Sand and Sun

I have been back for a little under 72 hours and have definitely utilized some of that time to go swimming! I definitely missed the beautiful ocean this summer, but I didn't really have a whole lot of down time with working and spending time with family. I think I made it out into the sun (where it required sunscreen) a total of 4 times. Kind of sad and pathetic! Basically what this means is that I am still a pasty pale Irish girl who pretty much glows in the dark!

Yesterday we hung out at the campus beach, swimming around and exploring the reefs. I bought myself an Olympus Tough TG-1 before coming back because I just couldn't go another semester without being able to share the beautiful ocean with you! Great news, the camera works great! I am still learning how to use the various features and when to use certain settings, but I definitely logged a lot of great pictures between yesterday and today! Today we went to Aquarium, a local restaurant by the airport that is well known for having great food and excellent snorkling. I'm not really sure how the place got its name, because it certainly isn't an aquarium! They did have a little turtle pond with a bunch of turtles and fish, and a small tank with a couple of lobsters and lion fish. The food was excellent. The snorkling was great too! Lots of cool finds yesterday and today. The top couple are eel sightings and an octopus!

I haven't really seen any eels in the water here yet, although I knew they were here. Nothing crazy, just a couple of leopard eels. They are quite pretty. We saw one yesterday who was pretty relaxed about people swimming over top of him and staring at him. We were only 4 or 5 feet above him (shallow waters). Today's eel was on a mission and didn't stick around for very long. I took lots of pictures of the various corals and some fish. As I was sorta kinda making my way to shore (getting out of the water is a lengthy process for me as I'm never quite ready to get out and say good bye), I saw a pair of eyes and part of a tentacle staring up at me froma  crevice in a rock. The octopus was definitely nervous about me watching him (and snapping pictures!), but he just tried harder to tuck himself into the rock rather than jetting away or inking. Very cool!

I am quickly turning into a strawberry (or cherry or tomato, just pick your fruit haha!) spending so muhc time in the sun. I was quite red from yesterday (just my back, since I always spend my time face down in the water), and I'm sure I didn't do my skin any favors by going back out again today. Oh well, the pictures were definitely worth it! I will just be really tan on my back and pasty pale in front haha.

Enjoy the pictures!!! (p.s. there are 2 more new posts below this one)