Today was another beautiful day for the Tropical Ospreys!
Our main stop was to one of my favorite places, Bahia Honda State Park. During
our free time here, Nicole, Sam and I went snorkeling over the seagrass beds, these
beds were by far the best we saw the entire trip.
One of my personal favorite types of algae we saw was the
merman's shaving brush, it resembles a makeup brush shape. Underwater you
obviously communicate with hand motions and expressions. I was joking with
Nicole by picking one up and brushing my face pretending it was real. It
obviously was a perfect fit as we were mermaids this trip!
We also saw two conch shells. The shells overgrown with
algae were still glistening in the sun placed in the seagrass bed. We of
course made a phone call to our southern mermaid friends on it! (Not really!
You should never touch and disturb the wildlife.)
A small bicolor damselfish was guarding it territory of a
dead coral rock. Nicole and Sam got it see how it acts like a guard to its
castle coming out to check you out then retreats. We encountered these fish
many times out on the reefs. There was even one guarding the Buddha statue
placed at one of the sites! If you put out your hand, it gives you a nice
nibble to the finger and not in a friendly way! For such a small fish, they
have no fear of us large humans!
The final favorite of our seagrass bed snorkel today was
the Red Cushion Sea Star. I think Nicole and I screamed so loud through our
snorkels the people on the beach could hear us when we saw the starfish! It was
bigger than my head! The vibrant reddish color looked beautiful against the
green grass it was slowly, very slowly, grazing over. It was incredible to
watch each tube under the arms moving the star along the algae, taking what it
pleases off the surface.
Overall, Bahia Honda was an amazing day full of sea life and
beautiful water. It never fails to please! If you have the chance to explore
the beautiful sanctuary of Bahia Honda and be a mermaid for the day, I highly recommend
to go and enjoy!
Read more on seagrass beds! https://ambergriscaye.com/reefbriefs/briefs4.html
This is such a fun post Caroline! I never knew we could kind of talk to each other underwater through the snorkel. The seastar was so vivid it stood out among the seagrass bed. No sooner had you been wondering about the conch shells when we spotted one! It was great snorkeling with a scuba diver, and learning to just glide slowly through the water. The slower I went the more I saw... except when I tried to follow the Southern stingray... I was in awe. This really was my favorite snorkel experience with my lovely fellow mermaids Caroline and Sam.
ReplyDeleteThose Damselfish are so incredible! It's a good thing not all species are that territorial or we may have come back a with a few chunks missing out of us. I wonder what it is like for them to attack such a large animal like us. I wish I had half their courage!
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