Nice Day for a Boat Ride, Turks and Caicos, Feb. 8, 2012

Today was supposed to be the big day. Ian had organized a full day of snorkelling with Big Blue Unlimited. He had been promised he would see "great stuff". The snorkelling trip was not meant for beginners or fun for the whole family. This would be some serious snorkelling off the wall at French Cay. We should have clued in when we were told the big boat had technical troubles and we would be on a smaller boat with no head. Instead of French Cay we would snorkel off the northwest point of Provo and around West Caicos.

West Caicos

The group leaving Leeward were our two guides/drivers Mark and Mario, Mark's aunt from Great Britain, and a couple from Quebec. (Three of the group were not serious snorkelers so this was another clue to how the day would go.) There was a lot of talk about seeing whales and to keep on the look for them. There wasn't a whale in sight the whole day.
 A lot of the snorkelling was done in shallow water and we were warned about and taught to identify fire coral. We saw Queen trigger fish and black durgons and a lot of fire coral; not quite what we expected. There were several large examples of elkhorn coral at another site and an eagle ray. 

Lunch was served in a beautiful sheltered area of West Caicos. Dining on sandwiches, fresh veggies, hummus and juice we discussed movies and other subjects and just enjoyed the sun and colours of the sea.

Bat Wing Crab

 On our last snorkel Ian found a nurse shark and led Mario and I over to have a look. Ian managed to shoot a mini video as it swam away. Mario pointed out a bat wing crab and another very thin crab which I have not yet identified.  This wasn't the trip that Ian and I had envisioned (sharks, large pelagics) but it was a fine boat ride in which we saw the sea show off beautiful hues of blues and purple. Over the day we circumnavigated the island of Providenciales.
The snorkelling trip was expensive and a bust. At Smith's Reef we saw so much more and saw it all for free.
We did enjoy the chicken and ribs at the Tiki Hut with T, K and H as our company. Later we were treated to fireworks in honour of the Queen.