As much as I adore snorkelling, there is only so much you can say about it without sending everyone into a catatonic state, so I have a feeling this blog post may be a short one!
No trips today, so it was all about the house reef and trying to get to grips with my Go Pro.
Before heading to the beach, I fished the Olympus Tough out of the rice, put in the battery, plugged it in (just in case the battery was flat) and pressed the on switch.
Nothing happened. Still no sign of life from the camera!
Obviously I was still upset, but was feeling a bit more philosophical about it. The camera was nearly 4 years old, had served me brilliantly, in the Galapagos, New Zealand and at home when family and friends were in the pool. I'd taken literally thousands of underwater photos with it, the best of which are on display at home, so I'd certainly got my money's worth. I just wish it hadn't died in the middle of this incredible holiday.
As I was finishing breakfast, Adam appeared to ask if I was going snorkelling. Is the pope Catholic? I said I was and he asked if he could join me.
This was great news, because with him by my side, I could explore areas that I wouldn't go alone. Snorkelling isn't anything like as dangerous and scary as diving, but you still need to be careful to avoid possible drowning situations. Strictly speaking, you shouldn't really snorkel alone, but of course I do, because I travel solo and my options are limited. So rather than grab some random stranger and press gang them into coming with me or being a snorkeller stalker,( tagging on to someone already out there) I prefer to just stay within sight of other people.
I did my morning ritual -
Contact lenses in. Check everything I need is in my bag. Lock my room. Get to reception, realise I've forgotten something. Go back, unlock room, retrieve forgotten item. Lock room, make it out the gate, realise I've forgotten something else, go back etc.etc.
At the beach, Adam was in the water with fins and snorkel on in seconds. I on the other hand, had to unpack my bag, get my snorkelling gear on (a top with 50 sun protection built in and long shorts to stop my already peeling legs getting even more frazzled) squirt defogger on my mask, check the go pro was properly closed ( 6 times), have a chat with Ana, squeeze my feet into still damp sandy boots that feel 2 sizes to small, then once in the water, sit down to put my fins on!!
Finally I was ready, we swum out to the edge of the reef and turned right. In this direction there is a large rock sticking out of the water, a bit further down, that marks the point at which I always turn around and head back.
Beyond there, I would be out of sight of the Dive centre to cry for help if I was attacked by a shoal of little fish.
So I was delighted that we were going (big drum roll please) "Beyond the Rock"
Once again, the topography changed and in a large sandy area surrounded by coral towers I saw another Reef Shark and my first thought was "Shit. shit. bugger. bugger".  This wasn't because I was terrified - it was a good distance away. My frustration was simply because I knew that I could have caught it on camera if I'd had the Olympus. There was no chance with the Go Pro because I was too slow getting it on to the right setting and the shark was legging it in the other direction, so was tiny dot in the distance by the time I was ready.
Never mind - I knew I had swum with sharks again and you will just have to take my word for it.
We saw all the usual suspects and what I find absolutely fascinating is the huge range in size within one species. Take the coral chomping, sand pooing Parrot Fish for example. There are loads of smallish ones and then you will come across a huge bugger that dwarfs everything else around it. Amazing.
Suddenly Adam shouted at me to come over.  As I swum towards him he pointed down and said "look Nemo". Well I looked, but couldn't see anything that looked like Nemo at first. Then I spotted some tiny Black and White fish with a small splash of Orange way down below me. Well you learn something new everyday. Clown fish come in 2 different colour combinations! I knew I had virtually no chance of capturing this moment for posterity with the Go Pro, so no pictures I'm afraid, but they were very very cute.
We had a lovely long snorkel and back at the beach, I decided, once again, to attempt this lying on a sunbed doing nothing malarkey.
2 minutes later I was up again - maybe it would have been different if I'd remembered to bring my kindle!!
I thought I might go for a normal swim, but I just couldn't bring myself to go into the water without my snorkel.
I couldn't be arsed to expend all that energy putting my boots and fins on again so I decided to just swim with the snorkel to see how that felt.
So with the song by Westlife (flying without wings) playing in my mind, but with the words changed to fit the occasion - I was snorkelling without fins!
Now if you are not a "champion floater " like me it might not be so easy and I certainly wouldn't recommend it if there is even a hint of a current, but it was actually very liberating. The fish, on the whole, seemed less bothered by my presence and I had more manoeuvrability in the water so could turn and twist in the water without worrying about kicking the coral - or the fish for that matter.
I didn't go right out to the drop off, because there is always a bit of current out there, but just paddled around the top of the reef and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The weather seemed to be getting hotter as each day went by, so after lunch I decided I needed to rest somewhere cool - in my room with the air con on full blast. I had intended to have a little siesta, but the "call of the blog" was too strong!!
Later in the afternoon, I went back for my afternoon snorkel. Ana, Joe, Daniel & Bea were just getting ready to go themselves and told me that they had found "Nemo" as well. "The Orange one like the film or the little Black & White one". I asked. "The Orange one and it has a little baby" they replied. "Why don't you come with us and we'll see if we can find it again".
So that was brilliant. Although I'm very happy snorkelling alone, It's lovely to go with others. One of the main benefits ( apart from sharing this wonderful experience with some truly lovely people) is that you have 5 pairs of eyes scanning the ocean for the good stuff.
As we headed out towards the Rock, Joe shouted - over here. We all converged on a large anemone with a few fronds and darting around it was Nemo - except that he, was obviously a she, because every now and then we caught a glimpse of a tiny little Orange speck - clearly Baby Nemo. Sadly baby was a bit camera shy, but now I knew where it was - there was always another day.
We stayed in the water until the sun was dropping out of the sky and IÂ returned to Holiday Village Retreat, satisfied that I'd had another day full of brilliant snorkelling.
