In Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
Today I entered the easy shore break on the leeward side of a windswept island in the southern Caribbean sea. Mask and snorkel is all I needed.
I saw a smallish Hawksbill sea turtle swimming just below. It swam ever so slowly through the clear water. It was as if time underwater really moves as different as it feels.
Followed it for quite awhile. An unusual treat for undersea wildlife, often just a fleeting glimpse. I admired the colorful shell made of greens and red-browns in an Aztec-like pattern.
As the turtle passed over the undersea cliff edge, his shell and whole body was vibrant against the black-blue of the drop off into the darker depths.
But the flounder, the simple flat fish, I saw on my way back to the beach really stole my imagination. So delighted to watch it flutter like paper in the wind, a beige white fabric on the beige sand.
When it stopped moving and bits of sand settled back around it, I could barely discern the creature from the Earth. For a moment, it was one with its surroundings, easily something we've all tried to be at least once in our terrestrial lives.
At the end of a day buzzing with beauty, I've figured it out -- the tremendous draw here of Bonaire.
Everyday, the bright warm sun, the turquoise water, fantastic sights in the meditative, soundless underwater world -- it's like living on the edge of a wonderful dream that you can easily step into and out of.
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