Swimming with the Fishes

Today, we relaxed in a peaceful beach resort off the cost of Thailand where the water is a beautiful shade of green, and several long boats whiz by in the distance.  In the morning I had some minor school work assigned, but soon it was snorkel time!  

Snorkeling today was a challenge for me.  Still, I saw several beautiful sights underwater.  Our plan was to start from the beach and swim to an island with tales of sharks.  The first part of our swim was mostly sandy but soon the submarine landscape became much more rocky.  I kept expecting to see more colorful reefs similar to those I saw several years back in Honduras.  Instead, I mostly saw large, gray rocks covered in algae and mussels that made the few masses of colored coral stand out.  I saw white, black, and yellow striped angel fish with long narrow fins, purple parrot fish, brightly striped sargeant major fish, and schools of thousands of tiny blue fish.  Sadly, I did not see any sharks.  Underwater, I also had some challenges to face.  I had trouble blowing water out of my snorkel.  As it turns out, I had forgotten how to hold the snorkel in my mouth.  I had bitten down on the entire tube which caused water to leak into my mouth.  I had a minor panic attack and had to swim back to the beach to refresh my snorkel skills.  With a little practice, I was a fish again!  Soon it was time to head back towards the shores for a late lunch.

After swimming, we showered off before walking up to a resort and restaurant overlooking Long Beach.  We ate a delicious meal and we all thought the vibe of the resort on the hill was amazing.  Last night, we ate down by the beach and paid way too much and left disappointed.  From the hill, we also had a great view of the ocean.  We decided that we preferred the resort on the hill to our current location down on the beach.  This was funny as we had originally reserved a bungalow at this exact hill top resort.  When we first arrived at Long Beach last evening, my parents checked out the resort on the hill, but thought the rooms were too dark and too far from the beach.  We had moved down to another resort by the water where we are staying now.  Today, we decided that tomorrow we will move back up to the resort on the hill.  I do not know what gets in my parents’ heads some times.  My job is to go with it and humor their decisions.

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!