The sad tale of the sea cucumber.

Spent another wonderful day at the beach.  Swam out farther than I ever had and scared myself a little.  Not because it was deep, but because it was shallow and am now a little gun shy when it comes to the coral reefs after my paddle boarding accident.  I swam over a large section of reef and was too afraid to move so I kind of sucked in my tummy as much as I could and sort of dead man floated with the current.  I then had to ask assistance from my two friends because I didn't know how to maneuver around the coral.  Eventually I made it to where Matt and Eli were and then immediately stepped on a sea cucumber.  Eli then regaled me with a story about how, when you're an islander, you play a game wherein you throw sea cucumbers at one another.  I am unsure how this constitutes a game so much as it does animal cruelty.  

I admittedly tossed, albeit gently, a sea cucumber out to sea.  Much like a child tosses a wiffle ball, this little sea creature was lobbed out to sea.  Eli then, so nicely tosses his sea cucumber. Right into the diving flag.  It landed with a little thud.  I don't know how one kills a sea cucumber, but I think this is one way.  The sea cucumber was probably fine considering you can stand on them and they just sort of deflate.  They are quite pliable and mildly gross to the touch.

Prior to being sent back to the ocean floor.

The best little girls in the world.

Matt took some good photos of the coral reef and some of the fish.  The water has been murky and greenish and I don't have the best underwater camera so the photos aren't always too exciting, but it's fish...underwater, and that is always fascinating to me.  I kind of walked about the reef since it was still really low tide and I could actually touch the bottom.  Its like walking out into the middle of a lake, only scarier and with coral reef that will rip open your feet and make you bleed and leave you with red scabby bumps for several weeks and a seemingly permanently painful scar on side of your toe that probably has something embedded in it, but really, its no big deal.*  

These photos are all enhanced to show the colors better.. the rest of the photos are unedited.

There is a fish in there.

This is what the water looks like form above...I lied, this photo is edited and enhanced.

And then below...

These little dudes will come right at your camera and check you out.

I became the pied piper of fish.  I walked off to another spot of coral and I had a trail of fish following me there.

That is the view of another beach we sometimes go to, Fujita beach.

That is a bowl of water. It was for Purdy.

She is precious.

Lizard eggs?

We also ate some food before we went to the beach and Matt tried to teach me the ukulele.  I don't think he realized how sadly inept at playing musical instruments I am, and the fact that I can not make my fingers move in the direction that my brain wants me to because I have the hand-eye coordination of a moose.

I learned C and A...maybe?? I can't even remember.  

What I do know is that when I hear fingers sliding over the strings of a guitar (or a ukulele), it apparently stirs the memories of most of my long forgotten boyfriends... sitting and playing their acoustic guitars.  Mainly just one in particular.  It is a sound I hadn't heard in several years and it made me remember so much of being young and in love and that my freedom in this world means a lot to me.  While having a discussion not too long ago, someone mentioned that it was their belief that people experience happiness much more and have happier lives when they have someone to share the experience with.  You can not measure ones happiness and compare it to another's, because happiness is relative.  My experiences are my own and prefer them to remain that way.

I went on a vacation with a boyfriend once and it was a truly miserable time for me.  Every day was brand new and I wanted to have pictures of everything and have him be in the pictures with me, but he responded on several occasions, that he had already seen it and didn't need a photo standing in front of it or with it.  This was especially troubling when it involved any sort of attraction that had something to do with baseball,  He offered instead, to take photos of me, standing alone, in front of art work and buildings and architecture that I found fascinating.  I suppose if I ever meet someone  that is as fascinated by life as I am and will not leave me standing alone in a photo, I will consider staying with that person for awhile.

*I might have to dig out a small pebble from my toe tonight.