Snorkelling

We enjoyed ‘out of this world’ snorkelling off an Angel Fish Ltd. Laguna catamaran, at Anse Coco, La Digue (the rocks on both sides of the beach), Ave Maria (which is small enough to swim right around), and Round island (the southern side).

You don mask and flippers, splash into the crystal clear turquoise sea. Cool water laps at your skin. You taste salt in your snorkel. You're looking straight ahead at a very ordinary scene. You put your face under and everything becomes extraordinary; the underwater world is totally magical. Schools of mullet shimmer just beneath the surface.

Looking like miniature Dumbos, a squadron of small squid line up their defence.

Way down in the murky blue, a school of the huge, very strange Napoleon fish suddenly appear, and swim sedately by.

You lift your head out of the water to see where you are. You've reached the rocks, poking up out of the water; no surprises. You put your face into the water again and thrill at the sight. The rocks' hidden parts plunge dizzyingly down into the depths below. They’re split, cracked, tumbled or stacked, smooth or gritty, furry or spiky with algae or coral. Fish teem around them, chomping, or shelter in their crevasses and caves. In the sand at their feet, you see rays and turtles.

You see the very common, but exquisitely beautiful blue-striped surgeon fish everywhere. Also prolific are the gorgeous powder blue surgeons, with their bright blue bodies, yellow dorsal fin and black and white heads.

Only one pair of the magnificent palette surgeon fish, electric blue with bold black patterns, shows up at Ave Maria. (Ile de Coco teems with these gorgeous fish.)

You see the Oriental sweet-lips – as someone remarked; “Who said spots and stripes don’t go?” They do in this striking looking fish. And there are plenty of beautiful parrot fish too, in a huge variety of colours and sizes.

You're followed by the inquisitive spade fish.

Appropriately, you also see plenty of angel fish, two in particular; emperor and semi-circle - adults - the juveniles are far less common. Semi-circular white and blue stripes on the black body of the juvenile give the fish its name. The adult is completely different; its body pale brown, speckled with black and outlined in the same powder blue as their fetching eye shadow. The juvenile emperor is similar in shape and colouring, but is patterned with concentric circles. The adult has striking yellow and purple stripes and a yellow tail.

Wherever you look you see schools of fish....

......and so you wallow in a watery wonderland.

Photos courtesy of Rob and Sal.