……out boat came to halt in middle of water where anchor was lowered.
I wondered about what was going to happen, first impression was that food was going to be served, so they have given halt to cruise boat but suddenly one member of crew came at the center of ship and opened a box full of snorkel set.
I had seen earlier, people using snorkel set but now it was my turn to use it for first time.
So, I choose my set as per my face size and color, blue (my favorite) and waited for the instructions of the guide.
The guide instructed us as to how to use mask and snorkel, areas to swim, precautions required, etc. Then, he helped individually to wear mask, snorkel and life jacket, also gave some pieces of bread to feed fishes. In order to make decent to water comfortable, there were ladders from boat to water and I used it to make it comfortable.
I stepped down comfortably, and as soon as I looked down I could not believe on my eyes that what I was looking at.
Some exciting words came out of my mouth but it passed through my snorkel set which was attached to my mouth. My face was facing downward and snorkel set had pipe which was facing upward so that to breathe easily while looking downwards.
The new blue world was worth exciting to see and could not believe that it was possible to see underwater so clearly where all colors were easy to recognize. I handed over the camera to the crew member and asked him to take some pictures of mine which he did perfectly.
It was indeed a new world for me and difficult to explain in words.
I kept on moving slowly from one location to another, in a slow speed, with my life jacket on so that I could concentrate on looking downwards effortlessly.
All kinds of fishes, big and small, moving in groups and solely, red, green, blue, yellow, brown, grey, white, orange, etc. It was like take a name of a color and color was there. It was indeed a large treasure of marine life.
I was carrying pieces of bread which I was holding in my hand positioned at back so as to keep it away from water. One from the crew shouted to feed fishes and signaled me ways to break bread pieces and dip it into water.
As soon as I dipped it, nearly hundred fishes came closer to my hands holding bread and started pricking my hand to get their share of food.
As it was my first time so I was not expecting this warm response from them but soon realized that, it is food that matters for them and human beings are common visitors for them. Soon number of fishes increased and in a state of fear I released bread from my hands, as I was worried about big fish coming near to me in search of food.
I kept on swimming around the boat to look for new species of fishes and often use to shout in excitement whenever a new color was spotted under water.
Snorkeling lasted for about half an hour and I could see that people of all ages enjoyed in sea water while watching the marine world.