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(Editor’s Note: Follow the bouncing ball… As so often happens, the Idiots were too busy while they were having an adventure to write about the adventure. So they are now back from Honduras and spending a month in their new home in Arizona before heading back in"The Beast" (their RV) to Minnesota for the summer. So they still want to share some of their “all wet” pictures but everything you hear about took place in March, 2016.)
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Many years ago, the Idiots were introduced to Monty Python by being dragged to a late night showing of “And Now For Something Completely Different!” which was a compilation of some of the group’s best British TV clips. Monty Python’s humor ranges from strange to absolutely bizarre. They were there with two other couples. The men all laughed their behinders off… the women all fell asleep. Make of that what you will…
The very first bit was called “The Art of Not Being Seen”. It consisted of various tips on camouflage and a lot of people getting blown up. Hilarious!
A lot of what one does when snorkeling is trying to overcome the seemingly endless ways nature has developed so that creatures on the coral reef can not be seen. This is well illustrated on the initial passage through the shallow water over sand on the way to the reef.
First example… there are many good sized Jacks cruising the shallow water, feeding on the large schools of fry. They are often easier to spot by their moving shadows than to see the fish themselves.
Second example… Even better at not being seen is the Peacock Flounder. Idiot She seems to spot them all the time… Idiot He is looking ahead toward the reef and usually misses them. They have three remarkable characteristics that make them masters of camouflage.
First, they are flat and can virtually bury themselves in the sand so that little but their eyes is visible.
Second, they can change colors in eight seconds, so as they move they quickly adjust to whatever colors and patterns dominate their immediate environs.
And finally, though they are initially born with eyes on both sides of their heads, as they mature the eye from the right side migrates until both eyes are on the left side of the head. This allows them to lie flat on the bottom and still have two little periscopes to watch for the crabs, shrimp, and small fish they ambush for food.
This is harder to explain in words than to illustrate in pictures… Where’s Waldo?!
On the move and starting to adjust color to the darker sand and turtle grass. Moments later is was almost invisible again.
The Mesoamerican Reef is the second longest barrier reef in the world, stretching 700 miles from the Yucatan Penninsula to the Honduran Bay Islands. The Great Barrier Reef off Australia is bigger, but in the past years changing environmental conditions have resulted in mass bleaching and destruction of great parts of the GBR. The reef at Roatan may be the healthiest and most vibrant on earth.
The reef forms a halo around the island. In some areas the crest of the reef is hundreds of yards out, requiring a long swim or a boat to gain access… in other places it actually merges and creates an “iron Shore” of rock-hard exposed dead coral. At West Bay, the reef is just a short swim from a white sand beach. At high tide, one can swim over most of the reef. At low tide, the coral is near or breaks the surface and a snorkeler needs to follow one of the underwater crevasses to exit to the outer side of the reef. Drifting past the reef crest, the coral “cliffs” drop off providng crystal clear views of the sandy flats 20 feet below.
Though it is called a coral reef, it is actually a complicated community of coral, algae, plants, plankton, sponges, and a vast array of animal life. It’s like a series of miniature gardens and a few strokes carry a swimmer from one complex mini-environment to the next.
The reef would be worth the trip even if there were no fish – but fish there are… in abundance! A visitor finds a dazzling array of variety of form, color, size, and environmental niches.
The damsels are mostly small fish, constantly darting in and out the coral, eating and avoiding being eaten. Their rainbow colors delight the eye and their rapid movement challenges the photographer.
The tiny Chromis are electric blue and often congregate in large numbers.
Some guides of snorkel groups seek to improve their tips by “chumming” the water… spreading food to draw in larger numbers of fish. Sergeant Majors are greedy feeders and rapidly lose their fear of humans. They can actually become a nuisance, swarming snorkelers seeking hand-outs.
The Yellow-tailed Damsel goes through an amazing range of color changes as it grows. The juvenile is dark blue, covered in iridescent light blue spots. As it grows, the tail turns yellow and most of the spots fade. The body can become almost black… or a bright blue… and sometimes the blue fades to yellow.
The Clown Wrasse is one of the most common fish on the reef… tiny, thin, agile… brightly colored in lengthwise bands of yellow, black, and white. The inexplicably-named Bicolor Damsel actually has three colors – the elegantly shaped little fish is black in front, white in back, and yellow up the belly. It is frequently seen but ridiculously difficult to photograph. Its rapid, twisting movements and habit of darting in and out of coral formations leads to hundreds of partial and blurry shots to get one marginally acceptable one.
Snorkelers frequently encounter Parrotfish. Anyone observing them for a length of time is bound to notice one striking characteristic – these fish poop a lot! And these are not tiny fish… they tend to be hefty in build and the larger ones in West Bay often exceed two feet and in other areas people routinely report 3 footers.
Parrotfish take many different forms, colors, and patterns, but they all share one feature – tough “beaks.” They have fused teeth and tough skulls to aid them in banging into coral and crunching it up. They also eat algae, but it is the coral and sand going through their systems and coming out in large clouds that will always catch the attention of swimmers. Since up to 75% of what they ingest is non-organic material, it is reported that an adult parrotfish can excrete over a ton of sand a year!
Angelfish are the “showboats” of the reef at West Bay. Thin, disk-shaped, and sporting a multitude of different colors and markings, they are incredibly flexible, working over and under the coral structures – and grabbing the attention of any snorkeler who happens by. These sponge-eaters are territorial… they are equally disagreeable with members of their own species and other species, so sightings are usually of solo individuals. Their close cousins, Butterflyfish, are a little more tolerant… but are still mostly observed as individuals or pairs.
It’s not immediately evident why this guy is named the Spotfin Butterflyfish, but upon careful examination one can see the black spot at the end of the dorsal fin near the tail.
The naming for this one is more obvious… the Foureye Butterflyfish. It is thought that the spots on butterflyfish give them some protection. A predator may be distracted by the extra “eyes” and momentarily confused about what direction the fish might flee when threatened.
A bit more subtle than the Queen Angelfish, but remarkably beautiful is the French Angelfish. It is hard to capture in a photo the effect of the shiny gold spots flickering on a black velvet background… the deep blue head, white lips and yellow eyes… a looker for sure!
Individual portraits are all very well, but sometimes food will accumulate in a spot and draw mixed groups of reef fish. The effect can look almost artificial…
All good things must end. Eventually even the most avid snorkelers will succumb to prune-like wrinkling of the extremities and sinuses full of saltwater… and head back through the passage in the reef.
The Idiots looked back and this little guy seemed to be saying “nos vemos!” – “see you later!”
