Snorkeling 101

Brain Coral
Originally uploaded by brownhousechris.

My RTW (Round-The-World) trip began in Fiji in April 2003. This seems as good a place as any to begin my posting.

April 4, 2006. There is a borrowed purple towel between myself and the sandy beach as I sit here at Waya Lailai Island Eco-Resort, which is on the second southernmost island in the Yasawa group. I just returned from my first-ever snorkel trip, which was fantastic. A little skiff dropped us off over a coral reef, and for about an hour I just floated along, kicking slowly and staring down at everything below.

It's amazing; all the things I have read and heard about in oceanography classes were right before my eyes: corals in every color and tropical fish enough to stock any pet shop, from tiny irridescent-blue fish, to neons, to striped fish a foot long or so. The water was just teeming with them, swimming in every direction. Sometimes I could just stop and let the motion of the waves wash me back and forth over the reef. I think I'm going back, and I can't wait.