Aside from a quick dip in Yal-Ku lagoon, I had largely avoided snorkeling so far on this trip. I had a really bad experience last year, heading out in choppy water only to get sucked under by a viscious undertow. I swallowed a gallon of salt water before thinking to myself: I am not going to die snorkeling as my 1 year old daughter naps on shore.
So it was with my heart pounding that I grabbed my mother's snorkel and fins and headed out into Half Moon Bay. But soon my fears subsided. The current was much, much calmer and the coral seemed to have recovered quite a bit since last year, when it had just taken a hurricane's beating. It was breathtaking, actually. I swam alongside a sea turtle and followed a giant gray stingray and a smaller black and white spotted ray. Spiny sea urchins and schools of tropical fish in every color were everywhere I looked. The only thing that marred the experience for me was the overwhelming sense that this underwater beauty is fragile and may very well not last long enough for my children to enjoy it.
