Holy cow are we sunburned.
Snorkeling the coral forests around the islands in the southern Thai archipelago today. Emily and I slathered on huge quantities of our waterproof, fit-to-keep-babies-bums-white super SPF 50 sunblock, which is like Elmer's glue going on. And you have a visible oily sheen when you are done, like you've dipped your face in Canola oil. Yum. Unfortunately, either its 'waterproof' marketing is a bald lie, or it is not up to sub-Tropic of Cancer sunpower. Because we are toasted.
We'll post pics when we get home. Emily's back looks like it was slapped (repeatedly) with two huge red kidneys, or maybe clothes irons. Scott is blotchy all over the back, and both hands are the color of dragonfruit (our new favorite) skin.
However.
The snorkeling was tremendous. Corals of all shapes and sizes - brain-looking ones, big leafy things, mushrooms, labyrinths - unimaginable variety. I couldn't help thinking about Genesis' account of the fifth day: God creates the creatures of the water and commands them to be fruitful and multiply. "God spoke: 'Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!" as The Message puts it.
And in most every nook and cranny - between them and within - of these fabulous corals, there were little creatures carving out their niche in that ecosystem - anemones, sea cucumbers, live barnacles, and dozens of other things we couldn't even recognize.
Some of the corals were even a little drab by comparison with some of their hangers-on. From the surface (where unbeknownst to us, the tropic sun was slowly roasting us), they looked like grey-green rocks studded with huge gemstones of every color - bright blue, neon green, orange, yellow. But when you get down to it, the creatures - as bright and flashy as they are - pale next to the fractal complexity of the coral, with spines upon bumps within ridges running through crevasses. You look and look until your lungs pound and your ears throb, and then you rush up for air just to come down and look again.
And the fish! Some were under an inch long and the color of the ocean itself - only visible as shadows as they darted in schools of hundreds. Others were over a foot long, and every shape and size you could think of in between. Pink finny ones, thick yellow-striped clown-fish looking ones, small very striking electric-blue ones.
On the slightly dangerous side, there were an impressive number of sea urchins. Black, menacing looking ones that look like something out of the Matrix maybe. Some were small, fitting in between massive corals the size of boulders. Others were enormous, with spines 10", maybe even a foot long! Em got one in the tip of her finger by accident. Our not English-speaking guide said, "We should cut it off!" Or so translated a nice bilingual co-tourist. We're still not sure if he meant the spine or the finger. I had a near brush with a back-full of them when, sitting on a rock in a shallow, a wave surprised me and pushed me back into a coral gorge. I righted myself and spun around to see a mess of the little monsters that had been lying in wait for me. The rock was obviously their trap - devious little buggers.
Amazingly beautiful, all of it. Even the urchins.
Sadly, our camera is not waterproof, so we don't have any underwater pics to share for this part of our adventure. But trust us, it was quite an experience. If you do ever get the chance to snorkel in this part of the world - take it!
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