Stalked

I glanced over my left shoulder and did a double take. Floating in the water column at the same level as was a huge barracuda. It appeared out of nowhere, its silvery blue coloration blending perfecting with the water we were swimming in. I only noticed it when it flicked its tail and started to follow me. I covered my watch face, trying not to attract attention as these fish are interested in shiny things. This fellow was nearly as big as me. Since I was the last person in the snorkel group I was in, I was the only one who noticed. It kept a distance of about 10 feet for a while, but every time I checked over my shoulder it was still stalking me. Barracudas are pretty decent predators with fairly large teeth, but I didn't say anything, not wanting to panic anyone else in the group. Eventually he lost interest, and I got distracted by a group of squid. That was yesterday, on one of our reef fish ID sessions, over by The Sphinx. There are 85 species of fish that I need to know by thursday.

Today's session got cancelled, as we were getting ready to board the boats. We were sitting there on the dock, all geared up and ready to go, but a menacing storm front threatened in the distance. We watched the lightning playing on the horizon, and listened to the thunder as it came closer. All of a sudden there was a disturbance on the water to the southeast of Long Cay. I watched what looked like a cloud of spray on the surface of the water, and then all of a sudden a dark funnel cloud punched out of the sky. I was watching a waterspout moving across the ocean, with the thunder and lighting and a solid sheet of rain approaching. It was decided that conditions were not optimal to get in the water.

The storm hit us as we were coming back up from the dock, and the rain felt amazing, I joined many other people in taking a free freshwater shower outside, and just watching the storm. Its really hard to explain island time to someone from California. Coming from the bay area I would not have really understood, but it is just different here. I don't feel stress at all, I don't feel like I always have to be doing something. I can take time just to listen to music and watch the clouds go by, or see the green flash at sunset, or watch lightning storms over the ocean at night.