This photo, taken by Alex Kennedy, features a stingray with blue dots on its back. It is next to some reef coral and near the sand under water that is impossibly turquoise blue.

Creepy Crawly Creatures from the Blue Lagoon

This photo, taken by Alex Kennedy, features a stingray with blue dots on its back. It is next to some reef coral and near the sand under water that is impossibly turquoise blue.

Oh, fright of frights and sight of sights! Goblin shapes with scales and eyes swim the depths and materialize.

But only if I dunk my head under water, which I totally did!

The Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks team returned to Fiji, which meant that you may have noticed a blast of blog posts and then nothing for several weeks. I’m still alive.

In a horrifying twist of events, I drank a beer at lunch during my stay on the Yasawa Islands and ended up in the ocean with goggles strapped to my face. In any case, when I placed my face in the water, Nate told me to blow bubbles through my nose. The resulting bubbles were so annoying and distracting, in my opinion, that I just stopped doing that. I found that not breathing at all—and not using a snorkel—made the experience so much better. I’d rather hold my breath. Literally. Underwater sight-seeing with goggles, in my case, encouraged me to hold my breath longer, so I could see more stuff. Maybe someday I’ll put weights in a discreet part of my bathing suit to help me stay down longer. I’ll just need more practice—and probably two more beers.

Here’s what I saw: all kinds of coral and colorful fish (except the stingray in the feature photo. That was taken by Alex, who saw a lot more stuff than I did.). The fish didn’t exactly greet me. They stared at me like I was some kind of mobile zoo exhibit for them. It gave me the willies. Then, there were the shadows. I’m not sure what they were or where they came from, but I assumed they were sharks. (They were not. If I were to see sharks (which I didn’t), they would have been tiny reef sharks that are super skittish and may or may not be vegetarians according to Nate.) Still, shadows of any sort are unsettling. I lasted a total of one hour, which is pretty impressive for me.

Secretly, I was hoping to see a shark. A tiny one. A very, very tiny one. It’s highly possible that one or two or more saw me and went home to their cave and drew a picture of me for friends and family to laugh at. I don’t even want to think about that.

This is a photo of a ridiculous stick figure drawing of a "Me" swimming along, while a shark chomps on my feet, and drops of blood fall. It's titled "Shark Cave Drawing." The shark is laughing, and "I" am screaming in the speech bubbles.

Maybe night snorkeling sans snorkel is in my future. I’ll be swimming past the haunted seaweed forest, watching mantas roast zooplankton by the fire and tell ghost-fish stories while reef tips in Scream masks pop out from behind deflated blowfish, demanding I tell them the name of my favorite scary movie. Spoiler alert: It’s Jaws.

Your Turn: What’s the scariest thing you’ve dared yourself to do this year?

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Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

32 thoughts on “Creepy Crawly Creatures from the Blue Lagoon”

  2. Snorkeling around coral reefs is just one of those favorite things of mine.
    I don’t mind when I see sharks swimming by.
    Most of the time, they’re not interested in me.

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      1. I’ve been to Fiji a few times but they were odd situaitons. Firstly in utero and then at 18 months and as an adult in transit. My father was born in Fiji so I have a strong family connection.

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    2. Ha! It was lots of fun. ALSO: Alex is thinking about becoming an airline pilot. I think I remember you are a retired pilot? Correct? He wants to know how to get started. There’s a place nearby that does small aircraft flying/lessons. Does he start there? (We’re in the U.S. I’m assuming things might be similar.) Cheers!

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      1. Yes, I’m a retired pilot. The requirements in Canada and U.S. are very similar (for the most part, they are the world over as there is an international agreement that governs flight) and I’ve done extensive training in Phoenix and the EU as well as Canada.

        Yes, Alex would need to start with small aircraft flying lessons. Do a bit of homework on finding a good school but avoiding the aeronautical universities is good idea. They’re very expensive and won’t put him any further ahead.

        The basic steps are as follows:
        – be at least 18
        – get an FAA-approved aviation medical
        – apply for a student pilot licence (there are a number of steps for this)
        – start private pilot ground school and basic flight (in a small aircraft) at an FAA approved school
        – achieve private pilot licence with night rating
        – earn commercial license
        – work on multi-engine and instrument ratings; build flight hours
        – earn flight instructor ratings in order to earn money teaching others while building flight hours.
        – 1500 hours minimum are required for Airline Transport Pilot certification as well as the additional training needed in order to apply

        That’s it in a nutshell but as you can imagine there is a lot more to it. A uni degree is recommended as most airlines look for one (it can be in anything, not necessarily aviation: two of mine are in education and one arts; they mostly want to see that you are well-rounded and show academic discipline as well as critical thinking). Also, be prepared for the costs. It’s expensive. Here’s a place to start: https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/student_cert
        Let me know via email if you have other questions. Good luck to Alex.

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      3. Thank you so much! Alex just graduated with a physics degree. The tuition for flight school/lessons is daunting, but he is planning on getting just “any” job at the moment to try to save up.

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  8. Chatting to strangers always takes a lot of bravery on my behalf. (PS – I’m with you – no news is good news – no FOMO from me either when I turn it off!)

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