The Journal

Seychelles & Maldives
February 27 and March 3

Snorkeling with the Red Fish, Blue Fish, Butterfly and Surgeon Fish…and more

One fish. Two Fish. Red Fish. Blue Fish.

Anyone who’s read Dr. Seuss books may recall the imaginary creatures Dr. Seuss invented in that children’s tale.  I’ve just gone snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, and all I can say is Dr. Seuss must have been here before me.

 I saw not only his red fish and blue fish, but periwinkle, black, white, yellow and gold, mauve and aubergine, white and translucent, dotted, striped and paisley, and you name it—I saw fish in every assorted size, shape, and design you can only imagine in your
dreams.

And I almost denied myself the opportunity.

Before we reached the Maldives, I noticed a signup sheet for snorkeling on the ship’s passenger bulletin board.  I had only snorkeled once and knew that Maureen, who was organizing this independent activity, was a world class snorkeler and scuba diver with over 400 dives to her credit. Then I saw Granny’s name on the list.  I scouted around and found her.  Granny is a lovely woman from Colorado who chose the name Granny for her nametag so people will remember her name.  They do.  She’s great.  She’s also very generous.  When I asked her about snorkeling, she said she’s done it for years.  She immediately offered to become my partner. I signed up--and she became my snorkeling guru—and I wouldn’t have had as much fun without her.  She brought along her expert skill as well as books on coral reef fish and even a chart on fish of the Indian Ocean for us to identify what we saw immediately after seeing them.

Thirteen of us were scheduled to snorkel in the Maldives.  It was an experience that started out to be a disaster.  That hot and humid tropical morning we sat on the dock for an hour waiting for guides to take us out in two boats, one for the nine scuba divers and the other for us thirteen snorkelers.  We waited. And waited. And waited.  It got hotter and hotter.  And we waited some more.  Maureen made several forays to phones and finally ran down the street personally to find the dive shop where the guides might be waiting.

So far, no guides.  Three people in the scuba group abandoned ship after awhile, but I kept waiting patiently---actually somewhat relieved that my lack of skill at snorkeling wouldn’t be tested quite yet. 

Finally, a master diver arrived, and the two boats were ready to depart.  Except for one thing.  We pointed out there was no ladder for reboarding our boat, and when one young guy tried to haul himself aboard from the water, even he failed.  No way would some fairly unathletic people be able to manage this feat.

So we waited some more for boat ladders to arrive.  We were hot and tired and a little irascible when finally one ladder arrived. We agreed to stick together and share resources at sea.

And so the snorkeling finally began.  And with Granny at my side I dove into the turquoise Indian Ocean of the Maldives and my first free snorkeling on a reef took place.  And what an experience it was.  We saw an incredible variety of fish, and I thought at the end of that day that there would never be another day of snorkeling to equal this one perfect day.

But I was wrong.  And anyone who snorkels in the Seychelles knows what I’m about to say.  Exactly a week later, we docked at Victoria, the capitol of the Seychelles.

Apart from the incredible snorkeling on each,  these sets of islands are distinctly different.

The Maldives are located in the northern Indian Ocean, not far from the southwestern tip of India.  The main island where we landed is about the size of Washington D.C. and the republic is composed of a chain of nearly 2,000 small coral islands grouped into clusters of atolls.  The people are Indian, Sinhalese, Arabian and African.  Islam is the state religion and nearly all the people are Sunni Muslims.  (We learned quickly that no liquor could not be purchased on the island.)

The Seychelles lie 994 miles from the African mainland in the western Indian Ocean.  The main island is also about the size of Washington D.C., but there are 92 islands making up the Seychelles, and they are scattered over a vast area of the Indian Ocean.  The main island, Mahe, where Victoria, the capitol is located, sits immediately below the equator, and the people of this island are predominantly Creole and of European background.  Most people speak French and English, but the most common language is Creole.

My first day in the Seychelles was devoted to checking out the spices for which the Seychelles are famous.  A group of us traveled up a flower lined road high on the mountain of Mahe to a private botanical garden.  There we walked through the groves of nut trees and flowering plants, observing first hand how cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and vanilla grow.  We crushed dried leaves, peeled a little bark and inhaled the pungent aromas that reminded me poignantly of pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving and home.  We saw the female and male trees that produce the rare coco de mer, the largest seed in the plant kingdom, which can reach 60 lbs. and is native to the Seychelles. And we sampled a pleasant rum and pineapple drink adorned with the starfruit we saw growing beyond the aromatic pavilion of spices where we sat.

It was a lovely day.  But secretly I couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive.  I was ready this time, with Granny at my side once more, to explore the undersea world of the
Seychelles, which I had heard put every other snorkeling spot to shame.

On the dock the next morning, I waited for Teddy, of Teddy’s glass bottom boat, to arrive.  Teddy would be taking us to Bai Ternai Marine Park, a natural lagoon and coal reef on the other side of the island at Beau Vallon.  Teddy arrived—in a pickup truck. I climbed in the back, and I must say to my three sons, Dave, Steve, and Doug, all of whom have pickup trucks: Kids, don’t ask me to ride in the cab again.  It’s too much fun tooling over an island in the back of a pickup truck!  And so we did.  We careened over the top of Mahe island, swerving around a narrow road lined by frangipani, orchids, breadfruit, avocado, orange, coconut palms and a spectacular array of other brilliantly blossoming trees, shrubs and flowers.  The island is truly a tropical paradise.

Once in the small glass-bottomed boat, we headed around the shore, observing beautiful strands of white sandy beaches,  rocky outcroppings of slate grey granite, beautiful homes perched amidst the luxuriant foliage of the island—and fish beneath our very feet.  Our destination was a marine lagoon and coral reef, where an incredible abundance of sea life of the tropical Indian Ocean could be found.

I wasn’t disappointed.  In the warm emerald green  waters we saw parrot, trigger, angel, surgeon, unicorn, butterfly. Wrasse, and snapper—and to Granny’s delight, the sweet-lips, which she had never seen before. I marveled over the underwater world as I lie still on top of the water, breathing slowly and methodically through my snorkel pipe:   stripes in myriad designs of yellow, black and white, colors fading from purple to periwinkle to lavender and mauve with orange lips protruding, partially spotted browns with white, beige and paisley markings, translucent whites-- the intensity of color,  the variety of shapes and sizes, the rippling of tiny fluted tails—the imagination runs wild in this silent world beneath the sea.  I found myself lying motionless, arms outstretched, as striped angelfish looped around and surrounded me, swimming in unison, as the music I dance to swirled around in my head.  It was as though the schools of fish were dancers doing the rhumba in perfect time to “Spanish Eyes" or waltzing elegantly to Lara’s Tune from Dr.Zhivago, just as I have done recently.
But the greatest thrill lie in other creatures that I saw, as well:

      ·        A giant manta ray;
·        A giant tortoise, yellow spotted and swimming freely about the lagoon;
·        And, what an expert snorkeler friend aboard the ship later said he’s never yet seen--An octopus. 
·        The octopus lay just a few feet directly beneath me in the dead coral, and before my eyes swiftly changed from deep grey to magenta to a mottle brown-tan that blended expertly with the coral his tentacles wound around, writhing slowly back and forth.  I watched for perhaps five minutes before moving on.

And so time stood still for what seemed like hours as we pursued our own visions of the sea in solitude.  After landing on a nearby beach where Teddy cracked coconuts while we swam in a fresh water lagoon, we headed back to our Ocean Explorer “home.”   This was quite a day to remember, and in my dreams that night, I floated gently, peering deep into a brilliant world of deep blue crystalline water, myriad shapes and outcroppings of speckled tan coral, and fish--red fish, blue fish, and arrays of other incredibly tinted fish-- quite beyond the ability of anyone other than Dr. Seuss to adequately describe.  

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