Snorkeling Bust, Starfish Point
May. 17th, 2023 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerGrand Cayman Travelog #8
Starfish Point, Grand Cayman - Tue, 16 May 2023, 4pm
After swimming with the stingrays we got to the part of the trip I had most been looking forward to this afternoon: snorkeling. Except by the time we got to the snorkeling reef I already knew I wasn't going in the water. 😱 I'd donned a snorkeling mask back at the stingray scrum to practice snorkeling, and I got something in my eye. It was so painful that my eye was watering constantly and I couldn't deal with anything being placed on, over, or near it for at least a few hours.
I stayed on the boat while everyone else went in the water. My consolation prize was the guides opened the bar for me. There was a bar on the boat, and the rule was "No booze until ya're done wit' snorkeling". Well, I was done.
I did get a chance to get back in the water at our final stop, Starfish Point. The boat anchored within about 50' of shore, and the water was only 2' deep. There were bunches of starfish in the shallow water. We also found a sea cucumber and a friendly jellyfish. "Friendly" in this case was that it was sort of floating upside down, its stinging tentacles on top. We took turns holding it from underneath. While we were exchanging expressions of surprising at how we could touch it without being stung, a colleague of mine who speaks several European languages explained that in every language he knows except English, a jellyfish is called basically a Medusa. That is... way more apropos and far less stupid than jelly fish.
As for the starfishes? I took video of a few other people and myself playing with them. My videos turned out damaged, though. It'll take me a while to see if I can salvage anything worthwhile or get a better quality pics/video from a friend.
Update: we went back to Starfish Point Friday, on our own. I posted a new journal entry with great pictures and video from Starfish Point.
Starfish Point, Grand Cayman - Tue, 16 May 2023, 4pm
After swimming with the stingrays we got to the part of the trip I had most been looking forward to this afternoon: snorkeling. Except by the time we got to the snorkeling reef I already knew I wasn't going in the water. 😱 I'd donned a snorkeling mask back at the stingray scrum to practice snorkeling, and I got something in my eye. It was so painful that my eye was watering constantly and I couldn't deal with anything being placed on, over, or near it for at least a few hours.
I stayed on the boat while everyone else went in the water. My consolation prize was the guides opened the bar for me. There was a bar on the boat, and the rule was "No booze until ya're done wit' snorkeling". Well, I was done.
I did get a chance to get back in the water at our final stop, Starfish Point. The boat anchored within about 50' of shore, and the water was only 2' deep. There were bunches of starfish in the shallow water. We also found a sea cucumber and a friendly jellyfish. "Friendly" in this case was that it was sort of floating upside down, its stinging tentacles on top. We took turns holding it from underneath. While we were exchanging expressions of surprising at how we could touch it without being stung, a colleague of mine who speaks several European languages explained that in every language he knows except English, a jellyfish is called basically a Medusa. That is... way more apropos and far less stupid than jelly fish.
As for the starfishes? I took video of a few other people and myself playing with them. My videos turned out damaged, though. It'll take me a while to see if I can salvage anything worthwhile or get a better quality pics/video from a friend.
Update: we went back to Starfish Point Friday, on our own. I posted a new journal entry with great pictures and video from Starfish Point.
