Under The Sea, Part Three

It's been too long since I've been snorkeling. Like 2016. I was lucky that year when we took trips to Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands and I managed to make it into the water on both vacations. But the last of those two trips was in August of that year. Since then? Nothing. Almost 3-1/2 years without. Too long. Way too long.

Now, to be fair here, I've taken some amazing trips in those 3-1/2 years. Machu Picchu. New Zealand. The Napa Valley. Kenya and Tanzania. Japan. New Mexico. The Yucatan. Paris. I could go on and on and on. I have also spent time on some of those trips on a boat on the water but just didn't get in. Something about crocodiles and hippos maybe. When I did get in the water in some cenotes in Mexico, the only wildlife I found were other humans.

So when it came time to start thinking about traveling in 2020 and we settled on The Bahamas as our first stop right after the new year, I was hoping there would be a chance to get a little time in the water onto our agenda. I love snorkeling. I love checking out with a simple mask and snorkel and a pair of flippers what lies beneath the waves. And if there are all sorts of multicolored fish swarming over gorgeous coral reefs then all the better. But honestly I'd settle for a few species of something slightly colorful. 

Our trips to Hawaii and the Galápagos in 2016 were each over a week long so we managed multiple trips into the water in multiple spots around the islands on each vacation. With less than three days in country in The Bahamas, we'd have no such luck this time. This year, one shot was all we would get. 

Yellowtail snappers gliding over one of the Park's underwater sculptures.

I am sure there are literally hundreds and hundreds of snorkeling spots in the 700 islands of The Bahamas. I'm also sure there are probably hundreds and hundreds of tour companies or private boats that can get you to all these spots. But considering that we were there for less than three days, we knew we wanted somewhere close to our hotel. We were determined to take advantage of all that New Providence had to offer without leaving the island.

A little research led us to Clifton Heritage National Park, an historical park offering glimpses into the way native and non-native residents of the islands lived over the centuries. By native here I mean those people living on the islands before they were "discovered" by Europeans. And by non-native, I mean slaves, who were forcibly removed from their homes in west Africa and sold as property so Europeans could have sugar in their tea. The "Heritage" in Clifton Heritage National Park means they preserve the history of those whose history nobody else (meaning the people who destroyed that history) seemed willing to preserve.

In addition to cultural insight into the islands' history, the Park also offers guided snorkeling. It's guided because there is actually something permanent and specific to see beneath the waves: an underwater sculpture garden that I wrote about in my Bahamas pirates post. But the guided aspect helped a lot here. It gave us some structure and kept us moving with the fish but it also helped us walk into the ocean with our snorkeling gear on, which is something I'd never done before. Every other time I'd been snorkeling, I just jumped on into the water from a boat. 

Clifton Heritage National Park's Ocean Atlas with a couple of blue tang and others. 

More blue tang against the light blue of The Bahamas water.

If there is one thing that is truly magical about the Bahamian waters, it's the color and the clarity. The water is the most gorgeous shade of light aqua and the sunlight filters through it in the absolute best way. It both highlighted the colors on the fish swimming all around us and also allowed me (even with my shortsightedness and my severe astigmatism) to see all the way to the sand below in up to about 25 feet of depth. That really helps.

The other thing that really helped was our guide, Kenneth. Before we set off he said we were likely to have blue tang and yellowtail snapper following us everywhere and he was totally right. I honestly wondered a little about this. I mean, aren't fish usually trying to get away from humans? They sure are when I've been snorkeling before.

But sure enough when we were almost to our first stop in the sculpture route I stopped and looked back towards my fellow snorkelers and found fish all around me inches from my face. Along with pieces of something else in the water...

...food, maybe?

Yep, Kenneth brought food. Not kidding. He was snorkeling with an orange juice (or whatever it was) bottle of liquid fish food. Spray some in the water or sprinkle some around the sculptures in the sculpture park and viola! instant swarm of fish. Cheating? Maybe. Effective for seeing fish up close? Oh yeah! For sure.

We didn't see a whole lot of different species of fish below the waves in The Bahamas. I think we just saw three that I can name: the yellowtail snapper (which we had on a plate the day before...yum!), the blue tang and the sergeant major (the pictures in this post are packed with these three). There were a few smaller fish near a very small coral reef but I cannot identify the species from my pictures. Kenneth also claims there was a stingray at one part of our tour but none of the four of us saw it and it's not on my videos of our time in the water. Not saying it wasn't there but I can't take credit for seeing it. 

The two things that were extremely memorable about our 45 minutes or so in the water off New Providence was the way the sunlight hit and lit up the fish and how amazingly close to us the fish were. Bringing food really does work very well. How come other snorkeling expeditions don't chum the waters? This was honestly the best look I've had a very limited number of fish on a snorkeling dive ever. I appreciate the experience at Clifton Heritage National Park on our quick weekend away. I'd recommend this place to anyone.

I can't imagine it's going to be 3-1/2 years to my next snorkeling trip. There's a possibility of sneaking one in later this year, maybe. If not, I'm going to have to prioritize a spot where I can take a brief dip before the end of 2022. This one was fun and it got me some of my best ever underwater pictures.

This is my favorite fish pic from The Bahamas. Kenneth's hand (distributing food) is on the left side.

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How We Did It

Clifton Heritage National Park is located on the very western tip of New Providence Island about 15 or 16 miles from downtown Nassau. When we first started researching how to get there, the Park had a website which offered pricing information and advertised rides from Nassau to the Park. Then about two weeks before our trip, the site went down and despite chatting on Facebook, emailing and calling, we could not get any information as to how to get there.

A quick look on the internet got us to Marvelous Tours who got us to the Park on their Land and Sea tour. It didn't have quite the itinerary as what I remember on the Park's website and the cost may have been a bit more but as a tour on what for us was basically a two and a half day vacation, the four hours or so we spent with Jeremy from Marvelous Tours was perfect. When we booked with them there was an offer on their website for a 10% discount if we signed up for their email notifications. We did and they haven't emailed me since but the discount was appreciated. I definitely have nothing bad to say about this company. They did right by us, plus the group size was super small at four total.

All the pictures on this post are actually screenshots of movies made on my GoPro Hero 4 Silver. I find taking pictures underwater yields less than optimal pictures considering I'm trying to keep afloat and not get swept into reefs or other snorkelers or something like that. My solution is just to put the thing on movie mode and then play the movies and capture screenshots by pausing the movie on the best screen. I think it works pretty well given the results above.

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New Year's Resolutions

For the past few years, we've tried to make New Year's Resolutions related to living our lives more sustainably. In 2018, we resolved to stop using the plastic bags that the grocery and other stores have on hand; we instead transitioned to the use of reusable bags. Two years into that resolution, we have a series of cloth or coated fabric bags squirreled away everywhere we can think of for emergency use: there are at least one in each of our cars; in work laptop bags; in jackets sometimes; in addition to the two Foodland reusable bags we are still using since picking them up in Hawaii in February of 2016. Those things are workhorses!

That 2018 resolution had some relevance to our travel, specifically our second ever trip to sub-Saharan Africa we completed early that year. The previous August, Kenya banned the use of plastic bags in their country with what, to some, seem like over the top punishments for violation of the law. Producing, selling or even carrying a plastic bag can carry penalties of four years in prison or the equivalent of $40,000 in fines. 

Think that's too much? I might agree, but let's be serious about this saving the planet stuff if we are going to do it. I can tell you there was no way I was bringing anything into Kenya in February 2018 in a plastic bag. I've read that penalties since the law was enacted have been handed out in far lower amounts than permitted. I've also read that it's affected some small merchants disproportionately. The effects on local merchants are regrettable but, again, if you want to enact change like this I guess you have to be serious about it.

Coral reef. Clifton Heritage National Park, New Providence, Bahamas.

This year, our New Year's Resolution is to change our sunscreen use habits. Don't get me wrong, we still plan to use it. God knows with my super pasty complexion I can't afford to live without it and still see the light of day on a sunny holiday. But it's what makes up the sunscreen that's caused me to throw away all those little bottles of sunscreen I had in reserve.

Last year, the U.S. Virgin Islands passed a law banning the sale, importation or possession of sunscreen containing the ingredients oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate. Why these three compounds? Well, in addition to oxybenzone being a known hormone disruptor in humans and octinoxate potentially mutating genes in laboratory mice, all three have been suspected of causing damage to coral reefs. Oxybenzone appears to be the worst of the three, causing coral bleaching, a process whereby coral expels algae from its tissues, which typically leads to the coral's death.

The Virgin Islands weren't the first location to ban chemicals found in sunscreen. Hawaii, Key West and Palau all appear to have beaten the USVI to the punch. But if they weren't the first to ban these chemicals (and it looks to me like they are the only place to ban octocrylene so far) then they are certainly backing their law with some hefty fines: $1,000 for the first violation and $2,000 for each subsequent one.

I know what you may be thinking: what's the big deal about coral? The answer is it's a huge deal! Coral reefs are critical environments for breeding and protection of many, many marine fish and other life, permitting safe spaces from predators to allow survival of species. No coral = no small fish = nothing for medium-sized fish to feed on = no large fish = no fish for humans. 25% of the ocean's species might start out in coral reefs. 25%!!!!

Corals are also vital to ocean cleaning, particularly balancing levels of nitrogen and carbon in our oceans, as well as providing protection from damaging wave action and erosion for shorelines. If there's no coral, some things are going to start going a little more haywire than they already are in our seas. We need to make sure we protect this stuff.

One of the two Foodland reusable grocery bags we picked up four years ago in Hawaii. Still going strong!

Now, of course, there are some skeptics out there. Some folks have debated the findings of studies released to these chemicals' effects on coral. Some have cast doubt based on the fact that the data obtained comes from observations in laboratories, not in actual coral reefs in oceans. My take here is why not just err on the side of caution. If the studies are wrong, they have caused me to throw away about $15 of sunscreen. If they are right, I'm doing the right thing. Either way, I'm still protected from harmful UV rays.

We just got back from a long weekend in The Bahamas. Those islands have not yet banned oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate but before we went I made sure to buy some new sunscreen without these potentially harmful chemicals. If it truly is dangerous to coral reefs, then it's a good thing I switched because we swam over some on our second day in country.

I'm sure if I'm the only one giving up sunscreen with environmentally damaging ingredients, then my actions alone isn't saving the world. Nothing we do as individuals will unless others participate along with us. But we have to start somewhere. Two years ago, it was plastic bags. This year it's sunscreen. I went, I saw, I switched sunscreen and came back un-burned from The Bahamas. And yes, contrary to the picture below, I did not always stay in the shade, although that certainly helps sunscreen do its job.

On the beach in the shade at the British Colonial Hilton, Nassau. Shade plus sunscreen for this beach session!

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How We Did It

For a while now, I've turned to Neutrogena for my sunscreen needs. I know, it's made by a big corporation but it's worked for me. Being brand loyal over here, my quest for sunscreen without oxybenzone, octocrylene or octinoxate got me some Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby Sunscreen. It's SPF 50 and tear free, which is important to me because who wants their eyes to start tearing up when sunscreen gets sweated into your eyes? Not me! 

It also comes in 3 oz. bottles which is important since I never want to check a bag ever and 3 oz. passes through security checkpoints with no problem.

The directions on the bottle say to apply it 15 minutes before exposure to sun and to reapply every two hours or after 80 minutes of swimming. I may not have done quite as the bottle directed but I was still OK. Unless they stop making this sunscreen or something tells me this stuff is bad for the planet, this is what I'm going with for the foreseeable future.

There is other evidence, by the way, that warming oceans is much, much more of a threat to the survival of corals than anything else. I'm sticking by my resolution to change my sunscreen use habits anyway. 

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