Turtles And Rays And Fish, Oh My

Little Farmer's Cay  

Our anchorage off Little Farmer's Cay is influenced by both wind and current. Overnight we rotated 180 degrees and I required a few extra seconds this morning to get my bearings. We had no plans to start the day and I took advantage of the time available. I cleaned, dusted and vacuumed the downstairs. It is amazing how much sand gets tracked throughout the boat. I followed that up with my exercises and a shower and was done with all of that by 11:00. What to do? I spent some time atop the pilot house admiring the view. While cleaning I found a tube of bubbles and enjoyed setting hundreds of bubbles adrift in the breeze. We had lunch and I read for a while in the sunshine. Finally it was time to go snorkeling. We joined Kelly and Richard (Untethered) and headed into the protected harbor as the current from the falling tide was still ripping through the anchorage. We dropped anchor and jumped in.

We were treated to several large fish right away. I was excited for these were the first big fish we'd seen all season. An artificial reef had been established in the center of the harbor. Crafted from chain link fencing, the reef had numerous young and healthy coral specimens and many smaller fish that were darting in and out of the protected covering. I swam further out and thats when I spotted the turtle and proceeded to follow him back in toward our dinghies. The turtle was the perfect swimming partner and was neither spooked by my presence nor attacking me for snacks. We glided in and out, up and down. 

I motioned for Richard to join me. He was able to get a few close-up photos before the turtle waved goodbye and moved along. Still buzzing from that excitement, Kelly yelled that a large ray was headed our way. We followed him and his fish friend for a while before loading back in the dinghies. We had a few more spots to explore.

We travelled north and first stopped at a coral head in front of our motherships. The current was still too strong so we moved to a spot off of Oven Rock. Exposed to the long fetch of the wind, it was pretty sporty and we did not even enter the water. Disappointed we headed back home where the boys stayed while Kelly and I went a bit further south, just off the point of Little Farmer's Cay. Oh, my. What an incredible experience this was. We saw every type of coral imaginable and schools of large fish allowed us to swim among them. 

During our time in this area, we finally reached slack tide. It was an incredible experience I took a hundred photos, but these are some of my favorites from a quick scan. There were plenty of beautiful angel fish, many beneficial parrot fish, and I saw three evil invasive lion fish. Many other impressive fish swam by, but I cannot identify them at this time. Kelly and I stayed on the reef for about 45 minutes before we had to call it a day and hop back into the dinghy. We complimented each other on our strong and graceful transitions from water to boat. High five time.

We each grabbed quick showers and changed before we all went ashore to watch the sunset at Ty's. It was closed (even though it is not Monday) so we sat on the deck without beverages and watched the sunset. We ended the evening with appys aboard Untethered, still talking about the great day full of turtles and rays and fish. Oh my!