The Aquarium

The Aquarium    …   Sunday 24 March 2013

If you go to the mountains you miss a lot if you don't go hiking or climbing. Similarly if you come to the Bahamas you would miss a lot if you didn't snorkel or dive. The water here has an almost unbelievable clarity. From above this leads to wonderful varied colors depending on the depth and the nature of the seabed - sand, grass, coral. Below the surface there are amazing corals, sponges and a vast array of beautiful fish. We are currently anchored at Cambridge Cay, a couple of miles inside the southern boundary of the Exuma Land and Sea Park and having spent a lazy morning aboard the boat we joined forces with our friends Lynn and Lee and took our dinghies to explore some of the snorkling highlights in this area. We motored in convoy about 3 miles north to a dive site known as the "Aquarium" and tied up to a buoy that the park provides. The journey was a little bumpy but mostly downwind. The mooring was close to a small, unremarkable island, and was decidedly choppy as the waves bounced into the cliffs and were reflected. Lee jumped in first and quickly re-surfaced, quite excited. I believe his exact words were "Holy shit you're not going to believe how many fish there are down here". Well he was right, it was incredible. We ended up snorkeling all the way round the island - twice! The visibility was excellent and we saw lots of beautiful fish, including many we had not seen previously. Most of the fish didn't seem at all bothered by our presence and some were frankly inquisitive. Lynn had brought a small jar of food (perhaps corn) and when she opened it we were immediately surrounded by shoals of fish within inches of our masks - it was unbelievable. Having completed our two laps of the island and been in the water for more than hour (perhaps two) we were all starting to get a little chilly, despite wearing shorty wet suits. In fact today I wore my shorty wet suit over the one Dave left with us and felt the warmest that i've been whilst snorkeling - thanks Dave! Gloria also made use of borrowed gear, using Rod's prescription lens mask, and consequently seeing a lot more. The journey back was a lot wetter. The tide was now flooding at maximum velocity and the wind was blowing solidly in the opposite direction. The result were short, step waves and a bumpy ride. We made it back without incident and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and then got together after sunset to look at the fish identification books and compare our sightings.  great end to an excellent day.

Mike

24 18.125 N, 76 32.433 W

"Serendipity" at anchor Cambridge Cay

Abstract - ship at anchor

Abstract - ship at anchor