Snapper Island
9/11/00
Island Time
Paradisio! Oh, this is wonderful! So glad I got to do this. Just finished lunch. Didn’t like the fact that all of the leftovers were thrown away, or the way some of the food scraps were just dumped. But oh, the beach, the view, the forest! I could stay here forever.
Kevin in kayak
Snorkeling
After my muesli breakfast & shuttle to the beach, we met with Simon to get in the kayaks. Aside from me, there’s a couple along. Don’t know their names, but the lady is from Melbourne & the guy is Swiss. They had the two-person boat. I got the single. Excellent. Now these are some cool kayaks. It has a pedal-steering rudder & is made for wearing a skirt. Pretty cool. We paddled out to a rock outcrop & I did some snorkeling. I found a turtle resting under a coral shelf. Awesome. Then we made our way towards the island. Simon was in a speed boat & he stayed out 300m or so from us to give us some peace. As he motored out, he came to a stop & yelled to us. Dolphins! There were about 5 or 6 of them. They were mainly blowing, so you could see their sleek dorsal fin & the occasional, elegant fluke. Magnificent. The dolphins continued down the coast, so I started paddling again.
After a bit, I realized I had to pee. Damn coffee. Mind you, we had only gone maybe 2 of the 7 km to Snapper. The boat was too unstable to attempt a piss overboard, so I paddled on — much more rapidly. Oh, I couldn’t stand it! I thought about calling Simon over to hold the boat, but I decided to grit my teeth & carry on. As we got closer, Simon came over to inform us he was going ahead to set up camp & make tea. I asked for some help.
“Now, mate. Just piss in the boat.”
“You serious?”
“Yea. We’ll just wash it out later. It won’t do any harm.”
“Glad I’m in a single boat.”
Damn, did I feel better. I could start enjoying the trip again. We finally made it to the island, I rinsed myself off, we rinsed the boat, and then off to camp for tea.
Shell of Cuttlefish
After tea we went for a snorkel. The coral comes right up to the beach here. As a matter of fact, the sand is littered with broken coral. Oh, I found a cuttlefish shell. Anyhow, the tide was going out and it was impossible to get out to deep enough water without walking over the coral. That really sucked. Worse was getting out. I could feel the coral breaking under my weight. Never again. Next time I wait for high tide.
The coral wasn’t all that impressive, either. No algae, no sea fans, very few fish, little to no color. I did see some Pacific Clams. They’re huge! I saw a few bigger than my torso (in diameter). They’ve got this flourescent blue & green along their membranes. And me without my camera. Also saw some very bright, florescent yellow coral.
Enough. I’m going to enjoy it.
KC