Still foolish after all these years...

Today was bright and sunny and we were keen to get to the seawater lagoon to swim.  Having burned my shoulders a day or two ago I was careful to apply plenty of sunscreen and borrowed one of David's t-shirts for good measure.  Didn't bother with my legs as they would be under the water..

Following on from David's success at snorkeling and photographing fish, I thought I should have a go at snorkeling too.

Hence we set off around the lagoon to see what we could see (assuming we didn't frighten everything away of course...)

In the back of this picture but out of sight, sadly,  is a large sea turtle (Honu) who swam across right in front of me..

David saw another and was able to photograph it.

An extraordinary experience to be able to swim so close to them. They are so

large - and just going about their normal business.  Later we saw another who had wedged himself under a rock for a bit of undersea rest - otherwise he would float to the surface..

I loved being in the water and although it wasn't always a clear view of the fish it is amazing what you can see with very basic equipment..

There was one rather large fish I would rather not have seen..

A Moray Eel - a couple of feet long and not too friendly looking.  He caused one of my many little panics, rushing to the edge...

My snorkeling technique leaves a little bit to be desired - for example it didn't dawn on me initially that it would be unwise to try to smile for this underwater selfie...

But the full extent of my foolishness was revealed when we finished snorkeling after a couple of hours of swimming around the lagoon in the full sun and the middle of the day.  Those legs that I didn't bother to slime up with sun tan cream are now a not so delicate shade of red and very warm indeed.  I'll spare you the photo.

Tomorrow we are hiring a car to explore Hilo and the other side of the island.  David has kindly offered to get me an inflatable ring to sit on in the car...