Monsters of the deep!

I love snorkeling. I love being in the ocean. However, I also tend to panic the first few minutes of snorkeling in the ocean (or sea). I'm positive I am going to touch the reef and destroy it as I swim over it, or that I am going to get poked by an urchin and immediately die, or that I'll spook a puffer fish and get poked and immediately die. Once I get over the reef, I'm fine. I stop panicking and have lots of fun.

When I go snorkeling with Trevor and he sees something cool, he usually yells out, "Holy Shit!" underwater (excuse the language).  Of course, this causes an immediate panic attack in me, cause I know I'm about to die. This was the case a couple weeks ago when he saw a big old spotted eagle ray flying through the water around us. Once I saw it, and realized it wasn't a giant squid, great white shark, or killer whale, I was just fine. Actually, I was super excited I got to see it! It was really big, and just cruising along looking for a snack. Of course I didn't have my camera (cause I hate swimming with it), and missed an awesome photo op.

I usually snorkel at Shipwreck, down along the beach, and then around these big huge rocks, and what is called the old dolphin enclosure. I have no idea if there were ever dolphins there, but whatever. Once you get out by the big rocks, the water gets much deeper and the water is more cloudy and murky. Anyone who has ever watched shark week knows that murky water is prime shark hunting ground. So, even though I have never seen a shark (while swimming) in St. Kitts, I am on high alert when I'm near the rocks.

This Wednesday I remembered my camera while snorkeling. There wasn't anything too spectacular to see, just the same fish in their usually hangouts.  We got all the way down to the big rocks, and I got a wicked foot cramp. The kind where you can't even move your foot or leg without crazy pain shooting through you. I slowed down to try to rub my foot through my fin, with my back towards the open ocean. Of course, this is the moment Trevor chooses to scream holy shit while back-peddling (is it still back back-peddling if you're swimming?). I think my life might have flashed before my goggle clad eyes.

Giant stingray. A terrible picture, cause it's hard to imagine how big he really was.

Before my heart rate could return to normal, I saw the cause of my near heart attack. A GIGANTIC stingray, just chilling on the ocean floor below us. Thank God the water is deep out by the rocks, and thank God stingrays are so lazy. There was no way I was diving down close to get a picture, and since it is sand colored, I couldn't get a good shot of it from the surface.  Trevor was brave enough to dive down a bit for the photo.  This picture does not do Stingy (that is what I've named him) justice. He looks small and not terrifying. He was enormous, maybe 6 feet across, or more, maybe 60. I can't be sure. Needless to say, I was ready to get the hell out of the water. I was pretty sure that with my foot cramp injury I could easily be eaten by a 60 foot stingray.