After a rain filled day, all the ladies decided to go for a
night snorkel last night. This was one of the prized adventures that anyone
could do during their stay at Discovery Bay Marine Lab. Thus, after hearing all
the raucous and excitement from the past night excursions, my anticipation was
climbing. So, around 10 PM two groups went out to witness what all the talk was
about. My expectations were set very high and I was not going to be fully
satisfied unless I saw an octopus or some strange looking squid swimming
amongst the group.

                As
we entered the water, people were screaming over the large Long Spined Sea
Urchins climbing up the dock walls, as well as the tiny fish that swam towards
our dive lights; and that was just the beginning. Finding one’s path in the
dark is quite difficult especially when there’s 6 females trying to witness the
same incredible balloon fish or lizard fish at the same time, thus getting to
our many destinations was quite comical. A few near drowning mishaps occurred,
along with the destruction of Kayla’s mask. But, that did not prevent us from
continuing on with our mission. We swam through the sea grass beds and lagoon;
got trapped for 15 minutes in between a section of sheltered rocks where we
thought the octopus would be hiding out. There was no octopus, but we did get
to witness schools of minuscule silvery fish that were drawn to our lights.
Photographs were taken of those critters for quite some time.

Next, we had to
get out of the sheltered rock area without getting hit by any coral or large rocks.
That feat was attempted and conquered; then we tried once again to look for an
octopus down by the boat slips and dock, but no luck was in our favor. Lastly,
we went into the lagoon area, on the opposite side of the dock to see if maybe
something interesting was hiding in the crevices. And, we found something- a
large Spotted Sea Hare and a small ray, which is quite exciting to see around
midnight. Unfortunately, that was where our adventure ended, meaning no octopus
or cuttlefish or strange looking creature was seen, but I still had a wonderful
time, spanning the nighttime sea for roughly 2 hours in Jamaica.

– Nicole