For one of our expeditions; Sam, Heather, Libby and I decided to go snorkeling in the bays around Huatulco. I knew that I would absolutely love going snorkeling. Swimming with fishies sounded like heaven to me, but I don't think I had any idea I would like it this much... We had fun trying out our flippers for size. They are rather hard to walk around in. I dont suggest it. And of course we all looked super cute in our goggles. We had an older couple from Colorado and two guides on our snorkeling tour. One man drove the boat and the other (who was from Wales) got in the water with us to show us where to go. We went to three bays. The first one was near a small off-shore island that had a reef. I couldn't believe all the fish we saw! Our guide was showing us how to properly dive so our ears didn't hurt from the pressure. Once I figured out how to do it, I had a hay-day! I dove down to chase any cool fish I saw, or investigate small crevices in the rocks. I saw a neat zebra stripped eel that slithered through water like a snake. My favorite were probably these really small florescent blue fishies that looked like they came out of the movie Avatar. One time I dove down to get a closer look at one, and when I turned around, I had a school of about 30 pancake-size fish a foot away from me. I then tried swimming with them, but they weren't about to allow me into their gang. There were also little slender rainbow fish that were only about 2-3 inches long. I found out that they enjoy giving divers 'kisses'. So occasionally, I would feel a little peck on my leg and see a little rainbow dash away as I turned to see what it was. There were also schools of long slender silver fish. They were about 2ft long and reminded me of machetes. They waded in shallow pools near the rocks and their scales shimmered with every move they made. The 2nd bay we went to, we were told we might have a chance of seeing manta rays, but instead we encountered other creatures.. At this particular bay, there were schools of probably MILLIONS of little gumdrop jellyfish. They were all no more than 2 inches big and didn't have any significant tenticles to speak of. All of them floated carelessly on the surface in clumps. We had to swim through them! They generally "didn't sting" but occasionally you would feel a little prick. The oddest sensation was swimming through them and feeling them between your fingers. Even though the gumdrop jellies "didn't sting" the other 3 girls were a little freaked out by the idea of jellyfish, so they retreated back to the boat. I continued exploring. I unfortunately didn't get to see any manta rays, but I got to see other neat creatures! Our guide showed me some 'christmas-tree worms' who clung to the rocks. They did look like christmas trees, but they came in a variety of bright colors! (Green, Yellow, Orange and Red) They had layers of tenticle looking things that would significantly retract if you touched them [I had fun with this]. Here I had a couple of large gray and yellow spotted fish who found me interesting. I often found them swimming around me. They allowed me to swim with them as long as I didn't try to pet them. Which, I will admit, I tried to do a couple times.. Our 3rd bay had the largest reef. It also had a neat little cave that we swam into. It wasn't that exciting, but It had a neat view. Here, our guide dove down and captured a 'spider starfish' for us. He was black and had spiny looking limbs. I found its name appropriate as it creeped over our guides hand. It moved quicker than I expected. Later, I saw a puffer fish! He was funny looking. Kinda reminded me of a dog. He was black and had small white dots on him. I tried chasing him, but he retreated into a crevice. He didn't puff-up like I had hoped.. I also saw a dead puffer fish.. he was lying on the ocean floor. Not very cute. After this we unfortunately had to go back.. I felt like I could have spent the whole day snorkeling! and then go out the next day and do it again!! I absolutely loved it. I seriously would consider being a snorkeling instructor if the opportunity ever arose.
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