Grenada first week

We had a terrifically successful time in an area where we did not expect to find much. We saw eels, shrimp, coral banded shrimp, gorgeous juvenile angelfish, a snake eel, a baby flounder...and I found my first octopus! The little cutie pie was living in a lambie shell, and she camouflaged herself with smaller shells and corals. I let the current carry me over her home, over and over, and watched her pop in and out of her shell. When an idiot tourist tried to raise the shell from the bottom with his feet (it was just out of reach; maybe in 8 feet of water,) I hastily informed him that he was disturbing a delicate creature living inside the shell. He left the area. I wanted to move the attractive shell to deeper water, farther from tourists, but decided to let the octopus decide for herself whether such disturbances would convince her to relocate on her own under the cover of night. After the jostling she took, I watched her rearrange the coral camouflage and shells around her...which involved her having to come completely outside of the shell! What an experience! Not surprisingly, we did not have a camera to capture all of the marvels we found on what was to be a brief late afternoon jaunt.

EPILOGUE. Strangely, in the middle of snorkeling, my left ear (not the one earlier affected by the infection) felt like it was full of water and couldn't be cleared. No problem; now I have lots of ear care products at home - including an alcohol drying agent. Inexplicably, no amount of alcohol seemed to help. On Thursday, I asked Marianne if she would look in my ear, in case there was something really wrong, before we started our diving course on Friday morning. In the evening, she delivered the devastating news that my ear drum was perforated. That meant, not only no diving, but no swimming whatsoever. And, in the meantime, I was left with the maddening feeling in my head as if I lived in a tin can. Not only did I sound strange to myself, but there was constant sound in my ear/head. This was apparently all it took to renew my body's capacity for exhaustion. Back to square one again! Fortunately, the Caribbean is the best place I can think of to rest up.