Buzz and I ran the traps this morning and caught 4 mongooses. We brought them back, but before processing them, we changed out of our sweaty, filthy field clothes and ran out to swim in the ocean for a few minutes. It feels wonderful after suffering the sweaty bumps and scrapes while struggling through the brush.
After lunch, we went to Kramers Park -- or more precisely to a little cove north of Kramers Park. The reef comes in relatively close to shore at this point. We swam out in small groups to explore the reef and look at the fish, coral, and invertebrates. There was a relatively strong current, which made me uncomfortable, so I stayed only for a short while. Snorkeling isn't much fun when you wear glasses. You can't see anything if you don't wear a mask, but to wear a mask you have to take off your glasses and then you can't see anything anyway. I could see little blue fuzzy things and little yellow fuzzy things, but that was about all. Alisa had a great time, though. She went out with the first group and then stayed out when I came out and then stayed out when I went back and then stayed out when I came back out again and then stayed when I went back and then kept staying out long after everyone else was done. She said she'd be happy to stay out there for another three hours. (She's the one that's still way out there...)
We saw lots of cool reef stuff: corals, sea urchins and the like. We also found a live conch, which was absolutely beautiful. We also saw something that stuck flippers out of the water. At first we thought it was a sea turtle, but then I said "Wait! That has to be a ray". Buzz then recognized it as an Eagle Manta Ray. It was incredible.
We stopped at Point Udall on the way back. Point Udall is the easternmost point of the United States of America. When you look out from there, there's nothing between you and Africa. Buzz says that if you climb to the top of the monument and squint really hard you can see Africa. I didn't buy it.
