Day 5: Swimming with the Fishes

(without the cement blocks tied to our feet)

With two days of snorkeling practice under his belt, we felt confident to set out on our Catamaran Cruise.  Rather than the super large version, we chose a private escape on our mini catamaran for our rendezvous with the fishes.

I absconded with some fresh buns from the breakfast buffet in order to lure in our fishy friends and we were off.

The thing about catamaraning is if there is too much wind, or if there is no wind you are going to have a tough go of it.  We got about 200 meters off shore before the wind left on his lunch break.  The journey that should have taken 20 minutes or so ended up taking us a leisurely hour and a bit.

There were no complaints from us as we drifted silently, listening to the waves and catching some rays.

Eventually the wind picked up and we were closing in on the buoy that marked the ‘fish den’.  I can barely parallel park a car, so watching Angel navigate this catamaran by zig zagging with the wind, inches away from the buoy to secure the boat was a marvel in and of itself.

I expected a little more resistance from Gaston getting in the water, but he just slid in like a little seal off the side of the boat and we were on our way.

Now, here is the secret to creating a Fish Feeding Frenzy: First you tear up a bunch of pieces of bread and hold them tightly in your fist.  When you get to where you need to be, just open your fingers enough so that a few crumbs sneak out and the fishes ‘smell bread in the water’.  Let a few of them in on the gig so they go and tell all their other fish friends about what’s about to go down.

Then BAM!  Open your hand and watch them attack.  Pro Tip: Throw the bread away from you so they don’t start biting your fingers…

We saw parrot fish, long skinny fish, a grumpy fish, a bunch of schools and some sea urchins.  I dare say this snorkel trip may have outdone yesterday’s scuba adventure…

There were a bunch of other catamarans tied up around the same area and you could tell that the fish were used to us human fish swimming around them.  You could literally dive down and swim through entire schools of fish that would barely move as you swam by.  It was definitely a surreal experience.

Music credit: Andrea Bocelli