Clearer waters

July 17, 2024

Clearer waters

Literally.

I woke up bright and early, so I decided to visit the morning market in Hayama for breakfast since it looked like the weather was going to hold. There's a soup stand that serves a mean clam chowder. There was also a stand serving coffee from Costa Rica, which was different, so I gave it a try. The coffee was on the tart side (I prefer dark roast over light-medium roast), but it had a nice aftertaste.

Since the morning market was held at a port near the beaches I like to go to, I put on my bathing suit and rash guard under my shorts and t-shirt, and packed my snorkeling gear just in case the water looked better than yesterday. The water was much calmer, so I stopped by the beach. The water looked clearer from the surface, too.

The water was much clearer underwater, compared to yesterday. I figured now I can get some decent underwater pics. I look at the battery level on my little underwater camera, just to find out that it was on its last bar. Arrrrgggghhhh!! I forgot to pack my extra batteries when I left the house. Lesson learned (again) -- check battery level BEFORE leaving the house and make sure extra batteries are packed. I have to check the battery while I'm on land since it's not as if I can just open up the camera and swap the batteries while underwater. I did manage to get a few pics before the battery totally went dead. I managed to find an orange baby boxfish. They are sooooo adorable!!

I was in a shallow area, so I was flipping over rocks to see if I can find anything interesting lurking underneath. That drew the attention of a couple of sea bass, hoping to find a couple of morsels attached to the flipped rocks. Now I have an entourage following me around waiting for me to flip over other rocks. LOL When I went to the deeper area, I saw a few boxfish (square puffer fish). They're really cute. The funny thing about them is that if they see you, they'll swim away, then turn around and look at you from a safe distance. Then they'll turn around again and go hide under some rocks. Sometimes you can get lucky and follow them without them noticing you and they'll be moseying along, munching on things they find in the rocks, doing their own thing. I'm figuring out where the good spots are to find pretty fishies. It'll take some more exploring, but it's something to look forward to.