Snorkeling at the Palms!

Chuck and Joyce own the Palms Hotel, and lucky for me he his formal education was in Biology.  He has a great love of the sea and took my son and I and another guest  snorkeling in front of the Hotel. He has been doing these guided tours for the past three years as much as 3 times a day so he knows his part of the sea like the back of his hand. Actually he probably knows it better as I doubt he spends 3 -5 hours a day looking at the back of his hand.

He has been trying to get me to go out and while I try to stay physically fit at what ever my weight is, I also recognize my limitations and regardless of my weight wont stress my body in a marathon or triathlon.  Now below 235 which I have been for a while, I am in good enough shape to spend an hour or so snorkeling in reasonable conditions.  Unbelievable as it seems I didn’t go until Tuesday because it’s been too cold. Talk about spoiled, the air temperature was around 85 and the sea about 75. Now it is warmer with the air about 88 and the sea at 77 or so.  (When the temperature gets above 90 which is thank God rare, we all complain it’s too hot. )

My day at sea was a little rough but we started calmly.  We were in shallow water and as Chuck became comfortable with our skill levels, we progressed into more dangerous waters where there was a rip tide that was trying to push you into the surf and breakers coming over the reef at the 3-5 foot level which were sort of trying to drown me.

It was a very compatible group and when the sea was too murky and treacherous I split off to return to shore.  I am not sure if the group followed shortly there after because they were worried about me drowning as I bumped against the coral from the wave action and the rip tide   or if they too gave up because there really isn’t much to see when the sea is murky.  Since all of the group were gentleman, I guess I will never know unless my son starts ragging me.

Fortunately, I rarely have a panic attack when snorkeling so it was no great mental stressor and as the picture below shows only a slight physical one.  If I had stayed with the group, I wouldn’t have had the problems as Chuck knows the exact path back which minimizes the effect of the rip tide.

I am utterly amazed that the photo collection of all the marine life that Chuck has captured on the Internet is not yet online.  That is an oversight which I will try to get corrected as it is a spectacular collection.  The best part is this is not a “tourist attraction” but mother natures everyday work for the enjoyment of all humanity.

Overall, I guess my weight loss was good for something other than making Dagny and Cait happy. Only gained 3 pounds while Lauren, Andrew and Pippa were here so I guess my losses to date are fairly permanent as I really didn’t behave when it came to having a few beers.

Tags: aging, Diet, health, life, Weight loss