Absolutely beautiful, Ricky! Hope you had a great time! I love snorkeling, but now I have trouble seeing without my glasses. *sniff* Did you find the reef area to be in pretty good shape? So many are in trouble now. Your photos look like it was healthy.

Marcia

Marcia
Did you know that you can get a mask with your eyeglass prescription? I got one years ago when we went diving.
Now my eyes are diff. so I need a new mask.

Denise

P.S. Ricky, pretty garden. and you never need to water it.
The underwater world is SO beautiful and I love how quiet it is,just your eyes feasting on the incredible beauty.

Denise, I had heard that, but I think they are probably expensive...and I wear TRI-focals, too. Can't see close up, far away, or anything in between without them. I'm guessing that would cost me an awful lot to have made, and we don't get to go very often. I wish they just made a mask that could somehow be worn OVER my glasses! Maybe if I had a pince-nez made in my prescription, THAT could work!
Haha!

Thanks for suggesting it, though. Perhaps someday......

Marcia

Next time we see pics of that spot, I am betting their will be crotons growing everywhere!

Nice pics Ricky

Oh, wow! those photos are gorgeous! When we lived in the Bahamas, it was all I could do to keep my son out of the water. I'm rather claustrophobic, so my snorkling was limited.
BUT, my husband took the temples off of an old pair of his glasses and glued them (with silicone caulk, if I recall) to the inside of his mask. He had to tweak the fit a bit, but he used that mask for ages. cora

tony - Crotons are salt tolerant to a degree, by not that much!

"I'd Like to be, under the sea, in a octopusses garden, in the shade"

WOW Ricky, you made me really miss my years of teaching scuba. I couldn't take enough photos under the clear waters. This is something I hope (God willing) to share with Dennis one day. My love of the worlds under the seas. Once we get him back to normal and my 2nd hip in place, the Caribbean will be our playground!! Thanks for sharing.

I like Marcia's question about the health of the reef. I'm interested too. (And I'm still laughing about Tony's croton comment!)

Ricky, don't you go to Jamaica every year or so? Have you seen changes in the condition of the reef from visit to visit?

Kate

Kate - We go to Jamaica twice a year, sometimes three trips, but this was my first time snorkeling so I can't compare the reef to a previous experience. From what the guys at the club told me, their reefs were on the decline but now appear to be stable. They did show us one reef that was completely dead, as a warning not to touch!

Beautiful, would have been a great experience. Supposedly, they have a lovely snorkeling spot in Lantana- not sure about reefs. Have you been to the John Pennekamp?

My neighbor mentioned a spot off Lantana. I'm going up there next week to have a look. I've snorkeled Red Reef in Boca Raton - not much to see. Any others you know of?

My Bahamian neighbor's mother, who was known as "The Shark Lady" some years back, was very vocal condemming the local fishermen who poured bleach into the water to stun/kill the spiney lobster to make them easy to catch. Of course, the bleach killed large areas of coral as well. I've not been to the islands in decades - I hope the bleaching has stopped and the reefs are growing back. cora

Bleach... holy cow....
Ricky, have not been out snorkeling in this area, but will ask the 'regulars'....

Corar,

What a small world! I knew Gloria Patience, 'The Shark Lady' and her family when my husband and I ran the dive shop in Georgetown, Exuma. We still visit every year on our sailboat and yes, on some of the cays, the locals are still bleaching the reefs but most of the lobster is taken by the commercial fleets now.