Wednesday, August 14, 2019

This week was not only about politics. I actually managed to get in the water - twice.

Our friend Jim Tagg was on the island for a few days and wanted to do a bunch of diving. Unfortunately for me, his first day here I wrenched my knee and could barely walk, let alone carry scuba gear.

By Sunday the knee was solid enough and we dove Crashboat.

Almost exactly two years after Hurricane Maria, I think there are more fish there now than there were before the hurricane. I'm not the only one; Ive heard other divers say that too. There are definitely more species of fish. Lots more big-eyes like these and the ones in the video above.

I think there are several factors at play here. One, since all the piers are now wrecks, there are lots more protected places for fish to hide. For another, there are fewer fishermen. The long pier was broken in half and erosion during the storm surge essentially cut the beach in half. The now-sunken piers are much farther out from the usable beach. With less beach - and less parking - there may actually be fewer people there. Whatever the reasons, I love it!

Back at the beginning of summer our friend Carole and I decided we would try to snorkel somewhere at least once a week. Through July, we had our employees every morning and Carole had a household full of guest. So we missed the entire month of July. Tuesday we started back at it. Carole wanted to snorkel at Playa Borinquen so that's where we went.

The Borinquen is a beutiful beach in and of itself and the water has the most incredible colors of anywhere on the island.

 

I swam out with my two beautiful mermaids looking for adventure.

Among other things we found this:

a huge school of baitfish. I'm not sure what kind but I think they're mackeral scad. Out on the edges of the school Elaine saw a huge barracuda and a shark, probably a lemon shark others have reported in the area. I missed the shark, damnit! Oh, well there will be other days. 

This Saturday I'm planning to go back to Crashboat with friends. Hoping for lots more great photos then.