E.S.S. on Pinel Island
Today we did an Extreme Shallow Snorkeling mission on Ilet Pinel, a small island near the town of Cul de Sac. While waiting for the ferry, we saw an octopus…and a man washing it down with leaves and sea water. Once we arrived, we were accompanied by a dog on our walk across the island and found that the surf on that side was too rough for snorkeling.
Returning to the protected side, we found that a new eco-tour business, Wakawa now occupied the main snorkeling area. We chatted with the marine biologist staff there for a bit before snorkeling. They have high-tech snorkels that give guided underwater audio tours of the snorkel area. While snorkeling, we saw many needle-nosed fish (I’m not sure of the name) and one spotted eagle ray, but again I did not get a good photo of it.
After a delicious lunch at the Yellow Beach restaurant (finishing with some coconut delight) we rested briefly before snorkeling the very shallow waters off the nearby beach. As we often do, we found a sea hare, a slug-like creature that feeds on sea plants. I also found a brightly colored crab and a very small green moray eel. Although there were not a great deal of corals, there were many small, green Cnidaria on many of the rocks.
Overall, it was a beautiful day and a very successful mission. There were so many interesting small fishes in the shallow areas, I really must return soon with my proper camera for some macro photography.
