Bummer

July 31, 2006
Today wasn’t a very successful day. Amy left for Suva this morning. She’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, but that leaves me two days with no snorkeling buddy. Today and tomorrow are essential days because I really need to get my sights set up before the tides change. I didn’t think it would be a big deal snorkeling alone, since I did it last time. However, last time, I was working on the other side of the channel in relatively clear water. This time, I’m working on the side of the channel in the direct path of the tidal creek. Thus, there is more sediment (from terrestrial runoff), more algae (from the nutrients) and more debris in general. This makes for very poor visibility. In addition, I’m not familiar with the reef on this side and I’m having a hard time finding it without swimming over murky, shark infested water. Granted, the sharks are small (3 – 5 feet), and there are only one or two (that I know of) but they’re big enough to take a significant chunk out of me. Needless to say, when I went out this morning during high tide and visibility was less than 5 feet, I was not the intrepid field scientist of my imagination. I swam around for an hour trying to find a specific coral with no luck. When my fear of being eyed as a tasty treat finally got the better of me, I decided to head back in for lunch and try again at high tide. My disappointment in myself was temporarily forgotten when I saw the most beautiful rainbow ever created in nature. It was a double rainbow that started just at the reefs edge. The lower arch was wide and thick and ended in the trees that lined the white, sandy beach. I could actually see through it, which made the trees on the other side appear, through the spectrum of colors, as if out of a fairy tale. The upper arch was long and thin. It started in the ocean and ended somewhere in the hills. I stood in awe for what seemed like an eternity.
After lunch and a quick rest, I headed back out to the reef to see if I could find the reef that I needed at low tide. I was able to walk much further out, bypassing the scary, sandy area. However, when I got to where I thought the corals would be there was only algae and rubble. I swam over to a rock outcropping so I could stand up and survey the scene. I saw a large splash to my right. I’m almost positive it was a shark, based on the way it moved. But at the time, I convinced myself that it was just a big fish. However, it didn’t help that there was a raft of floating debris including coconuts, which looked like human heads bobbing in the surf after a gruesome shark attack. The yellow life vest floating among them only added fuel to my imagination. The visibility was worse than before, presumably because the storms from the past few days had increased the runoff in the area, and the tide was going out. So, I couldn’t mark my sites today. I ended up going to the other side of the channel and practicing a collection and transplanting method that I have not tried before. At least I got something done. When I got back, I couldn’t get the smell of pig effluent off of me. I rinsed all of my gear and showered… Oh well.
On a side note, I just went to the bathroom. I was sitting there peaceably when a spider that was, literally, the size of my open hand ran past me within centimeters of my sandal-clad foot. I’ve seen them around the house before, but usually in the corners of the outside porch. They strongly resemble a brown recluse, but those don’t exist here. That knowledge is comforting, but doesn’t stop me from emanating a slight squeal when something whisks past me out of the darkness, especially when I’m vulnerable on the toilet.