roatan island - what's in the water?

Roatan island is surrounded by the world's second largest coral reef.  Thus it is a mecca for divers and snorkelers.

We are staying at a great little hotel run by two Canadians meaning they have Caesars.

The place is surrounded by lovely gardens filled with flowers and Coconut trees.  Countless geckos live here and watch you upside down with a wary eye to see whether you have spare fruit or watermelon to share with them. It is funny to watch them sneak down to grab a piece of fruit too big for their little mouths and try and chew it down to size before dashing away.

Also abounding the grounds are many Jesus Christ lizards called his as they are able to run across water. They run away as you walk by resembling a mini Jurassic Park of fleeing velociraptors.

finally there are the agcooties.  Rough approximate of the actual name. They are like a cross between a gopher and a bunny. They half hip hop but have tiny little ears.

Yesterday we did a snorkeling trip to Spooky Channel. We hitched along with scuba divers who assured us that it was like an aquarium just off the boat and they weren't wrong.

jump into the water and countless fish appear in colours that put the rainbow to shame.  Giant parrot fish, a dark blue luminous fish with sparkles all over their body: juvenile damselfish.

we caught up with a school of grey angelfish and with the brain and fan coral you felt like you were in Finding Nemo.

After an hour of snorkeling we were summoned back to the boat to pick up the divers. one a very gentle young man was already surfaced and hanging off a buoy. He admitted he was a nervous diver and had used up his oxygen early as a result.

While waiting for the others to ascend the captain suggested we could continue to snorkel. At this time the swells were so large and weird I suddenly remembered the long ago feeling of being sea sick.  I jumped off the boat looking green, hung off the ladder and began dry heaving as the captain laughed and said "get it out man, it happens to everyone".

By the time I was feeling better the gentle young man had lept back into the boat and I hear him say jellyfish pointing to red lashes over his legs. Just as he said this I felt the pinching sting on my left calf and jumped up the ladder. The captain poured vinegar on our legs while bubbles appeared one by one around the boat as the divers began to surface.

An older canadian couple were ecstatic, raving about the underwater caves they went through in Spooky Channel while another diver relayed his dangerous encounter with  moray eel.

I told them I still had PTSD. From seeing The Deep as a kid where Louis Gossett Junior gets his bald head crunched in half by a moray while fighting Nick Nolte.

the Canadian woman remembered the scene well saying "oh yeah!" And laughing. She remarked that every time she dives she always second guesses herself about what's in the water.