March 20: We Take a Closer Look Snorkeling at Rudder Cut Cay

This morning’s snorkeling and cave swim was a treat in that we saw three sting rays. The first sting ray was well camouflaged in the sandy bottom. Harry happened to see his eyes that stuck up above the sand, but the rest of the ray was barely discernible save for the tip of it’s tail. It was motionless, perhaps sleeping? Moments later, we watched as another ray swam past, gliding down to the sandy bottom, then it shivered it’s body creating a cloud of stirred up sand which soon settled on top of the ray, hiding it from predators save for its two eyes sticking up above the sand. 

Often we find some of the most interesting things underwater are those things that we see when we stop and focus on a small area or snorkel in the shallows (less than 3 feet deep). Oftentimes it is not the large or the colorful fish that we find most interesting ( although there are plenty of these), but instead it is the small creatures that catch our interest. For example, the Christmas Tree Worm is usually only about 1-2 inches, but they stand true to their name for they look just like a Christmas tree and apparently can live for 40 years. Check them out at https://reefguide.org/carib/spirobranchusgiganteus.html.   Another interesting invertebrate we see is the horse shoe worm that flutters in the current then will quickly retract its feathery fronds completely into a tube if you stir the water.  See them at https://reefguide.org/carib/horseshoeworm.html.

Today we saw a small elongated fish only about six inches long by one  inch wide, but it was perfectly camouflaged against the dappled cream and brown sandy bottom and easily could have been missed if we hadn’t been swimming so slowly. We also find that many fish are very aware of our presence. I like to stop and watch them as they swim at an angle such that they can get a better look at us floating on the surface overhead. The butterfly https://reefguide.org/carib/pixhtml/spotfinbutter2.html  and angelfish particularly do this. A trumpet fish https://reefguide.org/carib/pixhtml/trumpet8.html  was spotted by Sarah today.

The corals and sea fans also attract our attention. Here’s an image of a gold brain coral https://reefguide.org/carib/symmetricalbrain.html and a lavender sea fan which is a coral https://www.rutgerson.se/product/pressure-absorbing-slide/.

 We really felt like we were swimming on the inside of an aquarium tank today. Rudder Cut is a favorite, and we closed the day by meeting neighboring boats in the shallows for “sundowners”. Technically the Cay is privately owned (David Copperfield) so we remained in the shallow waters while socializing.

New friends staying "off" the private beach