Day 8 Diving the reef hungry.
The next morning I slept in for the first time. We had poppy seed and apple cinnamon scones with tea. After some discussion we decided that instead of trying to take the dingy out to the reef, we would drive the catamaran.
The reef formed a line in the ocean a half-mile East of the cay. The ocean floor rose from the water like the hull of a ship and the waves beyond were wild. As we dropped anchor another boat parked a hundred meters north. The dingy flooded when we drove it out in the high seas and we anchored in the sand before we realized we didn't have all the snorkeling gear.
We found the missing fins wedged up in the top of the footlocker and on the second trip out to the reef we brought two kitchen cups to bail.
The wind pushed us into the coral while we tried to decide where to anchor. We had to lift the motor and paddle out into deeper water.
The reef was shallow and damaged by storms but still busy with fish and corals. We spent some time diving down to peer into holes and around sponges and corals. Our food reserves were getting pretty low and we wanted to try cooking a conch but unlike Geoff's Cay, there was little seaweed and no shells. We saw a few lionfish hiding in the coral but we had nothing to spear them.
On the way back to the dingy we saw some squid. They fled when we approached then stopped and watched us. Amanda and I spent 10 minutes hovering above them. Squid have large and expressive eyes and I wondered who was more curious.
When I got cold (in the 78 degree water) we returned to the catamaran and ate some leftover rice and beans with scrambled eggs.
After lunch we returned to the reef to investigate the sandbar. We chased rays in the shallow water and Ricky found a huge conch shell on the sand. The empty shells we found had holes punched in the second spiral. I think this is how you force the creature out.
We saw schools of parrot fish and one shaped like a string of ravioli. We also saw a few giant hermit crabs and when Ricky put a piece of coral in it's pincers it crushed it to sand. Brian, Ricky, and I collected sand dollars but they were all broken by the time we climbed back into the dingy.
When we returned to the cay a fishing boat had taken our anchor spot and we spent a half hour trying to anchor closer to the reef. Our first and second anchor didn't set and we had to try again. The wind kept pushing us into the reef. It was embarrassing to be so incompetent in front of the locals.
Encouraged by Freddie's stories of fishermen selling fish to passing boats, Ricky and Brian took the dingy over to see if they had anything we could buy. They turned them away before they even got close saying they only had fish for their families.
When they returned we decided to go around to the other side of the island.
Back through the narrow straights, we found a patch of sand to drop anchor but it didn't set and we nearly backed into the coral. We raised it again and set it farther out. It seemed like I'd spent most of the day raising and lowering anchor.
When it finally set we were pretty close to the coral so we decided to go for a swim and dive the anchor to make sure there would be no surprises if the boat swung around during the night.
I didn't go swimming with the others. I was feeling cold and lazy and everyone seemed a little grumpy. In retrospect it may have been because our food was running out. Ricky swam out towards the cay and found the blue hole, a vertical sinkhole in the floor of the ocean with a sandy bottom.
That night we played kitty-kitty poo-poo, a game where everyone takes turns drawing and describing a short scene then trading the paper with their neighbor. When it was over we all agreed Brian (the art major) had done the sloppiest work.
Amanda took a flashlight and shined it into the water. Hundreds of fish and krill swarmed on the surface. There were also tens of 2-4" long sea snakes squirming around. Wherever she shined the light the fish would dart away but they would rush back when it was switched off.
After a while we turned off the lights and sat in the dark enjoying the solitude. A loud splash by the side of the boat broke the silence but by the time we looked over the side there was nothing to see.
