Snorkeling in the Bahamas

Every stop on a Caribbean cruise is an opportunity to explore a new island's unique culture and history.   The region's human story began with native peoples settling the wide-flung archipelagos in pre-Colombian times and continued more recently with Europeans settling them with colonists and African slaves.  And today many of us are able to visit these tropical gems via a short stay off a ship or on a longer lucky vacation, adding our own cultural dynamic as modern tourists.

But beyond the gift shops and tiki bars, resorts and restaurants, there is a natural history story on a geological timeline of continental shifts, volcanic eruptions and coral reef formations.  Before man's footprint altered the landscape, a wide range of unique flora and fauna evolved on these islands.  The underwater life that lives just offshore in the shallows might have been less permanently altered by the millennia-long encroachment by humans.  At least I'd like to think that as I snorkeled off the west coast of New Providence Island in the Bahamas for the very first time.  

Yellowtail snappers being fed by the snorkel guide.

Stoplight parrotfish.

Immature stoplight parrotfish.

Immature stoplight parrotfish with another type of immature parrotfish behind.

Queen parrotfish.

Blue tang surgeonfish.

Blue tang surgeonfish.

Queen angelfish.

Foureye butterflyfish.

Sergeant major fish.

Yellowtail damselfish.

Queen parrotfish scraping algae from coral with its bird-like beak.