Sky Reef: The Sea of Fans...

Staying on the island for several days and this was one of the places I had on my list to go to.

After diving, we were trying to figure out what to do next. I mean we still had the rest of the day left and I was pretty down about my experience and how I reacted this dive...like really down. So, I had to go somewhere to take my mind off of it. 

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I looked on my "Mapsme" to find someplace we hadn't been to yet. I decided we would check out the Skyreef. Hopefully it would have some decent snorkeling and I'd get some more of my "fish-fix"  for the day. The Skyreef is located right past Chankanaa and beside Playa Corona and before you get to San Francisco, Paradise, Playa Mia and the rest of those beach clubs on down. So, a little closer to town and only 10 minutes from the cruise dock.

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We were starving and new we wanted to eat when we first arrived. Parking was across the street in the dirt and we headed up to the entrance to have our brains scanned and bodies disinfected and then found a seat under the huge palapa. Free entrance. 

The menu

Mi Esposo ordered wings (who wants wings when in Mexico??? He told me to take a picture and I'm like "no, it's just wings" ) and Hija ordered a shrimp burrito and I ordered fish tacos. The food was delicioso. I had to ask them what type of fish it was and they told me grouper. Awww, I ate the grouper that Hija seen earlier scuba diving. No wonder they have such a sad look on their face. :(

Here was our view as we ate lunch. That water was calling my name!

I ended up taking pictures of the area before we left for the day, so I'll show you those now so you can get a vision of this place. It's pretty small but they do have different areas to kind of not have people just piled up on each other. I liked that. 

We found a little spot right by the dock entrance to the water...perfecto! Of course I immediately put my things down and headed to the water. However, since we had been diving this morning, I hadn't brought anything other than my mask. No fins, no snorkel. UGH! Since I had never been here before, I really didn't know what the snorkeling was going to be like or how deep the water was. I decided I would go over to the snorkel shack and see how much they rented the fins and snorkel for. 

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Sakari decided to stay at the shoreline and check out the rocks and what might be in them. 

I told them I only needed the fins and maybe just the snorkel itself. They looked puzzled and I had to show them. I ask how much and they said $10. I headed back to our seats to get money and only had a $20 on me. When I returned, he was nice and put the snorkel on my mask and then told me he didn't have any change to just come back and pay him later. 

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So off I went. 

Of course this was the first thing I seen...

Now I'm about to show you the most AMAZING place ever! This is the SEA OF FANS! Like this area is LOADED with sea fans EVERYWHERE! It was the most beautiful thing ever! Like I have never seen anything like this before. There was every color of sea fan possible: purple, orange, green, red...orange with purple, purple with red, like you could just taste the rainbow. Muy bonita! These pictures don't even begin to show you just how beautiful they were and just how many. They just went on and on forever! Everywhere you looked. It was just so gorgeous! Seriously!

Aren't they just the prettiest things you've ever seen? All in one place! Imagine what they looked like in person! Even Sir Pedro San Miguel thought they were pretty enough to come visit!

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Now don't think there's only fans here to see. There's also some coral, especially along the shoreline. 

And of course some fish as well...

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Sergeant Major Damsel and Surgeon Fish

Bluestriped Grunt

Bluestriped Grunt and 5 Four eyed Butterfly Fish

School of French Grunts

Parrot fish

Horse eye Jack

Needle fish

It might be hard to see, but there is a Yellow Stingray in this picture

At this point, I'm pretty far over to the left and decided to turn around and head back, but out a little. As I'm swimming along taking more pictures of the sea fans and after seeing the stingray, something caught my eye. One of the fans was swaying back and forth in the sunlight, but there was something orange on it. Wait, that looks familiar....a flamingo tongue snail! These snails are so beautiful. They have this brightly undeniable color, which is actually how they breathe and is not part of their shell and if spooked, it retreats into the shell and then you will see just a plain white shell. It's pretty cool. I was so sad that I didn't get a clear up-close picture of it. The sea fan waving back and forth didn't allow me to catch it. 

I still can't believe I spotted it! I was super happy. I have only seen these maybe 3 times in the last 11 years!

Another anemone hiding in the coral. 

I'm not sure what type of sea grass this is, but it was so pretty with the blues and greens swaying back and forth. There were tons of these. I know I've noticed these in Grand Turk and I thought they were so pretty, but I don't know if I've really noticed them everywhere else and they just weren't as brilliant in color or what. I'm sure they have to be all over the place. I've just never noticed them as much. I think my eyes were in hyperdrive during this snorkeling adventure after having such a flop of a day diving. 

Sea Cucumber

Another anemone hiding in the middle of the coral

This coral was really pretty!

More of the sea of fans on the way back!

After I got out, the family was sitting at the beach camp and Sakari had been drawing in her book of course. She takes that sketch book everywhere she goes. Even if it means it gets wet at the beach or pool. My little artist. 

I was telling hija about my little snorkel trip and how beautiful the sea fans were and encouraged her to come out with me. I downed a few Coca Lights light I haven't drank in day and I staggered off with Hija on my tail. 

We spotted a rather large Juvenile French Angelfish

If you look closely on the rocks, you'll see an Intermediate Yellowtail Damsel fish. It's a brilliant blue with bright neon colored spots and a yellow tail. It's so neat how fish change colors during their life cycle. When they become adults, these are completely yellow. 

We spotted this Lizard fish (or Sand Diver) trying to blend in with the sea floor. I just recently found out they have razor sharp teeth. I guess I never thought of that and when I think of lizard I think of them having lizard teeth and more of a jaw for catching food. 

I just love this picture of the  Black Grunts and Sakari in the background. I wish that I would have been able to capture her entire body in the picture and not cut off her arm and that she was looking toward me. It would have turned out really cool! 

Spotted a few  Christmas Tree Worms. We really didn't see many of these this time around. We usually see them everywhere, and I was looking because they are just so cute) but not this time. I wonder why?

Just a collage of these beautiful sea fans and our surroundings...

I also seen quite a few Fire Worms this vacation too. I always try to point them out to Sakari and remind her of the time we picked one up in Roatan when she was little. Awww, pretty little caterpillar. NOT! I always have to bring up those funny moments that weren't so funny back then.  White, green, orange...they are all the devil!

A few macro and interesting shots for your viewing pleasure. 

A cute little Smooth Trunk fish 

Four-eyed Butterfly Fish were just everywhere this time around though. They were rolling deep in groups this time. Usually when I see them, there are two together and that's it. But they brought the entire family along for their Sunday outings...only it wasn't Sunday, it was Thursday.

Lobster hiding out but we spotted you.

Banded Butterfly Fish and Slippery Dick Wrasse was in the mix today as well.

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We had a great time snorkeling and there were a lot of interesting things to see today. The sea of fans just made my day. I had a smile on my face once again and was not thinking about the cluster flark of a scuba diving day I had earlier in the morning. Mi esposo was happy to see that but he knew it still bothered me...a lot. But what can you do right?

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We settled up with our bill of $66.50...that's a lot of pop! :D (Just kidding, our food was on there as well)

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The vultures were in full force today. We had seen quite a bit of them this vacation. This one came to visit right on the beach.  I guess he needed a drink of pond water.

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It was getting late and we knew we needed to get home and shower and figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. 

We gathered our things and I went over to return my fins and snorkel and paid them the $10 I still owed. They actually looked shocked that I came back and also like they didn't remember that I owed them any money and thought I was just returning them. 

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Then all of a sudden, something came over me...my stomach started talking to me and I was sure that everyone around me could hear it. I clinched my teeth and doubled over and walked as if I had just been sucker punched in the gut! Oh no! Not now! Couldn't it just wait until I get home in the privacy of my own bathroom!?! I went running for the bano's...it just couldn't wait. Explosion! I had really thought I was over it. I had been good since this morning at diving. I don't know what the deal was but I was already sick of it!

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The bano's were empty. Whew! No need to subject others to this sewage smell. I tried hard to courtesy flush over and over but I'm sure it sounded like I had a microphone attached to the toilet with the somewhat open thatched roof ceiling. I felt sorry for anyone on the outside that was downwind. It was bad. 

At one point I heard someone enter, but they didn't stay once they heard me. Did I really single handedly run someone off with the stench that was coming from inside? Now that's talent! I say blame it on Scuba Girl

As I walked out of the bathroom, I found the person I had ran off...the cleaning guy. He was standing there with his broom and trash can and "closed" sign. The look on his face...oh my gosh. He seriously had to go in there after me and clean up the restroom. I felt bad for him. I'm sure he was regretting getting bano duty today and he would go home and tell his familia that he needed disinfected pronto! I tried to play it off looking around like "who did that?" but I know it didn't work. I headed to catch up with the family and darted out of the area like I was one of the vultures...only the vultures were now gathering around trying to figure out what died in there and they thought they were about to have a tasty meal for the day. Nope, jokes on you guys!

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As we swiftly walked toward the parking lot, I just had to stop one last time and get a picture of hija at their Cozumel sign. Of course no picture is complete without the tongue sticking out!

A few last pictures of the outside of the place by the road and we were off. 

Here's a short video I put together. I hope you like it. It's a little unsteady of course. I need to work on this!

We left here at 7pm and I discovered that my camera is now missing the dial lettering on it. This is what shows you what setting you have it on. Oh just great. It really is time for a new camera now. 

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Final Thoughts:

As you can probably tell by the review, I loved this place. I have never seen so many sea fans at one place. (Obviously they love this place too). We did manage to see some interesting things there (fish) and it was just gorgeous in the water. The coral along the edges of the water were very pretty! It's a small place, so I can't imagine what it's like when it's crowded or when cruise ships are in. I would imagine they would have to turn people away...I'm not sure.  But if you ever get a chance to go and want to see hundreds and hundreds of beautiful sea fans of so many colors...go here. 

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