to some tartar sauce that accompanied our fish & chips at a restaurant in George Town. We tend to share everything when we eat out, but I am NOT a fan of creamy white sauces and didn’t eat it, so we’re 99.9% sure that’s what it was. So unfortunately, we had to cancel our scuba dive trip that was scheduled for Tuesday. I had mustered up the courage to try diving and Chris was excited about it, too, so we were disappointed, but it’s not at all safe to dive while you’re sick so it was necessary to cancel and we ran out of time to reschedule. We fully intend to try again on an upcoming trip – we have Belize and Vieques trips planned for next year, so one of those spots might work!

Thankfully, Chris was feeling a little better by Wednesday so we could do some gentle island exploring including the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park to see Cayman parrots and blue iguanas. The parrots were adorable! The one blue iguana we saw was lethargic, but interesting nonetheless.

We also explored Starfish Point which was super cute – we saw about a dozen sea stars, sprinkled throughout the shallow area of a small, secluded beach. They’re fascinating little creatures! Unfortunately, their numbers are dwindling in that area because irresponsible tourists take them out of the water for too long or even take them home which breaks my heart. I picked one up very carefully and completely beneath the surface of the water for a few seconds to take a photo, then gently placed him/her (?) back in the soft sand. It was a really cool experience, and I’m glad we got to see them before they inevitably disappear. I almost wish someone could stand on the beach all day and tell people not to remove them from the water. (I would love that job.)

We actually ended up driving the entire perimeter of the island throughout the week, but most of our time was spent closer to home. We poked around a lot in East End, Rum Point, and Old Man Bay. (Side note: Chris did most of the driving since he’s better at driving on the left-hand side.) There was plenty to keep us busy all week in those areas – restaurants and bars, a sculpture garden, various historical wreck sites, and we also visited some fascinating blow hole sites along the southern shore only 10 minutes away. If we have the chance to go back to Grand Cayman, we would definitely stay in this area again for the peace and undisturbed natural beauty.

By Thursday, Chris had recovered and was up for some adventure, so we didn’t have to cancel our trip to Stingray City – yay! It ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. Fat Fish Adventures took us out on jet skis for a thrilling tour of the island – we rode through the mangroves, stopped at Starfish Point and the Stingray City sandbar, and we ended the tour with a bit of snorkeling in the Coral Gardens area of Rum Point. I have to admit that I was nervous about this whole excursion! I had only ever jet skied on a sound in Florida where the water was calm. I read reviews of this tour that said you ride in open water where the waves were generally pretty rough, so I envisioned being flung from the jet ski into the ocean where I’d immediately be surrounded by swarms of jelly fish, sharks, and barracuda. (I do know the sharks and barracuda in the Caymans are typically harmless, but in my imagination they are not.) Chris was an excellent jet ski driver though, and even hitting waves at 50+ mph we never tipped over, so I had a blast.

I had also never jumped off a boat or other watercraft into open water, and knew that I’d be expected to do this twice on the tour, so that made me nervous as well. As I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty terrified of the ocean! Or so I thought – I think I might actually be getting over that fear. When we arrived at Stingray City, we saw huge shadowy figures in the water and I was shocked at how big the stingrays were! But somehow I got in the water anyway, and instantly became fascinated. Cautious, but fascinated. I opted out of holding one or getting a “back massage” from one of these magnificent creatures because I just don’t feel like we were meant to interact with them in that way, but I did gently pet one. They were, after all, brushing up against my legs like sweet, friendly kittens. We also saw a cute spotted trunk fish (see below – Chris took a great photo of it).

When our tour group got to the Coral Gardens site, I ignored my fears once again and just jumped in – I’ve never seen such a beautiful landscape underwater! The colorful corals and fish had me completely hooked, but we only stayed in that spot for about fifteen minutes. I wasn’t ready to leave and I ended up being the last one in the water.

We enjoyed the snorkeling so much that we decided to do one last adventure on Friday – we joined Tortuga Divers on a fantastic trip out to Sunset Reef where we snorkeled for well over an hour. I took more video than photos, but check out the trumpet fish below, and Chris’s stunning image of an angel fish!

I took a ton of video on this trip, so I’ll work on putting together some of my favorite clips. Stay tuned! And finally, I’ll end with the traditional toes-on-vacation shot from the pool. I could have stared at that view all day long, and sometimes I did.

Update: I finished a little video of the trip and uploaded it here! Again, I’ll add a disclaimer that I’m not really a videographer (I barely understand frame rates and all that jazz), and I definitely need more practice shooting video and photos underwater. But you’ll get the idea, and Chris was able to grab some really cool scenes of the rays at Stingray City!

Grand Cayman 2014 from Susan Marks on Vimeo.

April 27, 2014