We rented fins, masks, and snorkels from a dive shop that was on the way to the reef (shout out to Provo Turtle Divers) and headed for the western beach access.
We were in the water just before noon, and immediately found plenty of colorful coral and fish, not far from shore.
I got reacquainted with the difficult task of taking underwater photos on an iPhone.
In addition to dozens of colorful species of fish, we also saw some squid, almost immediately when we got in (not pictured).
Most of the fish are uncooperative when it comes to photography, unfortunately, so it's hard to keep them in frame.
About 20 minutes in, I noticed that my phone case was leaking, so I returned to the beach to deal with that Situation before it became a Problem (see Bermuda, last year).
I felt that I had taken enough photos to establish the scene, so we returned to snorkeling with Sabrina's phone tucked in a zippered pocket. The plan was to dig it out only for an exceptional picture or two, as her case doesn't have a wrist strap and I wasn't thrilled about having to dive to retrieve it from the reef.
Almost immediately after returning to the water, we found an enormous sea turtle swimming along the edge of the reef. We were not prepared with the camera, though, and somehow managed to lose the turtle while surfacing to use the touch screen. Despite the turtle literally being a metaphor for something slow, this particular one seemed to be in a rush to hide under a ledge.
Later, I found another turtle lounging on the ocean floor next to the reef. It was nearly indistinguishable from a rock, as it wasn't moving and was about 15 feet down.
There were only two occasions when I could tell that Sabrina wasn't thrilled to be snorkeling, based on the sudden panic-squeeze she applied to my arm or hand.
The first was a large fish leisurely swimming past us, far enough away that we couldn't make out details. I have no idea what it was... it was dark blue or maybe black, and had sort of large, maybe-symmetrical fins on the top and bottom, but wasn't very long. I could actually hear Sabrina say something about "shark" as she crushed my hand, as she saw it. It was not a shark. (Update: after more research than it deserved, we have decided it may have been a large Ocean Triggerfish)
The second occasion was when we suddenly encountered a school of (what I have since learned were) Horse-eye Jack. They didn't seem to be concerned about our presence, so I gradually swam towards them, semi-dragging Sabrina with me, until her death-grip made it apparent that we were close enough. We may have been only 6 or 8 feet from about 20 of these large fish. Rather than try to get a photo, we just watched as they slowly swam by, but their formation looked something like this (from the Smith's Reef page on visittci.com).
I don't know what she was worried about; according to the wikipedia article, "The fish is generally wary of scuba divers; it will move slowly away as divers approach." Presumably that applies to snorkelers as well.
Several times, I thought there was a yellow fish following us, since I kept catching glimpses of (what looked to me like) the same fish when I would turn around for some reason. Sabrina agreed with me when I brought it up later. Apparently, it might not have been a figment of our imaginations.
We took breaks for water, and to relocate farther down the beach at the next reef area. We repeated this several times, for a total of almost 4 hours, by which point we were out of water, and also getting tired and sunburned.
The wind had picked up quite a bit since we started, and the ocean was getting choppy to the extent that it was difficult to avoid sucking some water into the snorkel, so we took this as a sign that it was time to stop.
By then, we were closer to the central beach access than to where we had started, and we figured some time to dry off before getting in the car couldn't hurt, so we kept meandering along the beach.
Despite the temperature (and humidity) being in the 80s, and the brutal heat of the sun, the steady offshore breeze made it quite comfortable on the sand.
The half mile walk back to the car, along the paved road, was somewhat less comfortable, as the wind stopped immediately once we left the beach.
We returned the snorkel gear, drove back to the house, and performed our sunscreen/sand/salt removal rituals slightly earlier than usual today.
As we had skipped lunch, we opted to start dinner early, beginning with a repeat visit to the Magnolia for an appetizer, a drink, and a panoramic view at sunset.
After the sunset, we drove a few miles (and 3 or 4 roundabouts) west to the Blue Hills area, in search of da Conch Shack (& Rum Bar).
(It would have been nice to find this map of the island a week ago. Bonus points if you can tell me why there are two regions marked "12".)
Those low white walls were made of conch shells, as were the pink walls between the parking lot and the road.
I think it was the closest we've come to literally eating a meal on the beach here, but only because we opted to sit on one of the elevated decks, instead of a picnic table on the beach.
Sabrina had some sort of coconut and conch stew/chowder, and I had a platter of build-your-own jerk chicken tacos. There was a steady 10 mph wind the entire time we were there.
If you look carefully in the background, you can see a... beach vendor? selling shells, jewellery, carved wooden trinkets, etc.
We have no specific plans for tomorrow, other than getting to the airport in the early afternoon for our flight back to the frozen north.
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