Zanzibar: Eye to Eye with the Fish

This is the first in a series about my trip to Zanzibar I took in early October. I have a few photos up. Unfortunatley the ones from described in the following entry were not usable as the underwater camera malfunctioned. Grrrrr! More to come about Zanzibar soon!
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Snorkeling in Zanzibar was amazing! The ocean was really choppy and I bobbed around like a cork. It was so nice. The Indian Ocean was warm and smooth, yet saltier than I expected. The first place we went was called The Aquarium. It is a huge circular reef inside of a depression. There were lots of fish to see. I never knew that purple and turquoise striped fish existed, but I saw them with my own eyes. The mist interesting discovery squished between my fingers. There were tiny jelly fish blobs in the water. The ones I touched didn’t sting though. They felt like a cross between Jell-O and snot. Because the waves were strong I could glide along and see new coral growth on the reef after years of dynamite fishing without fining much. The line greens were brilliant and the schools of small sliver fish were shimmering.

Our second spot was on another reef about 30 minutes by boat away. Here the waves were even stronger. It was hard to keep a course fining along. If I stopped for even a second I was off course. This was the length of the trip that exhausted me. This trail had great sea cucumbers and brightly colored starfish. There were also this nifty black fish that had a peacock feather pattern on its back fin in orange and yellow. There were also lots of black spiny sea slug type things. Depth perception in water is tricky. More than once the waves pushed me over large sponge coral. In my fear of harming them with my fins because they were so close, or so I thought, I spread out snow angel style to let the waves carry me over the corals. We were hoping to see turtles but after much swimming, they were no where to be found.

I was really pleased with the company we chose. One Ocean is a top rated PADI dive center. They were professional and reasonably prices. The others from our group who went snorkeling decided to rent a boat from a guy on the beach. I suggested that they not do it because of safety and environmental concerns. I know with One Ocean they are responsible and accountable for the environmental impact they cause. They also have emergency network services and safety training. The guy from the beach has none of these things. It is an issue of being responsible to your customers and being a safe citizen. The guy is probably just trying to feed his family but the ethics I question. He is taking responsibility for people he has no ability to help in an emergency. While the other group was out the next day, I was worried. If something went wrong no one knew where they were. There is also the issue of environmental responsibility.

With such a fragile ecosystem it makes sense to invest in companies who are caring for it. In running this type of business, it is necessary to honor the need to protect the environment because without it there is no business.

The coolest part of my snorkeling adventure was not the mild seasickness. It was my encounter with a black bug-eyed fish. His shimmering scales caught my eyes. I paused fining to stare at him to see what he was doing. This fish looked me in the eye as I slowly passed over. It was an Old West style showdown. I’d hardly call it fair though as I was 20 times his size. I can only wonder what crossed it’s mid as it swam away.

I hope this amazing reef is protected for ears to come and continues to flourish. So many other people need to see this type of environment to understand the need to protect it and do something about the warming of the world’s oceans. The littlest temperature change can kill off species and allow others to thrive throwing off the natural balance of the ecosystem. I’m not a big Save the World shouter, but there is a definitely need for the US as well as other countries and us as individuals to set-up and reduce pollution. Whether it is green house gas emissions or water pollution that affects the world’s waterways, it is our individual responsibility to do something about it. I might not be able to change the nation’s perspective or behavior but I can change mine.