Today is Dia de San Juan de Bautista (St. John the Babtist Day). Last night was Noche de San Juan, the night of St. John. It is a night of revelry and partying on the beaches. People camp on the beaches (which is technically illegal) so at midnight they can continue the tradition of throwing themselves backward into the ocean three times. More than a thousand people crowded Jobos last night.
For some Noche de San Juan is just an excuse to party on the beach. For others, though, it really is a religious observance, celebrating John the Baptist baptising Jesus. Unfortunately, it's not all fun. The morning after the beaches are always a mess with trash, empty beer bottles and even used diapers. Somewhere around the island there are always fights and cars broken into. It's sad that a special, fun night is marred that way.
We didn't make it 'til midnight, didn't even plan to. Instead of throwing ourselves backward into the ocean, we went night snorkeling much earlier in the evening out on "our" reef.
The reef at night is a completely different place. Obviously it's harder to see; your field of vision is defined by what your dive light illuminates, like the way your driving vision is defined by your car headlights at night. Fish appear in completely different colors and we have to identify the familiar ones by shape alone. We see fish at night that we don't normally see in the day time. And the sea urchins. By day, the appear to be anchored to the rocks like barnacles. But they're not. At night they cruise around the rocks and the reef. It's pretty amazing to watch.
It's not the first time we've been night snorkeling (I even have one night dive). I guarantee it won't be the last!
No comments:
Post a Comment