Garry and I were delighted to spot a colourful pink starfish off the jetty, followed by a sea eel silently stalking prey as it weaved its way through the coral shoals. I then spent several hours building a personal living expenses budget in anticipation of retirement. I've had this on my to-do list for months, so it was great to finally get started on this critical lifestyle project.
We eventually made our way into the warm tropical water shortly after 2:00pm. We spent almost an hour snorkelling along the resort’s shoreline reef. The fish life was abundant, and the coral was blooming in spectacular style everywhere we swam. The yellow-hued Finger-lobed soft coral (Sclerophytum leptoclados) was particularly noteworthy. We came across vast “forests” of it covering the coral ridgelines.
Sadly, we didn't encounter any sea anemones, and thus there were no Nemo fish to be seen. However, I spotted an Angel Fish, plenty of colourful Parrot Fish, and schools of vivid Blue Chromis. The Chromis were everywhere. These tiny, bright blue fish belong to the same group as damselfish.
It was happy hour at the bar this evening. Unsurprisingly, enjoyed a couple of half-price cocktails and sampled some local kava before sitting down to dinner on the edge of the beach (below is the same view at breakfast this morning). It's been a blissful start to our Pacific Island getaway.
The pink starfish we spotted yesterday proved to be just one of dozens living around the jetty. Garry and I went for a brief swim off the jetty this afternoon and spotted one starfish after another. Even better, we discovered that they're known as Chocolate Chip Sea Stars (Protoreaster nodosus) thanks to their distinctive markings. However, those chocolate chips are actually conical defensive spines covering their dorsal side. Even worse, some of the starfish aren't pink; they're a semi-camouflaged sandy hue. Ouch!
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