Baylie, please don't touch that eel!

We went on a snorkeling excursion today to Tiran Island. The trip out there was a little long and I kept thinking of those of you with a tendency to get sea sick - it was a pretty rough ride at times! But we got very lucky and ran into a huge pod of dolphins with lots of moms with their babies. Baylie was thrilled! We stopped at three different magnificent snorkeling locations, had lunch on the boat, and had a very good day. We did meet a rather odd character on the boat, a nice young woman from Sweden who was traveling all alone. She is 6 months pregnant and had come here specifically to try and swim with dolphins in the wild because she had read that "they are very sensitive to pregnant women and will come to them and be protective". Hmmm. Not sure I felt up to such a strange adventure when I was 6 months pregnant. She was pretty unhappy when the guide stopped her from leaping overboard in the middle of the ocean when the dolphins were spotted.

Baylie discovered that in addition to her great strength in swimming she has quite a talent for "free diving". There was a guy in our group who is a professional free diving instructor from Italy. It's all about the ability to hold your breath and dive really deep for a long time with no scuba gear. She followed him everywhere. At one point they swam under a small outcrop of coral and I about fainted, but she came up smiling without even breathing hard. They were going so deep they kept passing scuba divers. The guide took her through a little canyon that no one else could even swim down to. When she followed him and they touched the tail of the moray eel I couldn't believe it. Can a mom be terrified and proud at the same time? I promise, I really am looking out for her!

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