Toucari Bay!

Last Saturday I went on a fun snorkeling trip to Toucari Bay, which is about fifteen minutes north of where we live. It's pronounced TOO-car-ee, and it was beautiful. There were about fifteen other spouses who went, and it really turned out to be a lovely day.

I've done a lot of snorkeling on the island, but this was some of the most spectacular. The coral formations were absolutely breathtaking, and I couldn't get over the colors! Of course, every time I snorkel I spend the entire time thinking "OH WOW!" so it isn't that unusual.

Jen, Briana, and Elyse and I all headed out together. I was very glad to be in a crowd when we reached the drop off. There's something frightening and thrilling about drifting over the drop-off... it's incredible to watch the coral and ground suddenly vanish into blue-black water that could contain anything at all. We'd swum out initially along the southern edge of the bay, and when we reached the drop-off, I asked Briana if she knew where the shipwreck was. She thought that it was on the other side of the bay. Well, we decided that rather than swim all the way back in, walk over, and swim all the way back out, we'd just swim across the mouth of the bay. Oh my, it was a long way- probably a mile! We were very silly, I know, but we're all strong swimmers and in good shape, we were in a group, and the Caribbean doesn't have strong currents like the Atlantic. So we were safe but tired!

We didn't end up seeing the shipwreck, but my friend Nick knows where it is and offered to show us sometime. Nick is down here with his wife and adorable daughter. The swim back in along the north end of the bay was interesting. It was sandier, and had fishing traps and nets along the bottom. You'll remember I mentioned fishing traps when Ryan and I went fishing down here! I found a few amazing sand dollars which I love diving for. Many of the sand dollars down here are very fragile, but I found one that was lovely and thick!

I have a very funny story to tell you about the walk down the beach, but I'll save that for another post. Here are a few photos that were taken by Kristen, who is down here with her husband, who is a professor at Ross. Aren't they spectacular?! When we exchange my broken camera at Christmas time, Ryan and I want an underwater camera. Look at these photos... LOVELY!









Can you see Mr. Octopus hiding in that last one? Look closely! I didn't see him unfortunately. Kristen always sees the most amazing things! I have seen squid, but no octopus.