Early morning snorkel

Morning Chia!

I laugh when I see that photo of us and how we were pretending to be 'girlfriends'. It just reminded me of Valencia when we were perving on the hot Spanish policemen.

You are so well versed in cooking and making things! Thank you for letting me try your muesli bars as they were so yummy and healthy! I am a little sad that I missed out on trying your inventive blueberry and sourcream muffins and your mint and peanut chocolate cookies. Though, I guess it is also a blessing as I am sure that I would have eaten enough to add a little muffin around my waist! Your hair facinator is stunning! I love the purple and how pretty it looks on you. I definitely think since you have made it, it makes it a better facinator than if someone had bought one from the store!

I also just want to say that you look so hot with your strapless top/dress! =D

For me, this week has gone really slow. I was wishing that it was the weekend on Monday morning! As the week progressed I kept wishing for it to be Saturday as it was predicted that it would be 30 degrees, and here it is!

I woke up early and felt really exhausted as I had stayed up late last night playing my ukulele. But, I decided to try for a little run and look at the water to see whether it could 'entice' me.

When I ran down there, without fail, the water surprised me yet again. It was the stillest that I've ever seen it! So I didn't even continue with my run. I turned around and sprinted back to get changed, grab my camera and snorkel.

It was beautiful! It was already 19 degrees, I was warm from the quick run and the blueness of the ocean just beckoned me!

I love my mornings, when I come out onto the sand and start wading out into the water with no one around, it is kind of scary but exciting too! Scary in the sense that if anything happened to me, there may not be someone around to help me, but exciting because it's just me and the ocean. It's almost like my little secret!

I didn't hessitate in getting in. I didn't want to miss this perfect moment! The limestone reef were exposed and the water looked calm so I decided that I was going to be a little more adventurous today and try to snorkel beyond the reef.

Wading out

Venturing out beyond the reef

As I was carefully placing my feet and trying not to step on anything, for some odd reason the waves started picking up. I decided to go for it and start snorkeling, however in a matter of seconds I was getting pushed back into the reef, and as I looked into the horizon, the waves just looked like they were getting bigger and bigger. So I crawled back onto the reef and tried walking back. There were some decent waves which almost bowled me over, so I decided to just stay low and crawl/float back into the safer side of the reef. While this was happening there was one guy who was having a break from his morning walk and who watched on from the look out. I was a little embarrassed, but I just kept focusing on trying to not get hurt.

Eventually, I got into the calmer waters and I felt a little more relaxed. I also noticed that I had a stinging sensation on my right forearm and on my legs. After a quick inspection, I realised that I had been scratched up from the ordeal. I kind of thought to myself, 'Heck, salt water is good for cuts,' and snorkeled on.

Limestone reef

Visibility was a mixture of good and bad. When the waves came, the white wash would swirl all around me and hide everything within arms reach.  And when it did settle down, the current was still picking up a lot of seaweed and debris.

I still find looking at seaweed scary, but today was a little easier. I tried looking for interesting sea life out there, but it seemed like everyone was sleeping.  However, after a good while my eyes started to pick out from behind the seaweed curtains, these red looking... lips! I  kept watch and then I saw two spotted eyes looking back at me.

Red lipped fish

As soon as I recognised that it was a fish, I tried to get a shot of it, however it swam deeper into the reef and kept looking out at me. It did not want me near it.

Red lipped fish making a get away.

After waiting and hoping it would come out, I decided to try my luck elsewhere. I tried snorkeling around the tight swim throughs. Visibility was better and I was overall a little more relaxed. I remembered this area as I had seen fish here last week, but again, they all appeared to have left this place.  I started looking at the reef itself to see if there were any abalone or perhaps some cuttlefish or octopi in hiding. But nothing, until I saw this:

Being watched

I was being watched. And I got all excited so I just stayed there. This fish was pretty chilled out, and after a while it swam out.

I then realised that there were quite a few fish around me, but that I wasn't able to see them because they all were very well camouflaged.

I followed this black and white striped fish for most of the morning. And it actually kept stopping to look at me, and then swim a little further to then stop and wait for me again. I thought that perhaps to that fish, I was some odd creature it had never seen before as it was very curious  about me unlike the fish in Exmouth which just swam away.

Self photo! I look so silly!

It allowed me to get up real close. I was so tempted to touch it!

After a while I started getting cold, so I go out. I was a little dizzy but ok. I think I may have been really cold and dehydrated.

Underwater explorer photo!

The water wasn't freezing, however, I really loved the sun on my skin; more so than normal. So I assume that is my body telling me to get warmer. I ended up just walking up and down the shore line drying up and seeing if there were any other wonders to find.

Sea snail?

Anywho, that was my morning. I returned home at around 7.15am, which meant that I was snorkeling for a little over an hour.

When walking back home, I had to snap a shot of the beach:

Calm waters

I love where I live!