11:30 ML saw my elusive trampoline videos which he found entertaining, I showed him how I created the red tide 'victim map' of the species found using MS Word. Just had yet another delicious lunch and am pumped to go snorkelling soon again, have to see something good as it's my 100th day in Costa Rica!
23:30 At this moment I am very tired
which is directly linked to snorkelling today as… firstly I had to catch up
with the group once I made swift repairs to one of my snorkelling fins. I then spent quite a bit of time duck-diving
(maybe 50 times) under a certain rock somewhat near the entrance point of the
lagoon as I had found a couple of Fantail Pipefish, an animal that I had longed
to see in the wild after seeing them in books.
Pipefish are related to seahorses but are flattened out, like a pipe?
And this type is especially beautiful as it's tail, shaped like a fan (highly
technical yes), is very striking in colour with bright red in the middle and a
thin band of white around the edge. They
swim very beautifully and are normally found in pairs, or at least they are
when seen here in this park in the past, did I hear someone say awww? I was originally literally steaming out to
catch up with the group when I thought "Hmm, should I peak under this
rock?" and I am so glad I did as I spotted that distinct fan-tail
dissapear. So along with some Tailspot
Cardinalfish (also quite nice to see) I took around 30+ photos under this one
ledge before leaving them be. I have this video, and this photo below is the best:
.JPG) |
| Fantail Pipefish (D.Philpot) |
I was employed today to fill the
lifeguard position so I was only really needed to be present in the water today
and not lead any of the groups, honest! :-) Tina
the turtle crossed my path, well she was getting cleaned at the bottom of the
lagoon a couple of metres from me, before she pooped and I swam with her before
I got some more decent photos of the typical fish I see.
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| Tina The Turtle Makes An Appearance - Note Patch On Back (D.Philpot) |
Other Snorkelling Photos:
In the evening DL gave me chocolate, again surprising me to life in the tropics I once knew of basic living with few luxuries, I saw a Leptodeira snake on the path, a good size of ~2 metres long which might be the one from before (This is funnier later).
There was a small Scorpion in the large air-conditioned storage room of the lab and a Praying Mantis tried crawling into my mouth or something, it was weird and disgusting!
Upon returning from the lab a crowd of people told me they had saw a female Mexican Hairy Porcupine up about the stream on the way to the lab, and after hunting with torch light for awhile I managed to see it too, odd creatures really… also surprising how nimble they are in the trees - I was later told that earlier there were two and a male had fell out of the tree in front of the watching crowd haha.
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| Acupulco Damsel Protecting Algae (D.Philpot) |
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| Get Off My Land! (D.Philpot) |
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| Male Mexican Hogfish Returns (D.Philpot) |
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| An Illusive Barred Pargo (D.Philpot) |
In the evening DL gave me chocolate, again surprising me to life in the tropics I once knew of basic living with few luxuries, I saw a Leptodeira snake on the path, a good size of ~2 metres long which might be the one from before (This is funnier later).
 |
| Leptodeira Annulate First Appearance (D.Philpot) |
There was a small Scorpion in the large air-conditioned storage room of the lab and a Praying Mantis tried crawling into my mouth or something, it was weird and disgusting!
 |
| Mind My Feet Little Scorpion (D.Philpot) |
Upon returning from the lab a crowd of people told me they had saw a female Mexican Hairy Porcupine up about the stream on the way to the lab, and after hunting with torch light for awhile I managed to see it too, odd creatures really… also surprising how nimble they are in the trees - I was later told that earlier there were two and a male had fell out of the tree in front of the watching crowd haha.