Sailing first thing in the morning is my absolute favorite way to start the day, and we had a beautiful jib-only sail to John Cash Point, just off of Marsh Harbour. This area was hardest-hit by Dorian, and there were a lot of once-beautiful homes and probably resorts that remain in ruins. But like elsewhere in the Abacos, rebuilding continues, and progress is evident even from one day to the next.
Our main goal in coming to this spot was to snorkel Mermaid Reef, which is supposed to be one of the better snorkel spots in the Sea of Abaco, and we were not at all disappointed. It’s a really popular spot and often the dinghy moorings are all taken up, but we were lucky enough to have it all to ourselves every time we went (we snorkeled the reef three times).
Our first two trips were during the work day in the afternoon, and we were a bit rushed. But when we went this morning, we were able to take our time and drift, and we were blown away at how much we were able to see. I felt like I was floating in an aquarium.
We saw all kinds of amazing sea life – too much to list. The sergeant majors swam right up to us to check us out, and I felt like they were escorting us around the reef. On our first trip, we even saw a sea turtle. We watched a midnight parrotfish get cleaned by bluehead wrasse and slippery dicks at a cleaning station – I’d heard about this phenomenon before, but I’d never seen it in person.
One evening just before sunset, the distant storm clouds that had been forming all day finally rolled in, and we got an intense squall with thunder storms. The wind shifted through a complete 360 degrees, and then kept going through 90°–180° shifts. We had the boat ready to go in case we dragged, but we were set well and were fortunate to hold. The rain was so intense that it obscured the land farther away, and as it moved out, we had a huge, vibrant rainbow that was visible for almost an hour. Both the rainbow and the snorkeling made the trip over absolutely worth it!
One reply on “Swimming with the Fishes”
OMG, those rainbow pictures were perfec!