Eagle Rays at Black Rock

 Jeff and I had a day to go snorkeling this week and we headed out to Black Rock which is one of our favorite places to snorkel.  So many fish and a huge variety of fish. Lots of eels. And a huge amount of turtles who swim up really close to the shore and mix and mingle with all the tourists.  We like to go out of the bay and around the edge of the reef and there is this really fun place where the water is not very deep but the reef is so alive with fish and plants and it's just amazing.  On this day we watched a really big turtle as he nibbled on the moss growing on the rocks.  It is so fun to see them doing this because they just roll around with the tide and get tossed to and fro .  It's really amazing to see.  After we explored our reef we decided to swim out to the edge of the reef and there is a really big drop off into the really deep ocean.  We were hovering there on the edge of the reef and we were watching this huge school of fish down at the bottom as they were swaying with the motion of the ocean.  We saw a big turtle go through them and they all parted to let it by and then back into the huge school formation.  As we were just hanging out there I caught something over in my left peripheral view and we both looked over at the same time and saw two Eagle Rays swimming right by us on our left in formation.  It was one of the most majestic things I have ever seen.  They have really long tales and that scared me quite a bit so I was backing my way back to the reef.  Jeff on the other hand swam out after them.  Crazy!  They swam off and then made a big circle and came back along the reef.  What a great day of snorkeling!!  

These are the best pictures I could find of our Rays and the school of fish!